Opinions on toy guns

[PaulD]

I had plenty of cap guns when I was a kid but sometimes it was more fun to smash the caps with a hammer on the driveway.

 

[FrugalFannie]

My son had a long list of nerf guns and water guns. Some have broken or whatever. Some are still around. He also shoots real guns. We talk about the difference. I don't worry about how he plays with a toy gun as far as things like pointing in a safe direction (after all, what good is a toy gun if you can't 'shoot' your friends?) or keeping your finger off the trigger. I save that for the real thing. We also have discussed that unless you know it's a toy (it's your toy or your friends toy) you assume it's real and treat it as such until an adult (usually mom or dad) confirm it's a toy.

 

[MetalgodZ]

I had plenty of cap guns when I was a kid but sometimes it was more fun to smash the caps with a hammer on the driveway.

Yup. That and between rocks.

Then we learned that if you stitch them together with a needle and thread, accordion-style through the centers of the caps, you can create bigger booms. I think they got taken away once we reached volumes loud enough to attract the attention of neighbors.

 

[dreamer]

I had plenty of cap guns when I was a kid but [STRIKE]sometimes [/STRIKE]it was ALWAYS more fun to smash the caps with a hammer on the driveway.

My take...

 

[arlow]

The myth that toy guns are bad is sheer moonbattery.

 

[Kalahari]

Toy guns are toys. Guns are not toys. Kids are smart enough to know the difference. Let them have at it.

 

[bostonasphalt2]

I grew up with toy guns and I turned out OK. I think if you are going to give your kids toy guns then you should use them as a tool to teach firearms safety.

forget that. I had toy guns as a kid and I was never taught proper firearm safety. The only important part is knowing that actually shooting someone with a gun has dire consequences. Even then, I learned that on my own (not by actually doing it though!). Have kids gotten so dumb that we need to protect them from themselves? Why cant kids be kids?

 

[Kalahari]

forget that. I had toy guns as a kid and I was never taught proper firearm safety. The only important part is knowing that actually shooting someone with a gun has dire consequences. Even then, I learned that on my own (not by actually doing it though!). Have kids gotten so dumb that we need to protect them from themselves? Why cant kids be kids?

Seriously.... +1.

 

[Mass-diver]

I had big wheels and my parents never even taught me about safe driving!

 

[bpm990d]

I hate the things. My kid will never have them but I bet he will be Distinguished before he gets out of HS.

B

 

[SineMetu82]

When I was growing up, say mid 80's to early 90's, I had a ton of toy guns. Me and my cousins and friends used to play Cowboys and Indians...when we didn't have toy guns we would use our fingers, and at Christmas time we would steal the candy canes off the Christmas tree to use as our make believe six shooters- you could even spin'em around your finger like a real western hero. We would watch old movies and re-runs like "Sands of Iwo Jima", "Sahara", and "Combat!" and pretend we were fighting imaginary Germans and "Japs". "Cops and Robbers" was another toy gun filled pastime. The only time we wouldn't use the toy guns playing "Cops and Robbers" was when we had our bikes and more or less pretended to be in high speed chases of each other. I had all kinds of different guns; squirt guns, cap guns...cowboy type guns, ray guns, army guns... I have a picture somewhere of me at maybe 5 or 6 years old with pint sized M3 Grease Gun toy that my grandmother bought me that looks real. I have a metal and wood toy rifle that looks kind of M1/M14ish that my best friend at the time gave me for my 8th birthday. I still have it. The metal is all rusted from playing in the rain and snow and the stock is cracked from jumping out of a neighborhood tree house. Someday when I have a son, I will refinish the metal and carve out a new stock and pass it on. There were no guns in my house, and when my uncles wanted to buy me a BB gun for my 12th birthday, Ma said "Not on your life are you giving my baby a GUN!". Ma didn't like guns, but she understood it was normal for boys to play with toy guns IF they knew and understood the difference between "just pretend" and "real life". That is the real question, does the child really know and understand that it is ok to play with toy guns but it is not ok to even touch a real gun without Mom or Dads say so? Also could the child tell the difference between a toy gun and a real gun? If the answer to both of those questions is "yes" then there should be no problem with toy guns. That may be a tough question to answer though. You need to be honest with yourself. Some kids aren’t old enough/aware enough to understand that. I grew up with plenty of toy guns and see no ill effects. Not from the toy guns anyway! Although one time I did smash out the 2 front baby teeth of a cousin with the butt of a water pistol when we both “came up shooting” at the same time from opposite sides of a foot rest. Oops. Total accident. Sorry buddy.

 

[RichM]

I had big wheels and my parents never even taught me about safe driving!

... but I made my son quit playing Need for Speed while he was learning to drive!

 

[TomH]

I loved toy guns when I was a kid. Mostly western style cap guns. And elastic guns. And pea shooters. And water guns... Although we certainly didn't practice any safe firearms behavior, and certainly had bad trigger discipline. I didn't grow up around guns or have any relatives that went to the range so no one taught me it. Still, no one ended up hurt and the bad habits have dissapeared!

