[Topgun]

WE sure did. We even used WWII "bring-backs." Ran all over the place playing "war." I had a Japanese 6.5 carbine with no bolt and a napalmed stock. We had a ball.

I have been John Wayne, Gene Autry, Cisco Kid, Sgt. Preston, Red Ryder, Randolph Scott, Richard Widmark and many others. (never did like Lone Ranger for some reason)

The last kid I saw playing cowboys was in rural Sonora, CA in 1984.

Would your kid even WANT to have a toy gun?

Ladies, what's YOUR opinion on letting the kids play with toy guns?

(or perhaps....what is your non gun enthusiast NEIGHBOR lady's opinion of toy guns?)



:confused:

[C.R.Sam]

Yep.
All my kids play guns.
Youngest played with em on 5 hot deployments before retiring from the Army. :)

Sam

[Kreed]

My two-year old daughter and my five-year old son chase each other all over the house with their Nerf blaster, "ray gun" toys.
http://www.joebrower.com/images_RKBA/Gadsden_flag.gif

[aerod1]

My grandson is too small to play with toy guns. He is only 9 months old .....but he already has a toy AK-47 and AR-15. When he gets strong enough to pick one up, he will be allowed to play with them. When he is older he will be allowed to play with real guns (with proper instruction and supervision of course).

Jim Hall

[Skunkabilly]

No kids for me, but if I did, I would, but dammit, I'm going to teach them correct tactics!

My parents were on-off with the gun thing. Since toy guns were banned from the house, I made one out of Construx or something like that.

When guns are outlawed...only outlaws will have guns.

[Topgun]

Maybe you cudda carved one from soap an made a break.

:D

[Ukraine Train]

I had them. I remember, though, going to a friend's house who's mom didn't let him play with guns (or even watch tv!) so we made guns out of those oversized lego blocks hehe.

[Smoke]

Two kids here.

I made no effort to influence the kid's like or dislike of guns. He was pretending to have guns from an early age. His grandmother bought him one of those old fashioned cap pistols. He had strict instructions not to point it at people or pets. Other things were fair game for pretending.

HE now has an airsoft. He only gets loads with me there and very carefully set up targets. HE must demonstrate safe handling prior to getting to shoot "real" bullets. (he can play with the airsoft but if he points it at an "off-limits" target it is put away)

We'll se how the girl turns out...she's only 9 months old.

[Gus Dddysgrl]

No kids here, but I'll buy them toy guns when they come. They will be taught how to properly use them and what can and can't be shot. I hope to live where the neighbor lady will let her kids play with my kids and they can play with toys guns together. Then when they get older they can all go to the range together, but that's VERY far down the road.

I also plan on playing with airsofts in the house with my fiancee. He already has no problem shooting me with it. :( :uhoh:

Me-I used to play war with the boys in my class. I spent more time at the boys houses than I did at the girls. I even spent the night at more guys houses than I did at girls houses. We played with mostly wooden guns cause we didn't have plastic ones, and daddy made the wooden ones. At their houses we would wage war on whatever we could find and run around like crazy making lots of noise. If there was enough of us we split into teams and played against each other. When at school we just used our fingers and pretended we were holding guns. Strategy was the main point, so no one won, but it was fun. I want my kids to enjoy what I did as a kid.

Gus

[El Tejon]

Reports here at the Fashionable Bachelor Pad indicate that mis sobrinos are "shooting" with their fingers, toys from Sunday School, sticks in the yard, anything handy even though they are too young as of yet to receive shooting lessons. It will not be long (and I know so little).:(

[larryw]

Not since my son (almost 8) started shooting a real gun; somehow the fun vanished as he learned what guns are really capable of. That doesn't bother me in the least.

He does make a point fo stating when playing with squirt guns that they're "water toys, not guns". Its fun to watch him stalk the neighbor kids during these battles with his finger off the trigger and the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. :D

[Martin2]

Excellent reading.

