Having Toy Guns in the Home

[Spanz]

Start off with some nice rubber band guns! Potato gun is great too

 

[EMTDAD]

I'm fairly new to the game. Kids have had toy guns.. Nerf, plastic. etc.. Finally recently got our licenses and purchased real firearms. Obviously, those stay locked.

Kids were exposed to real firearms for the first times at 8 and 10 yrs old. Both went to ranges, and experienced supervised shooting. As part of scouts, they were fed the Eddie Eagle program. Occasionally, out of the blue, I quiz them on the 4 rules of firearm safety.

Everyone's different. I'm a big proponent of education. Sure you can protect them 99% of the time, but if they ever get the chance at that 1%, I want them to KNOW what do do (or not do).

Now I know my kids (at least I think I do). They are very respectful and have been taught what they can/can't touch. They don't touch my power tools, even though they are not locked up.

In the end, it's going to be your family's decision... nobody here can teach you how to parent.

 

[Realtor MA]

Why draw the line at guns? Toy swords : real knives. A child's construction set with saw and hammer : real tools. A whiffle ball and bat : real ball and bat.
stuffed animals : real animals. Fake stove : real stove.

 

[namedpipes]

Im not worried about that.
-the question was directed for children within that curious age range and are looking at any gun as a possible toy, because it looks like something that have played before.


For those who responded keep your guns locked up.... As mentioned this was not a question about my owne personal home safety measures to keep my own guns out of their hands. It either on my person, or locked up.

-there is an age where a child is not going say ......"this one is real, I'm not going to pick it up"

Was just curious how others have dealt with this, education/safety, no toy guns until one is of age "fill in the blank" when they better understand. Etc

Not just "keep you guns locked up" ...... That is obvious

If you are compliant with Mass law (and your post indicates you are) then the kids CANNOT access a real gun thinking/treating it as a toy, so it will not be a problem.

By the time they are old enough to have access to them you'd damned well better have covered the training they need to safely handle them and it will *still* not be a problem.

So either way, it's not a problem. Let them be kids...

 

[knoxy]

Keep guns secure, dispel the mystery, and teach them safety.

My 1st daughter got to see me building and cleaning guns at 3-4. Acted normal, showed her how they work, and talked with her about safety. Now guns are no big deal to her but she understands they can be very dangerous if not used safely.



My 2 yr old is showing more interest:

 

[RYJ]

for science of course.

View attachment 165739

LMAO ME Too

 

[spcantwell]

Just my $.02 but learning the difference between real and toy guns is no different then the difference between real and toy knives (plenty of toy sets include swords or daggers) or real and toy tools (plastic hammers that make funny sounds and daddies hammer that can break a finger). As long as the real stuff is locked up age appropriately toys are a good way to teach proper gun safety....

 

[Ringworm]

Give your kids toy guns. Keep the real ones locked up. Move on.

+1
End of story.

 

[rkwjunior]

Let them play with toy guns, that's a no brainer, then properly educate them, just be a parent.

When i was that age i had a toy gun that was made of solid metal, looked, felt and weighed as much as a real gun, except for the orange plug in the end, and the plug was barely noticeable. At that point my father had guns in the house, in-fact he always did, but i'm not sure he had educated me on them yet, eventually he did.
I knew the difference after he did educate me, i never ever touched any of his real guns, I was plenty happy with my BB guns... and my life...lol

 

[jron]

My mother prohibited us having any kind of toy guns, Not sure the reasoning behind it honestly. Now I am a gunoholic

 

[Dadstoys]

We all had toy guns, BB guns you name it.
No one got hurt because we were taught right.
Now the home made bows and arrows on the other hand....

 

[Infinite Jester]

We always had toy guns when I was a kid in the 70's and early 80's. At the time the realism factor was still prevalent, and we would carry them through suburban neighborhoods for "war games". Not an orange tip in sight. No one ever called the cops. Not once. These days, I'd be hesitant to let my kids do what I did. They're 18 & 21 now, so they still got to play with somewhat realistic looking ones.

My dad had real guns all over the house. I had his childhood .22 rifle in my room since I was 8. He had a Browning rifle under the bed and shotgun in the corner of his bedroom. He built Kentucky long rifles as a hobby, and I can clearly remember being 10 years old and feeling the kick of that brass butt stock.

All in all. We all knew the difference between real and fake back then. Dad was anything but heavy handed, but I guess we were just kids with common sense.

 

[hillman]

Moral issues aside, here is a problem we are seeing with my 5 year old. He loves Nerf guns and toy guns. He's a damn good shot as he can seem to hit my eyes from anywhere in the house! But, because these are the toys he loves and plays with, he has no interest in Legos or other toys the kids at school and in the neighborhood play with. He finds them boring and it has caused a few issues at birthday parties and such.

The trade off is he's very safe around my replica guns that I test him with every so often, they are not a mystery, he will not pick one up.

 

[tuna]

Toy guns are ok in my home. Kids know the difference between a real and fake gun.
Toy knives are usually bought in a kit that we all put together, then the kids carry the wooden or plastic knives around so they understand the appropriateness of ALWAYS having a knife on you.
Real knives are given, and usually quickly taken away when rules are broken.
Real guns (so far only my 7 year old has had access to live ammo in her .22) are either locked up or on me. Kids, being kids will ask to see / touch / play with / dry fire my real guns. I always drop whatever I'm doing, clear the gun and allow it. Always. "Playtime" always starts with "Is this gun loaded", and they understand that until they see for themselves, the answer is "YES" - always. Then they play for a while while I reinforce the rules of gun handling.
My kids know where every one of my guns is - probably could help me find guns I forgot about. They have zero curiosity about them. They know what they are, and when they want to see one, they ask. There is no need to find out what is in the magical container.
When they play with guns, the only rule is dart / nerf guns aren't to be pointed at a face. All else goes - they're toys.
Kids aren't half as dumb as most adults.