 

[SKS Ray]

When I was a kid I had cap guns but got bored with them when I found out I could make an M-80 type BOOM by smashing a whole roll of caps with a big rock.

These days I still have toy guns only they're airsoft and I use them to hurt my co-workers.

 

[goofycj7]

Toy guns are toys, let kids play with them and understand that they are ...toys.
Most parents let kids play with toy drills, screwdrivers, hammers ect. And the kids learn pretty quick that the real hammers hurt when you hit your thumb.
I do not think playing with toy guns is any worse then playing with a toy circular saw. Unless you are a frigging idiot and let them run through downtown Boston/Worcester with a toy gun that looks real.

 

[Brian48]

I did a search and couldn't find anything recent on this topic, but I am sure it has been discussed before. I was reading an article not that long ago about children and toy guns. The article was pro 2A but also discouraged toy guns in the home.

What are people's opinions of toy guns in the home. I have a 4year old and a 2 year old and currently there are no toy guns in the home, however I remember growing up with them.

I have to admit, I think along the same way as the article. I grew up with toy guns and loved them, but my dad never owned any real ones. We had a Christmas party at the house one year when my son was about 3 years old. My sister-in-law bought him a plastic Army helmet with matching camo flak jacket, plastic knife, and (you guessed it) plastic 1911A1. My son took to it right way and went "bang bang bang" all over the place. It occurred to me that if he were to ever stumble across my real 1911 or some other gun, would he know the difference or even understand the danger? You can attempt to teach a kid all you want, but he's still a kid. Mind you, I was living in CT at the time and we did not have the mandatory locked gun laws that we have here in MA.

Anyway, it freaked me out and from there on, I've never bought him a toy gun outside of a supersoaker. He's 6 now and in a few years, I do plan on introducing him to the shooting sports starting with BB gun or .22, but until then I want to do everything I can to reinforce the notion that guns are NOT toys. They are tools to be respected. It's bad enough that I've seen enough idiot adults whom I've showed my guns too that do treat them like toys.

 

[RI_John]

Anyway, it freaked me out and from there on, I've never bought him a toy gun outside of a supersoaker. He's 6 now and in a few years, I do plan on introducing him to the shooting sports starting with BB gun or .22, but until then I want to do everything I can to reinforce the notion that guns are NOT toys. They are tools to be respected. It's bad enough that I've seen enough idiot adults whom I've showed my guns too that do treat them like toys.

I understand your concern and obviously, we as parents just want to protect our children and not instill bad or dangerous habits in them. But I think we underestimate what kids can understand. Maybe not at 3, but by 6 or 7.

I grew up surrounded by guns and I knew a few things by age 6. One was it was okay to play cowboys and indians with a realistic looking revolver that was a cap gun and I could point it at other kids and "shoot" them. The other was never, EVER touch my father's .38 revolver. Ever. Ever. Ever. It was never locked up. I knew where it was. I was alone in the house with it with my friends at age 8, 9, 10+.

But I knew the f**k what a real gun was and knew not only that real guns could kill you but that my FATHER would kill me worse than any gun could. I'm so serious about that. I would no sooner have picked up his gun than I would have grabbed the car keys and started his car or go plug in his circular saw. Some things you just didn't do.

 

[oldyankee]

Times have changed and IMHO there's not a simple answer to the question. Like many of the previous posters I grew up with many toy guns, and then went on to b-b guns around 12, and then .22s when I turned 15. My parents did not shoot so I learned gun safety from the firearms instructors at my Boy Scout troop, and my public grade school and high school rifle team coaches (imagine such a thing nowadays!). Dating myself here, but that was in the 50s/60s and since then (at least here in Massachusetts) there has been a serious decline in public shooting activities for children and as a result the instilling of firearms use and safety knowledge has become limited. That's part of the issue.

The media's focus on firearms was quite different then as well. Heck, some of the good guys didn't even wound the bad guys they shot at, never mind blow them completely apart in slow motion. Today, as noted by another poster, violence is glamorized and use of firearms rediculously overstated. That's another big part of the problem.

Therefore, if parents aren't involved in a child's education in firearms (as well as in what's real and what's fiction), I'd be really worried that the media's viewpoint would be dominant and the kids might get the wrong idea about what toys guns represent, i.e., just a toy and not a way to deal with the world.
Jim

 

[vellnueve]

I had every single Nerf gun available back in the day. I still have a few around the place. Plenty of other toy guns too.

 

[Bob P]

It's a toy. Play is a child's way of preparing to become an adult. If the kid wants a toy gun, let them have a toy gun.

 

[Zombieoutfitters]

Toy guns in a home with real guns

That would be me.

Guns are not toys ............. toys should not be guns.

I'm not crazy over the issue, but in my home, where REAL GUNS are present, I don't want toy ones laying around. It just makes me uncomfortable.