My kids and my grandkids, (10, 7, 4), are all acquainted with firearms, the noise, the smoke, the cameraderie, the experience is never a waste of time.

It's never too soon to take 'em down the range.

Playing with the toys is OK for the under fives but they must learn early on, it's a tool, not a toy. Real life is not the movies.

Martin2

[Fudgie Ghost]

These days, where I live, hell, my kids, (when they were young enough) would have been practically arrested.

When I was young kid (mid-sixties), we played war ALL DAY, on some Saturdays. We played WAR all the time. One time we made a little "village" of "hootches", and would attack with "dirt bombs" and mud balls. Had a toy Winchester lever action, Mattel Thompson (painted camo no less!), some Wham-O! thing that made sparks when you pulled the trigger. And then, yeah, some kid gave me an old Japanese rifle (w/no bolt). I was so proud of that, I took a break from "fighting" and came into to show it to my parents----they thought it was still "shootable" and almost had a cow. We'd have one group go out on "patrol", and the other would lie in wait and ambush them. "Count to 100" and get back up. I was into dying spectacularly--falling, rolling--it was great.

Man, I just thank God I grew up at that time, and have those great memories. What a shame that whole generations of kids will not have a chance. Besides, it got you outside, running, yelling, planning ambushes. Now it's all on the Xbox or computer.

Oh, and you know what? None of us grew up to be pyshos or bank robbers, or mass murderers. Imagine that. Look at all that's come and gone.

[Rogelio]

No kids yet, but I remember my mom would not allow me to play "war" (hehe, that's why I am closer to dad).

Bought my first handgun (Used brescia 7.65mm -32 acp-) as soon as I turned 18..I still keep and fire that beautifull gift

[FireInTheHole]

I was never allowed to 'play' with firearms growing up. Letting your children play with a toy gun is inviting trouble in the future when they get their hands on a real gun. What is to prevent them from 'playing' with your firearms when you arent around!!

When I have children, they will be taught from the start that a gun can kill somebody. And I will make damned sure they understand what that means.

[spacemanspiff]

thankfully i have not hatched any demonspawn of my own, but i do have nieces and nephews. my brother wont let his kids play with toy guns, but he does let them play Halo on xbox. doesnt make much sense, but oh well...
we let his kids shoot my pellet gun, his daughter wasnt all that enthused, but she doesnt like anything. his son had more fun with it and was proud to have hit the water bottle hanging on a string at 20 yards.
i think my brother will let his kids get to be quite a bit older before he introduces them to shooting. heck, he still has a lot to learn himself.

[Standing Wolf]

I did as a boy. If I'd had children, they wouldn't have had toy guns. They'd have grown up shooting real guns.

[gun-fucious]

my two girls aged 5 & 7
have absolutely no interest in playing "guns"

playing Hamtaros?
playing Powerpuff Girls?
playing kitties?

try and stop them

In their world
bad things are overcome with tongue waggling

[Penforhire]

My girlfriend tried to ban toy guns from her son when he was young. She gave up after he chewed a piece of toast into a gun-shape and went bang-bang with it. I asked her about it and she said she had no specific reason to hate guns, no personal trauma or family member suicide, just that she did (bear in mind she got her college degree in social work, I didn't know you could get a degree in how to be a liberal...).

I have since turned her to the dark side, with a well timed Pistol class given by a patient professional. She shoots with me now and I've taken her son skeet shooting too, although as a college slacker his muzzle control isn't all it could be.

I remember when I was a kid we had VERY realistic toy rifles and handguns. None of this glowing tip spaceship-shaped nonsense. Hmm, maybe we're tracking the RKBA fight here...