 

[uncle griz]

Give your kids toy guns. Keep the real ones locked up. Move on.

+1

 

[tk421991]

Personally I never had toy guns growing up unless they were say action figures like Han Solo that had mini toy guns that went into the hand of the action figure, or say a WW2 soldier toy with a K98 or something. I was surrounded by real guns - rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders. Nothing was ever locked and I survived and no one got hurt. Amazing, isn't it? Then again I didn't live in Mass

 

[In God We Trust]

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. My 3 year old plays with toy nerf guns and knows not to shoot them at anyone. He has a couple other toy guns and plays the occasional video game with guns in it.

To each their own, but at 3 he knows that Dada has "real" guns and he knows on some level that they are not toys. Of course he rarely sees the real guns and they are always locked up.

I'm not concerned about any libtard fallout if he talks about guns. I will deal with that harshly (not on him) when and if it comes.

 

[mikem317]

Only translucent, water guns. Like the cheap ones at the Dollar Store.

I think it's confusing and hypocritical to allow them to have replica toy guns. So I buy and build real guns for my kids when they are sufficiently mature and responsible enough to have them.

 

[mikem317]

Another thought came to mind:

Virulently anti-gun former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders once said something about this subject. Something to the effect that kids should not be gifted or use toy guns.

And I agree. They should be given real guns (when appropriate).

 

[speedy]

I was given a gun to teeth when I was a baby. Love nibbling on the darn thing.
My kids are growing up with toy guns. We always practice proper etiquette of course when handling them and playing around.
They are great at the range. They are well aware of their environment and sometimes they even keep me honest when I get close to being out of bounds.

 

[Varmint]

Why draw the line at guns? Toy swords : real knives. A child's construction set with saw and hammer : real tools. A whiffle ball and bat : real ball and bat.
stuffed animals : real animals. Fake stove : real stove.

My kids have already learned what hitting each other with wood and metal objects feels like, so they don't do it to each other. It's not so easy to teach them what being shot feels like.

 

[trubs]

Kindergartner Suspended for Bringing Bubble Gun to Class

Popular plastic toy sold at stores across Colorado...

BRIGHTON, Colo. — A 5 year-old girl was suspended from kindergarten on Monday for bringing a gun to Southeast Elementary School.


It sounds alarming, but the weapon was a bubble gun, a popular plastic toy sold at stores across Colorado.
The girl’s mother, who goes by Emma, said she was shocked when she got a call from the school telling her she needed to pick up her daughter and take her home.
“If they had contacted me and said can you make sure this doesn’t happen again, we just want you to be aware, I think that would have been a more appropriate way to handle the situation. Could we have a warning? It blows bubbles,” she said.
http://www.infowars.com/kindergartner-suspended-for-bringing-bubble-gun-to-class/

 

[42!]

When I was growing up I had toy guns that weren't far off from real looking, but there were no real guns in my family until I was 12 or 13.

As a father with 4 kids and real firearms securely stored in my home or on my person, I always thought toy guns should look like toys. So water-guns and nerf were fine as long as they had that obviously toy appearance. There is a period of time between when they will enjoy these toys and they've developed enough to teach them about firearms and expect them not to be overly curious.

 

[Goliathan]

When I was in the 8th grade in the 80s a kid in my class got caught with a knife in his backpack. Teacher saw it or something. She took it, said don't ever bring it to school again, and told him to come get it from her at the end of the day. No suspension, no lockdown, and they didn't call up the National Guard.

 

[babygorilla]

I used to carry a straight blade buck knife to school in a sheath on my belt, no one ever said a damn thing and nothing bad ever happened. Typically I was riding my 10 speed and was going to stop off on the way home to do some fishing after school in Leonards Pond. My how times have changed.

 

[Jarcese]

I had a Transformers snap cap gun that turned from Optimus Prime into a shotgun. I remember shooting it in the hospital when my sister was born in 1986. Time have changed. Every single kid I knew had a cap gun when I was little.

Sent from my 0PJA2 using Tapatalk

 

[Chevy 2 65]

Good lord.

 

[Chet0729]

I was a kid right as cap guns went from being decently constructed and used the long paper rolls to the cheap plastic 8 shot thingies. I had a blast playing cowboys and indians with the smoke and everything. I'm certainly going to get my kids toy guns - they are tons of fun.

Thats Cowboys and Native Americans

I grew up in the 60's and we had all kind of toy guns. Some shot plastic bb's, caps, corks and these little disks. My mother hated the plastic bb and disk guns, the ammo went everywhere. We also had real bb guns. My favorite was the air bazooka. No one got killed

 

[Shark_Cage]

Thats Cowboys and Native Americans

I grew up in the 60's and we had all kind of toy guns. Some shot plastic bb's, caps, corks and these little disks. My mother hated the plastic bb and disk guns, the ammo went everywhere. We also had real bb guns. My favorite was the air bazooka. No one got killed

That's Cowboys and First Peoples LOL

 

[fshalor]

I had a Transformers snap cap gun that turned from Optimus Prime into a shotgun. I remember shooting it in the hospital when my sister was born in 1986. Time have changed. Every single kid I knew had a cap gun when I was little.

Sent from my 0PJA2 using Tapatalk

This. W t f am I gonna do to teach my 2.5 year old son how to live in this feeuucked up world.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk