Every year I see and hear the warnings about toys and other things that are dangerous to kids, mainly for things with small parts that are chocking hazards, and I have to chuckle.
The first year I remember specific gifts was about 1952 or 3. When I think about some of them compared with todays standards, it's amazing any of us made it.
If you tried to sell some of them today, you'd be arrested.
Gilbert was a major producer of things like Chemistry sets. I got one when I was 8. You could have made any number of explosives just from what was in that set. My cousin got the same set, and he blew up his
garden shed.
Gilbert even made an "Atomic Energy" set that contained radioactive materials, for real!
Daisy BB guns were advertised in comic books, along with Matel "Shootin Shell" toy guns. Those "toys" actually fired a projectile, powered by black powder "caps".
Different times, different worlds.