[synoptic]

I had them when I was a kid (still am) and yet still had the utmost respect for real firearms. All my friends had them too, of course I lived on military installations most of my younger life. Kids aren't as stupid as many think, they can differentiate between real guns and toys, it is just up to the parents to make sure they make that distinction. In fact, I believe toy guns can actually HELP a child learn to be careful around guns, the concept of "I shoot you with a fake bullet, you are fake dead" can translate into "real bullet, real dead". When I have kids they will have toy guns and hopefully will have friends who have them as well.

[Norwegian]

I used to " play " guns alot as a child , I still have some of my toy-weapons
stucked away somewhere .

At the most I`m quite sure I had 50-60 of them :D

[Holly76201]

When I was a little girl, my big brother split my scalp open with a cap pistol that he "said" just fell. But we still played war, cops and robbers, and Cowboys and Indians, with me always being the indian, the robber, or the loser in whatever war game it was.
My own children are now grown, but they played similar games. And my son{21 now} has a scar on his forehead that looks like an early wrinkle from another toy gun, required 4 stitches, IIRC.
But I still let them play with all manner of toy guns.
When they got old enough, around age 10, they started getting their own real guns and safety lessons, but they still liked playing with the toys. They just knew the difference between the damage a toy could do and the damage a REAL gun could do.

[pax]

Complex question.

Four or five years ago, my then-six-year-old son David was playing a video game at the pizza parlor when his grandfather walked up. Grandfather was horrified at the violent game the kid was playing, and said as much.

"David, we don't like that kind of game," Grandpa told him. "You're shooting people!"

David finished what he was doing and then turned around. "Well," he said, "you don't like that kind of game, but I do. And I'm not really shooting people, Grandpa. It's only pretend..." (Typed on screen it sounds disrespectful, but the kid's voice wasn't disrespectful at all. He was just esplainin' to his grandpa.)

Upshot of that little story is that I've never been one of those people who thinks kids have a problem telling fantasy from reality. I think that difficulty distinguishing between the two is a uniquely adult problem.

Which brings me right to the center of the question at hand. I don't mind my kids having toy guns or playing with them, but I hate the thought of them getting arrested, shot, or merely kicked out of some activity because the adults around them are too stupid to tell a game from reality and too stubborn to admit that a toy gun is not the same as the real thing.

Which means that, around here, I let my kids play guns -- but they have to stay out of sight of the road, they aren't allowed to point guns at any human being or pet animal, and they aren't allowed to play guns with anyone I haven't approved.

Stinks, but there it is.

pax

Grown-ups never understand anything on their own, and it's tiresome for children for ever and ever to be giving them explanations. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

[jsalcedo]

I let my kid play toy guns in the house but usually he is dressed up in
his motley array of camo and toy/real equipment and the guns are
part of the costume.

I don't let him play in the neighborhood with toy guns (only squirt guns)
for safety reasons, although he usually finds something to make a gun out of.

[Holly76201]

not that liberal is necessarily a dirty word, T.Jefferson was a liberal after all.
Penforhire has said above thet his GF has a degree in SW and he commented he didn't know you could learn how to be a liberal.
Well I am both a SW AND a shooting enthusist.
When I was a Parole Officer I had a pic on my bulletin boad behind my desk of me shooting BF's Thompson, w/drum magazine,cartridge casings arcing thru the air. One day, an ATF agent was investigating one of my miscreants and he came to my office to get some info. He looked at the pic and then at me and said, "So, you're a gun nut" And I looked him calmly in the eye for a moment and then replied, firmly, "No, I'm a 2nd amendment rights activist." He made no further comments about my activities.

[jade]

my parents wouldn't let my brother and i play with guns. my mom didn't want guns, toy or not, in the house. my dad is pretty much anti-gun. however, they saw no problem sending us out in the backyard with two wooden katanas. i also had a long bow that i used to shoot in the backyard.

if i had kids, i wouldn't mind them playing with toy guns so long as they follow the rules.


jade

[Guy L Johnson]

Yes

[Zach S]

I had toy guns when I was little, although there werent any fireams in the house. Had a blast with the other kids, always playng cowboys and indians or cops n robbers, running around shooting each other with capguns. Never gave it a second thought untill after educating myself and seeing other kids in the neighborhood do it. I dont have any kids of my own yet (that I know of anyway), but I dont think I'd have a problem with it, as long as they play by the rules.