We're trying to have a family - so we're thinking about this stuff A LOT.

I grew up chasing my friends for HOURS and HOURS with cap guns, rifles, you name it. We had anything from sticks to capguns and pop guns the size of Ruger 10/22's with a 12ga shotgun-sized barrel and Winchester lever action. LOL We played with 'em until they broke...once our neighbor called the cops, who promptly came and "suggested" we use them in the backyard though we weren't doing anything wrong...just to appease the neighbor. Yeah even in the early 80's we were on the fast decline, socially in this state.

Part of the reason I think the way I do about this topic - which is contrary to my nature to say "fukk it, play with them they are only toys" is, with a house full of guns (my parents didn't have any) and my LTC on record - I DON'T want the cops having any reason to come to the call of "kid with a gun" on my doorstep...EVER.

Eventually around 12 we transitioned to BB guns and miraculously we treated those with respect. Probably because of the big deal our parents made of how they WEREN'T TOYS - and were dangerous. Even saying that as they handed them to us told us in a way to "respect these things or they will get taken away...OR WORSE!". So we did respect them.

We still played with toy guns occasionally...but knew DAMN well the difference. At the same age we shot the shit out of each other with laser tag guns...but "oddly" we never did the same with bb guns. Kids are NOT dumb, we have to remember that as adults it's hard to remember what it was like to think as a kid...but we knew and the average kid taught well will know too.

I wrestle myself on the topic, but ultimately it comes down to this for ME. With real guns in the house...AND...living in Assachusetts - it's best that in a semi-urban neighborhood there has to be a HUGE distinction between real and toy. That means no realistic toy guns. Besides, by the time my kid will know that s/he wants to play with guns, they will have been introduced to them already by ME and know they are NOT toys.

My aim is introduce guns EARLY through airsoft and family target practice as well as gun cleaning at the kitchen table - teaching proper handling and storage from the get-go. As they get older and depending on their displayed aptitude, we can introduce air guns, then .22, etc. I saw a guy with his (had to be) 8 year old son at the range the other day...a beautiful sight.

Guns are a part of my life and visible almost every day when being cleaned, put away or what have you. I'm not going to hide in some dank corner of my basement in my own home. My kids are going to know what guns are and how to handle them...OR NOT...as the case may be.

That's the plan anyway!

 

[Zombieoutfitters]

i wonder if when i have kids they'll play "survivors vs zombies" instead of "secret agents and canadians" lol

I'm right there with you Masterguns!!!

 

[jdubois]

My wife brought home a plastic blunderbuss for my 3 year old. He was pretty excited to have it. I started to teach him about how the flintlock worked, how you pull the dog back, close the frizzen, and then press the trigger. He liked that. Then I told him he shouldn't point it at anybody. He said, "But dad, it's just a toy." I said, "yes, but if you ever want to shoot daddy's guns, I have to see you can be responsible with the toy." He just let out a big sigh, put the thing down, and walked away to play with something else, with a "daddy is a pain in my ass" look on his face. I had underestimated him, and he clearly knew the difference full well.

 

[60 buckscash]

I have a slightly different perspective from the parents here. I am 26, and have 3younger brothers from the ages of 6-13. I have seen them make the transition from little brother guns to big boy(BB/paintball) guns and eventually to Daddy(actual firearms) guns.

They all know that lightining bolts and giant thunder claps will fall from the heavens if they move within 3 feet of a BB or real gun without mine or my parents permission. When the 13 year old turned 10 he got a red ryder for Christmas. I am planning on getting another one this year for the next one. A year or two ago I bought a henry and started working with the 13 year old on real guns.

With the right parental interest (using my brothers as an example) toy guns are okay with with real guns in the house

 

[Bob P]

I didn't have toy guys growing up... so when we played cowboys and indians, or "Secret Agent and Canadians" (I was a weird kid...) we used our fingers in lieu of toy guns. So it doesn't matter if they have the objects or not, I'm pretty sure kids will still play.

LMAO @ Secret Agent and Canadians!

 

[jasons]

I think toy guns are fine for kids, but I'm personally not a huge fan of the ultra-realistic ones. Depends on the kid, age, brainpower, etc. I guess....

 

[jhblaze1]

I loved toy guns when I was a kid. Mostly western style cap guns. And elastic guns. And pea shooters. And water guns... Although we certainly didn't practice any safe firearms behavior, and certainly had bad trigger discipline. I didn't grow up around guns or have any relatives that went to the range so no one taught me it. Still, no one ended up hurt and the bad habits have dissapeared!

same for me. I don't like to believe that kids are really that stupid that they can't tell a toy from a real gun, although the public school system is doing its best to prove me wrong.

 

[Executive]

When my boys were small, Mrs. Executive was opposed to toy guns. We bought them Legos. They promptly made toy guns out of the Legos. They now shoot everything from AR's to 1911's to compound bows, and Mrs. Exec has no problem with it. Kids will use imagination to have fun. I say let them.

Chris