When I was in High School, US Army soldiers brought an RPG launcher, an M16, and other assorted hardware for us to handle. =) It was a great day and no one complained.
Ahhhh... the way things used to be. When I was in Boy Scouts years ago, we had an annual camp out dubbed the “Shoot Out.” A number of parents in the troop were active or retired LEOs, and even more were hunters. The parents brought their firearms (and bows), and us kids learned proper handling and operation... shot skeet, fired handguns, shotguns, rifles and witnessed some pretty cool demonstrations with collectors pieces from the 30s. I remember being impressed that the rifles could penetrate a sizeable oak tree and split rocks behind it. The goal each year was to bring down the tree with the rifle target by the end of the weekend. Of course, the camp outs at Ft Riley were pretty damned impressive too... MUCH bigger guns out there :)