[cracked butt]

I was at a neighborhood party a couple of weeks ago, after dark, many of the adults and all of the kids went down into the basement. A couple of the 4 and 5 year old kids found a vacuum cleaner and started using the attachments as guns.
As I was showing my neighbors kid how to put the vacuum cleaner tube over his shoulder to use as a rocket launcher, a mother of one of the other kids came down in the basement and freaked out that her son was playing guns with the other kids.:uhoh:

Its pretty natural that a kid will pick up a stick and pretend its a gun, spear or sword. My mom tells me of a story how I used to sit in the back yard with a 2' long piece of conduit and pretend to shoot birds as they flew by. :D

[MessedUpMike]

As a matter of fact we just stopped a few minutes ago (bedtime). As far as I know my 5 y.o. has the only wooden Dragunov in the area (with a scope :what: ). No real toy guns allowed *&%$ sillouette laws, but he is allowed to play with other kids' "real" looking guns so long as they have been fired at a wall first.
Of course there are the mondatory rules. No shooting at people who aren't shooting at you, NEVER point a toy gun at Police, and generally they stay indoors. Interestingly enough a toy gun got my anti-wife over into the light. Rubberband guns were not threating enough to open the door.

[Nightcrawler]

All the time, when I was little. We even made up a set of rules. For instance, shotguns weren't effective at long ranges, hitting in different places had different results, etc. My dad even bought me a camoflauged BDU top from US Cavalry that made me the envy of my friends.

I had many different toy guns. I'm sure my gun handling left much to be desired in those days, but between those and the violent computer games I play now I've never once had any trouble distinguishing game from reality.

I mean, in a computer game, I "kill" dozens of opponets without thinking twice. In real life, the thought of leveling a gun at an innocent person and killing them distrubs me greatly.

Because in the game, it's not real. It's in the child's imagination, or in my case, it's light on a monitor screen.

In real life, it's a real person, flesh and blood.

Considerable difference.

So, if I ever have kids, God forbid, they'll have toy guns if they want them.

[jhisaac1]

My parents were on-off with the gun thing. Since toy guns were banned from the house, I made one out of Construx or something like that.

I was going to tell my story about when I was a kid...

Then Penforhire comes out with,
She gave up after he chewed a piece of toast into a gun-shape and went bang-bang with it
and steals my thunder. I thought I had an original story. (although mine dates back to the early 70's or so.)

When toast is outlawed, only outlaws will have toast!

Jason

[Nightcrawler]

Anything can be a toy gun. Sticks, baseball bats...baseball bats especially, since you can throw them over the shoulder and they double as a bazooka... :D

I once built a disrputor ray out of legos, too. My mom took it away after I incinerated the neighbor's cat.

[OneShot]

Yep, mine does although toy guns are boring to him since he's ahot the real thing.

C'mon now and fess up...How many of you played BB gun war, when you were a kid? I remember doubling up on clothes in the winter and having wars with the nieghborhood hoodlums:evil: :evil: :evil: Dirt clods were used as grenades.

I realize how stupid it was now and would never advocate such things:what: :what: --Oneshot

[Dave R]

Yes, and they help each other follow the 4 rules. I always enjoy hearing from the basement "Watch that muzzle!" Or "Finger off trigger!".

Good training.

[wendy]

My sister and I both had toy guns as kids. We also both grew up loving and respecting the real thing.

I don't have any kids of my own, but if I did they would have toy guns if they so desired them.

