Um…yeah. Sometimes there are not words. “Absolutely Safe?” “Accidental Discharge Impossible?” “PAPA SAYS IT WON’T HURT US?” Wow. I mean, WOW. This ad must date sometime between 1891 and 1917. On a side note, I can’t help but observe that Iver Johnson is no longer in business (although they somehow kept the name going until 1971 – in spite of their crack advertising team).
UPDATE:
Fellow TTAG scribe Don Gammill sent in a correction on this one…apparently Iver Johnson has come back once again from the dead (corporately speaking):
The Iver Johnson brand is still around, as they just introduced a 1911 not too long ago. I think I mentioned that fact in my review of the gun in the ad (though mine isn’t shrouded like the “hammerless” child-killer model pictured). The URL is IverJohnsonArms.com, and their prospects for success seem a little doubtful if you ask me.
I know this article is very old, but I just now found it, so here goes…
I have this exact “child-killer,” as Don put it. And while I wouldn’t let my children play with it, if they had gotten their hands on it at that young of an age, I do feel that it would be relatively safe. It’s not because it’s hammerless. It’s because it has an incredibly heavy trigger pull. I handed it to a 16-year old girl a few months ago that couldn’t pull it!