Kids and toy guns - What's your philosophy?

[Ghost Tracker]

Guns aren't unique in this conversation. Toy plastic hammers squeak when my 2 year old grandson hits his grandpaw in the head & we both laugh. I don't believe I'm risking a ball-peen pounding from him at some time in the future. I've raised 3 boys to functional adulthood with toy; guns, swords, bow/arrows, chainsaws. et al. I also was always & consistently there with GUN SAFETY as they began to graduate to air rifles>rimfires>shotguns>centerfires. If no toy guns are handy, little boys are going to pretend that sticks they find in the yard are pistols & rifles. And, as long as there's TV & movies, that's GONNA' happen. So, unless you're planning to disallow ANY contact with modern culture, toy guns are (IMHO) fine. If you're radical passive isolationist, then being a contributing member to this forum is rather...ironic.

 

[ErikO]

When my son was born, my sister let me in on a secret. Even if you refuse to buy toy guns for them, they will pick up a stick and try to shoot someone with it.

We asked my 10 year old if he felt he'd be able to respect the wildlife around our house enough to not shoot at it if he got a BB gun for Christmas (Daisy Red Ryder!). He told us the temptation would be too strong and he's not quite ready for that just yet.

On the other hand, he LOVES the spring-loaded PPK we have even though it's accuracy is 'Point of Banker Box Lid' at 10'.

 

[Deanimator]

If you wouldn't let your kids play with toy guns, would you let them play with toy fighter planes the way we did as kids in the '60s?

Is it wrong to point a toy Luger at somebody, but a toy .50 AN/M2 or 20mm MG/FF is ok?

 

[CoRoMo]

Some posts I've made in the past on this subject...

I can respect the opinion that toy guns are bad, but I totally disagree with it. I know it's opinion after all. Children have been playing with toy weapons for thousands of years. They've been playing Cowboys & Indians for several centuries now. And they've played cops-n-robbers for over a century or so. That's what kids do, they play in reflection of real life. And they do know the difference if you're doing your job.

Whether they have access to toy guns or not, they WILL play in that manner at one point or another, whether it is with a toy or their index finger, whether it is in your presence, or they have to hide it from you. I don't subscribe to the zero tolerance rule our public schools are diseased with, so I let my kids safely play as they like.

Kids are smart. They know the difference between toys and the real stuff, so I don't keep my kids from playing with toys. When the real guns come out, they don't carry the play habits over to the real guns because they know the difference. I'd rather that they play with toys that will feed their interest in the use of real tools, than to prohibit the innocent expression of that interest.

My little boy has play hammers, drills, and a saw, but he knows that Daddy's real hammers, drills, and saws are very different. He also has toy trucks, tractors, and cars. I don't have any fear that, when it comes time to use a real truck, he'll drive over my legs like he does with the toys.

I think every generation of my lineage grew up with toy gun play, and none of us carried these habits into the real world. To each his own, and it's only an opinion.

also...

My wife took the approach to treat toy guns, like water pistols, as if they were real firearms. Seriously, almost to the point of following the 4 rules with them. She told our boy to never point it at anyone, never shoot anyone, and that he could only shoot at the ground. Guess what? He didn't want to play with them then. That wasn't fun, so why bother.

I was reading a book by John Eldredge. You might or might not be interested in "Wild at Heart" or "The Way of the Wild Heart" or any of his books (they're all basically about the same subject). His life-study is the maturation of masculine development, and he goes in depth on the whole 'weapons play' part of a boy's growth. I couldn't possibly explain much of his thesis here and obviously it really only pertains to boys.

Anyway, I didn't want him missing out on some of the things I've been reading about, and I didn't want him having no interest in guns, so I explained the whole cowboys/indians-cops/robbers games that we played as kids and she let up. He can shoot me or the dogs all he wants. He can only shoot his sister or mom if he asks them first and they let him. He's definitely not at any point of interest in real guns and he definitely knows the difference. They are just too loud for him right now.

Just my 2¢. It's all up to the parents and what they think is best. Good luck.

 

[Stophel]

Hard to play cowboys and indians without pointing cap guns at each other.

Besides, we played "war" by throwing dirt clods at each other.... definitely enough to make the safety freaks go apoplectic!

 

[stumpers]

I have a no toy guns rule for my son who is almost 5. I want no confusion in his mind what real guns are and what they are intended for. I tell him a gun is a gun (real or toy) and that he is not to point it at anyone or pretend to shoot anyone.