[Ladybug]

Not speaking from experience yet, but my husband and I were talking about this the other day... Basically, I think its one of those things that we will not push until it comes up. If one of our kids gets interested in guns and wants a toy gun (or starts chewing toast into weaponry) he/she can have one. At that point they will get a lesson -- no shooting at real people (imaginary ones are okay) or pets. And like Pax mentioned, we will be aware of the sad state of affairs around us. I don't really want my young kid to hear from OTHER parents/teachers/whoever that "only bad guys have guns" (my 3 year old niece brought that gem of wisdom home from daycare) so the toy will stay at home. And furthermore, if my child brings over a friend whose parents are against toy guns, they will not play with it - I'm not going to make decisions like that on other people's behalf. I lost two of my best friends growing up because they parents "forbade" us from playing together, and it broke my heart. As soon as I deem my child ready and mature enough, they will learn ALL about real guns.

[Ryder]

My kids (3) had toy guns. I let them begin using real guns after observing that they could handle a toy like the real thing. They all got real quick starts.

[Topgun]

Anyone who will not let children play with toy guns for fear that they will be unable to make the distinction between "real" and "play" had better pick up all those toy cars.


;)

[Master Blaster]

I let my two 5 and 7 play with toy guns, we have nerf dart guns, Super soakers, and toy replicas of cowboy guns and revolvers.

I also educate my children on gun safety, when my son was 4 and he saw my keltec p-32 out of the safe, he looked at it and then said:

Daddy is that a real gun or a toy when I said real he then said OK and left without touching it!!!! I followed and asked if he wanted to hold it, and he said "real guns are not toys". He knows the difference.

The super soaker s are lots of fun, I am using them to indoctrinate the neighborhood kids, some of whose parents dont own guns.

On a hot summer day we have 6 or seven kids having watergun duels in our yard, under the sprinklers.

When I was growing up we had toy guns that looked like realones and we had real guns, that were not even locked up. We were taught the difference. We were taught responsibility.

[Master Blaster]

Guy Johnson, that looks like the pellet gun range at DELCO field and stream.

I take my son and daughter (junior members) there to shoot also!!!

[Sunray]

In the olden days, when I was boss of an Army Cadet Corps, any time we'd be out playing silly bugger sans real weapons, the first tree line, no matter how thin, would be gleaned of suitable sticks by every kid. When the line of troopies came out of the trees every one of 'em would have a C1A1 stick carried at the ready. These were city bred teenagers not children. Funniest thing you ever saw.

[Sisco]

My son had toy guns when he was younger.
He preferred the real thing though.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=547355

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=547359

[10-Ring]

I did & so did my son. Actually, we played cops & robbers, cowboys & native Americans together :D I thought it was funny that my son always ran out of bullets, climbed on my back & tried to scalp me all the time :uhoh:

[m.i.sanders]

My daughter has played with toy guns and her BB gun, but at the moment she's "into" baby dolls. Of course, she still wants her own .22 with a scope to take to the range with daddy:D

[FireInTheHole]

Anyone who will not let children play with toy guns for fear that they will be unable to make the distinction between "real" and "play" had better pick up all those toy cars.

Have you seen what children do with toy cars? I know what I did with my toy cars growing up. I detroyed them!! (home-made fireworks, ramps off of roof, et cetera)

I wouldnt let a child drive a vehicle if I witnessed them destroying things/cars with their toy cars.

I believe alot of people here trust [their] children too much. :scrutiny: Kids do stupid things. (I'm speaking from experience)

That said, I dont care if my [future] kids destroy their toy cars as I am not going to teach them how to drive before they are old enough. The opposite is true for firearms. I plan to teach my children how to shoot from an early age and I do not feel allowing the use of toy guns will make my job easier.

[Nightcrawler]

One thing that I think about, is this. I knew kids when I was little that weren't allowed to play war, or have toy guns. I knew kids that were "mature" and basically acted like miniature adults.

I felt bad for these kids. Even at a young age, I had a sense that they weren't actually allowed to be kids. Kids need to have an imagination, to be allowed to play pretend. It's that that develops a sense of creativity and expression.

