Infuriating bliss-ninny.....

[geekWithA.45]

The points on parental prerogative are well founded.

That being said, I believe that what offends most of us about this article is that it is clearly in service to Joseph Curran's manifesto of gun bigotry:

We must change this
culture of passive acceptance to one in which people view gun ownership as dangerous and aberrant and behave accordingly. Gun ownership must go the way of smoking, which was once accepted universally and is now recognized as a harmful activity that cannot be inflicted on other unconsenting individuals.

http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/pr289.htm

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Many families do not allow their children to play with toy weapons, as the parents believe that these toys are “gateways” to the real McCoy

Eek, the good doctor's right. After all, I played with all kinds of toy guns when I was a kid, and had the time of my life. Look at me now. I have all kinds of the real McCoy. I'm a hideous nightmare of the good doc's "parents of many families." I'm a child gone bad.:banghead:

And, there’s still the issue of the boys playing with the toy guns — something that may be just as difficult to control or curtail.

Why, yes! We should simply ban all toy guns so that our children can't possibly play with them. But the bad kids would still be able to get them on the black market, and that would leave our kids unable to defend themselves.

For cryin out loud, let kids be kids. As was already stated, kids are gonna point a bent stick and say "bang." I did that too, at times. BB guns are a genuine concern, as they're not really toys, but true toy guns?:banghead:

 

[English John]

When the neighbor kid who is visiting yours picks up your HD gun...

How did he do that? Pick the lock on the gun safe? Pry off the trigger lock? I don't understand how a stranger gets his hands on your HD gun? Do some people still leave them unattended in the dresser drawer? I thought we are above that.

 

[White Horseradish]

How did he do that? Pick the lock on the gun safe? Pry off the trigger lock? I don't understand how a stranger gets his hands on your HD gun? Do some people still leave them unattended in the dresser drawer? I thought we are above that.

We are. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who aren't us and also happen to be idiots.

Ya know, if I ever had this kind of a conversation, it'd be like this:

"Got guns?"
"Yes."
"Cool. What kind? "