That being said, in a year or so when I think he is ready, I'll buy him a single shot .22 and start the fundamentals of being safe and responsible. The older he gets, the more he will capable of understanding the seriousness of shooting a real firearm. I am sure at 8 or 10 years old, I will less of problem with him and toy guns and playing war or whatever.

 

[hso]

Real guns aren't toys, toy guns shouldn't look like real guns.

 

[Ghost Tracker]

I have a no toy guns rule for my son who is almost 5

This is your first son isn't it?

I will less of problem with him and toy guns and playing war or whatever.

I think that's the quiz here, some of us don't have a problem with our kids enjoying "toy guns or playing war or whatever" because they're going to ANYWAY. I'm not preaching how you should raise your kids. They're YOURS! And I will always consider the possibility that I've done it wrong & you're doing it RIGHT! I simply have seen/heard no evidence that toy guns promote dangerous or violent children. I have, however, known children who RUSHED at their first chance to things that were "forbidden" to them at home, usually outside their parents direct supervision. That rule was the very thing that propelled their intense interest.

 

[Stophel]

As a former kid, I can say toy guns that don't at least resemble real guns are not that fun... I would not have been caught dead with a pink and purple spotted toy gun. My favorite was a black plastic gun with a rubber band powered clicky hammer that was a dead ringer for a Combat Masterpiece. ;-)

 

[Ghost Tracker]

Maybe at least part this pro-toy gun position has something to do with being a...Kentuckian!

 

[Stophel]

Probably so!!!

I grew up in my grandfather's basement wood shop, cutting out toy guns from scrap pieces of wood with a bandsaw. ;-)

 

[Ghost Tracker]

Heck, first .22 rifle was at 8. First shotgun at 10. Hunting solo by 12. And I was still playing toy guns w/my friends as well! The world was a whole different place. The only downside to all that gunplay it that I...hang-out with YOU GUYS & still enjoy firearms! How awful!

 

[ObsidianOne]

If your friends' kids are not old enough, or smart enough, to know the difference between real guns and toy guns, and adjust their conduct accordingly, they should not be allowed real guns.

Otherwise you get into the issue of whether to ban sticks, or whether to allow them to point their finger like a gun and say "pow."

I generally try to avoid hysterical or doctrinal people.

Or pizza, this seems to be a rising concern.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=631280

 

[JohnBT]

Yep, if they can't tell a toy from the real thing, well, they're not ready for the real thing. Heck, that might be a good reality check for all children. Didn't everybody in the '50s have toy guns and real guns in the house?

Where's that pic of my cousin in the den in front of her dad's bear skin. Taken around 1959 irrc, she's younger than me by a handful of years and our mothers were identical twins.

 

[drcook]

Whatever any of you think about the literalness of the Bible and the story about the apple in the Garden of Eden. That story is a very good moral application on what happens when an object is forbidden.

I worked with a female coworker who knew I hunted and shot and she mentioned about how her son wanted a toy gun and wanted to see real guns and she was going to say no. I told her did she want her son to stick around the neighbor kid's house when said kid got out his dad's gun ? Or did she want her child to be able to leave because her son's curiousity was already satisfied? We talked about the apple and we talked about guns and she got it.

From the time I was little I played with both real and toy guns. Yes played, but I knew about real and and knew toys, and I knew about loaded and unloaded and I knew I had to ask first to handle the real. Always had to ask first, they weren't forbidden to me, just had to ask. That was part of the family agreement. That has been the same with my children.

But you do have to assess the personality of the individual child.

But (in my opinion) denying children toy guns, making real guns into objects of intense curiousity is only laying the groundwork for a potential issue. Especially, I repeat especially, in conjunction with today's video games and TV shows, especially cartoons.

Growing up, (at least in our country, the US), firearm usage was usually portrayed with some accompanying type of morality. Bad guys used guns wrong, good guys used guns right and there was some consequence of firearm usage. All too often, that morality is missing in today's venue.

 

[Nashanthra]

I will repost what I posted on this same topic a year ago.

My six year old has a 30 gallon bucket filled with Nerf guns, Star War guns and even a few old style cap guns. He loves them and I encourage it. He has been taught the difference between toy guns and real ones. He is a boy, and loves playing "clone wars" (Think Star Wars version of cops/robber). Even though he knows the difference between real and toy, he came running through the living room last weekend with his double barrel Nerf gun. He saw me eyeing him and he stopped. Smiled at me and said, "Barrel pointed in a safe direction and finger is off the Trigger", then took off to his room. I was so proud of him and told him so!