I knew kids that all they did for fun was play sports, ride dirt bikes, etc, when they were little. They did the same thing for fun when they were adolescents, when they were teenagers, and I imagine they do the same things now as adults.

What kind of childhood is that? Childhood is the one time in your life when you can pretend to be heroes and villians and not feel stupid or get made fun of for it. Look at all the jokes that get directed at role-playing-gamers, for example.

Just something to consider. Not trying to tell anyone how to raise thier kids. But, having been a kid not that long ago, all I can say is LET them be kids.

Being a grown up BLOWS. I mean, I have to pay BILLS now, and worry about my FUTURE. I have RESPONSIBILITIES.

Such things certainly would've taken all the fun out of childhood.

[Ryder]

I do not feel allowing the use of toy guns will make my job easier

Nothing wrong with starting them young. I feel there is more opportunity to instruct them on safety rules and observe their application with a toy though than with a real firearm. Mine had constant control over their toys but they only got to handle real guns on occasion. More practice that way :)

[cracked butt]

"Just something to consider. Not trying to tell anyone how to raise thier kids. But, having been a kid not that long ago, all I can say is LET them be kids.

Being a grown up BLOWS. I mean, I have to pay BILLS now, and worry about my FUTURE. I have RESPONSIBILITIES.

Such things certainly would've taken all the fun out of childhood."

The wisest thing I ever heard from a human being came from a friend of mines son, he said "daddy, I want to be 4 forever"

:D

[hawk0484]

I have 3 sons, 3 years apart. When the youngest was about 6 months old, I could put him in a stroller and put it out on the patio where I could see him easily and he could see his 3 1/2 year old brother. The "baby" would watch his big brother shoot cap guns for a L-O-N-G time while I sat and listened to their 6 1/2 year old brother read to me (all homeschooled).

I considered the 100's of rolls of caps cheap entertainment and a much better influence than TV! The 2 youngest, now 14 & 17 are avid hunters (deer, turkeys, doves, ducks, etc.), and are great shots. They should be---there are a zillion bb's in the woods!

Becky

[Ryder]

LET them be kids

Kinda hard to do that if a cop blows their tiny little head off for pointing a toy at them. :)

[Nightcrawler]

Heck, I never even SAW the cops much growing up. My town only had but two cops, I think, maybe three.

There's something to be said for rural living when raising kids.

[greyhound]

Childhood is the one time in your life when you can pretend to be heroes and villians and not feel stupid or get made fun of for it.

Nightcrawler - dang that is a wise statement.

As a kid in the late 70's/early 80's we did it all - played pirates, cops n robbers, cowboys n indians, war, etc. And wiffle ball and backyard football too. Man, we were always outside doing something - I'll probably have skin cancer from all the sunburns (Not trying to be funny here, I used to get so red I couldn't sleep.)

When the Atari came out in 78, it came with a game called "Combat". So then we could even play shooting ganes when it got dark!:D

[XLMiguel]

No kids here, but when I were one, we played all war/army, cops & robbers, cowboys & indians, safari (Ramar of the Jungle?), pirates, anything adventurous, with all kinds of toyguns, store-bought and improvised, all over the neighborhood. Particularly enjoyed playing Ranger/sniper, sneaking around, infiltrating, stalking. Got in trouble occasionaly for freaking out some of the neighbors who didn't like being spied on by 8 y.o. boys with toy M-1s.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood:D

[Nightcrawler]

We would always "infiltrate" the "enemy base", which was this county place down the road where they kept all of the big trucks and snowplows. There's no fence around it, no guards or anything. Crime/vandalism simply wasn't a problem in my little town. We would just sneak around, take out sentries, get the data on the enemy missiles, plant the charges, and escape into the night.

Other times, there was this ruined mine building foundation that we would often go to to rescue prisoners.

Good times, my friends. 22 may seem young to feel nostaligic, but I miss those days sometimes.