When the sweet little lady behind the counter handed me the medallion, it all came rushing back to me.
Inscribed on its face, just below three engraved rifles, was the phrase, “My first gun was a Daisy.” Those words triggered a memory so pure and sweet I was shocked it’d ever been buried.
I remember watching cartoons in the living room, lounging in my dad’s easy chair, when I heard the front door open. Mom and dad had run to Walmart, but I had no idea for what. Hoping they might bring me the latest He-Man action figure, I was stunned when my dad walked in with a rifle cradled in his arms. The gun was a synthetic-stocked, single shot .22 made by Daisy that fit as if it’d been custom built for me.
Thanks to Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, my pre-teen heart was already beating to the rhythm of African war drums, but after dad handed me the Daisy, I was absolutely transported. I carried it safari-style over my shoulder, scanning the dining room for the telltale toss of a lion’s tufted tail. The narrow stairs in our old house transformed itself into a treacherous mountain pass where I braved the biting cold in search of bighorn sheep, occasionally having to trust the butt of my rifle stock for balance. With that Daisy in my arms, any adventure my mind could concoct was within reach.
Last month, I found myself in northwest Arkansas for a speaking engagement, and on a whim, visited the Daisy Airgun Museum in downtown Rogers. I walked the aisles and soaked in the displays. I laughed at the Daisy-made Buck Rogers Atomic Pistol and racked my brain trying to remember which model of Red Ryder carbine my big brother kept in the closet we shared as kids. Never was $2, the price of admission, better spent.
Gun manufacturers make bold claims these days about the quality of their products. They advertise half-inch MOAs and promise triggers crisp as fresh apples. But they say nothing about inspiring dreams in the hearts of aspiring hunters. That’s because Daisy has the monopoly on the market. For most, those dreams took shape with a Red Ryder BB gun. For me, it was that single shot .22.