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Virginia vs the Austin Magic Pistol (A cautionary tale for collectors and hobbyists)

John Pierce

John Pierce

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Recently, a friend sent me a link to a Cracked.com article about vintage toys that would be considered wildly irresponsible by today’s consumer safety standards.

The article itself was a hilarious read but what really caught my attention was the #2 toy on the list; the Austin Magic Pistol. This marvel of 1950′s engineering fired a ping-pong sized plastic ball by igniting the combustible gases generated when you added water to the provided ‘magic crystals.’

While I was doing the research for my article on Virginia’s air gun laws, I discovered that, back in 1950 when the Austin Magic Pistol and its progenitors were all the rage, Virginia passed a law prohibiting the selling or gifting of such toys. Originally passed as § 18.1-347, the law is still on the books ...

Excerpt ... read more at http://monachuslex.com/?p=1204
 
peter nap

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Interesting thread John!
I remember them well. You could buy them ay Glens Fair Price in Harrisonburg.

I doubt anyone knew about the law then and since it's a class 4 misdemeanor, I doubt anyone would have cared if they had known.

In those days every hardware store carried carbide and carbide lanterns, We did marvelous things with acetylene (what the carbide and water forms) and used it for everything from cannons to scare crows away from crops, to fishing (Don't ask).

Thanks for sharing!
 
Grapeshot

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We used to celebrate a touchdown in high school with a blast from a carbide cannon. Was great punctuation!!
 
6

67GT390FB

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peter nap said:
Not to steal anything from John's thread, but the Austin was #2 in an article called
http://www.cracked.com/article_19481_the-8-most-wildly-irresponsible-vintage-toys.html

The 8 Most Wildly Irresponsible Vintage Toys


It's a trip down memory for the Old Man's Club and yeah, I had 3 of the 8 and my sister had 1.:lol:

Never mind. John linked the article...
Click to expand...

thats why you were swimming around surry power station the other day wasn't it? wanted a life size atomic energ lab.
 
John Pierce

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peter nap said:
Interesting thread John!
I remember them well. You could buy them ay Glens Fair Price in Harrisonburg.

I doubt anyone knew about the law then and since it's a class 4 misdemeanor, I doubt anyone would have cared if they had known.

In those days every hardware store carried carbide and carbide lanterns, We did marvelous things with acetylene (what the carbide and water forms) and used it for everything from cannons to scare crows away from crops, to fishing (Don't ask).

Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

Those were the days! :)
 
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