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I played with toy guns when I was a kid, and my friends and I "killed" each other many times over. But I knew that the toys were for play and the real guns were not. Similarly, I watched The Adventures of Superman on the B&W TV and would tie a bath towel around my neck like his cape and jump off furniture. But I knew better than to jump off the roof.

The upshot is that unless your kid is somehow disturbed and can't distinguish between fantasy and reality, there is no harm in letting him play with toy guns. (I don't mean to leave out girls, but, realistically, toy guns are pretty much a "boy thing.") IMO it is undoubtedly more beneficial for them to work off their energy and aggressions in this manner, than diagnosing them with ADD because they can't sit still for five minutes and filling them full of drugs.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Amen to that...well said.

 

[Dr T]

I grew up in the ranching country of West Texas. Out there, guns were (are) basic tools of the trade, and we were taught to shoot at an early age. I really can't remember playing with any toy guns past the age of 6. Interestingly, there were remarkably few firearms accidents, and I can remember no accidental shootings.

Since I had daughters, I really didn't have to face the toy gun issue head on. I taught both of them to shoot at about the age of 6. In principle, I really don't like toy guns.

 

[Eb1]

My daughter treats toy guns like real guns. Zero pointing at people unless you want to kill them.
We shoot nerf guns in the house at targets on the wall, and she shoots her 30 year old bb gun (my first bb gun) at cans and targets in the back yard wearing eye protection.

She knows how to field strip, load, and operate every gun that is in my cabinet, and we go over it weekly. She knows the terminology used in gun speak i.e. safety, muzzle, trigger, hammer, breach, butt stock, forearm, and bolt, etc. We watch the videos on MidwayUSA in regards to gun safety also.

She is seven, and I started to teach her gun safety at three years old. They are part of our lives. Sometimes she asks to hold the .44 Magnum or .22 Heritage if we are watching a cowboy show. I did the same thing when I was a kid. I would sit and clean my fathers revolvers while watching westerns with him when I was seven. Good times that I will never forget. And when I was ten I always had is 1911A1 on my hip down at the pond when fishing in case of snakes, or if the fish weren't biting a little turtle stew would make the day a lot more fun.

But when her friends are over ALL guns are locked up except the one that I keep with me. I just don't like the the idea that kids shoot at each other with nerf guns or air soft. It kinda freaks me out some because I don't know if the other kids and their parents are as educated. But I did play war everyday and night during summer break. So toy guns are fine with me. Just don't forget to educate your kids!

I really like The Lone Haranguer post though.

 

[MuleRyder]

Hard to play cowboys and indians without pointing cap guns at each other.

Besides, we played "war" by throwing dirt clods at each other.... definitely enough to make the safety freaks go apoplectic!

I was thinking the same thing. When we were kids, we played "war" and used dirt clods as grenades. Let kids be kids.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I had a relative whose son (about ten at the time) was pointing, what I believe to be a real (most likely, 22 rimfire) pistol at my back from some distance (about thirty feet away) and I could hear the click, click, clicking of the action.

I made an attempt to get the gun from the child which resulted in the child's parents chewing me out.

I find people like that are best to not be around, i.e., their little boy is just such an angel!
:banghead:

 

[guyfromohio]

Anecdote .... one of my 6 year-old's friends at his birthday party exclaimed "wow! I'm not allowed to have toy guns" and proceeded to go around the room doing head-shots until I confiscated it. May have been the "no toy gun rule" or may have been the anti-gun parenting that brought them to the rule. Regardless, he will be far more dangerous than the kids who are educated and comfortable.

 

[Skribs]

Toys are toys...paintball and airsoft are sports built AROUND shooting each other with non-lethal objects. Even the Army shoots at each other with MILES systems, right?

Granted, it's different for a 6-year-old compared with a 16-year-old, but I do plan on getting my nephew a nerf gun. More to annoy my sister than to get him involved in guns, though.

 

[USAF_Vet]

My step son has a lot of toy guns. He knows not to shoot others who aren't actively engard in playing with him, i.e. I'm having a nerf war in the living room and he shoots me vs. I'm watching the news on TV and he shoots me.

He is allowed to keep his toys in his room, but the real guns are locked up and he can only touch them under supervision.