[schlemer]

How many allow their children to play with toy guns?

For me this is a bit of a hypocrisy. When I was a kid in the 70s my parents allowed my to play cowboys and indians. The 6 shooter was a staple of that sort of play. Now that have kids of my own and am a gun enthusiast, I do not like the idea of them playing with toy guns. I feel that it is a tool that should be respected and should never be considered a toy.

Now this is just how I feel. I do not disrespect anyone who allows their own kids to play with them. I just don't like them pointed at my kids. Water guns however are a different story. So long as they are of the goofy, multicolored, clear plastic kind. Not the realistic ones.

 

[grouchy hippo]

Shane didn't seem bothered by little Joey playing with his toy gun.

 

[tourus pt140]

I think that toy guns should be respected as much as a real one kids need to learn gun safty and toy ones are perfect for the little ones untill they are old enough to go with you to the range

 

[bmrtek]

I let my children play with toy guns when I thought that they were old enough to understand the difference between toys and the real thing. The kids were not allowed to point toy guns at each other. I guess I used the toy guns as an early learning tool. The kids had cap guns first then graduated to the type that shoot plastic BBs. If they pointed the guns at each other they had the guns taken away for a while. After they were allowed to shoot the real thing they lost intrest in toy guns. As they matured they were allowed to have pellet rifles. I also had them read a little book called My First Rifle. When they mistreated their rifles I would take the rifles away. I hope I have tought my children responsable gun ownership.

 

[joe sixpack]

i always had toy guns when i was growing up.. i dont see any reason not to unless the kid is unstable..

as far as toy guns go i dont really prescribe to the "treat every guns as if it's loaded" or "respect all guns" policy.. toy guns are toy guns.. give a toy gun to a 5 year old then lecture them about how to carry and hold the gun.. its' a freaking plastic toy guns.. some people are over serious about stuff.

could you imagine.. "sorry guys i can't play my daddy wont let me run with my toy gun, point it at you.. or make bang bang sounds with pretend bullets."

 

[schlemer]

i always had toy guns when i was growing up.. i dont see any reason not to unless the kid is unstable..

joe, Im glad you mentioned that. I forgot to mention that my 10 year-old son has autism. For him it is out of the question. I feel that he may mistake one of my real ones for a toy. That being said, I am religious about keeping weapons locked up or on me. My 5 year old daughter on the other hand is not afraid to ask gun questions about my guns.

Some of you guys make some good points about early responsibility.

 

[dbsoundguy]

What a interesting post
Hope i can get some answers on this myself

As a kid , i played war with all my buddies, we always were pointing and shooting each other( bring back memories to anyone..lol :guns
Then i got old enough to go hunting and i never remember a confusion between real and toy guns.
I was hunting Quail and Doves when i was about 8-9.
Had a Ithaca 16 gauge shotgun and a Marlin .22
Back then, where i lived we hunted year round.
We were probably to young to have real guns by ourselves but i think because of our fathers teaching, we always knew how to behave with them.

Now that i am teaching my grandkids, i almost find myself being a hypocrite.. :bang:
I got really mad the other night because my oldest grandson was playing war with his brother..
I told him that since i have been taking him shooting, he needs to be a little more responsible..After that, i started thinking about my childhood and i did the same thing at his age..
Now i am confused on this exact thing with toy guns myself :-[

Things are different now than when i was a kid:
You have PlayStation, X Box and all the killing in these games has had some effect on kids.(Yes I also play these games) Plus you have kids growing up without Dads and role models..
If you look at kids now days, you can see the mentality of the way they think and it is scary..


Thank God there are still some parents out there that are willing to teach kids about hunting and guns..
My hat is off to anybody still willing to teach there kids

But i think as parents, we have to adjust to the times we are in now,and learn a new approach on teaching..
I think it was a little easier on our parents back then..

So when someone has a good answer on how to handle these new times that we are in and this thing on toy guns, i would like to be the first to know .. I need all the help i can get because i have a lot of grand kids..

 

[grouchy hippo]

There is a difference between hunting and war so teaching your grandkids that is important. More so, as you have said, in this world of increased violence in video games and movies. That being said I am not opposed to kids playing with OBVIOUS toy guns. I say obvious with emphasis because I don't want some trigger happy person shooting a child because they think he (or she of course) has a real gun. As I said, Shane wasn't concerned about Joey plaing with a toy gun because it was a form of training for the future.

My grandsons (I have four) play with various toys but one is talking about being a soldier one day. He plays soldier and plays with toy soldiers and such now. WIll he one day be a soldier? Who knows, but this play will either add to a sincere interest or if it is not sincere he will get over it. Either way is fine with me. Just so long as the choice is his when the time is right.

 

[dbsoundguy]

There is a difference between hunting and war so teaching your grandkids that is important.

You are very correct

I did not word that as well as i wanted, i meant that when i was a kid, we always had shooting wars with anything that we could find..(anybody remember "Disk Guns"..lol , moms sure hated finding all those little disks everywhere)

My grandson is 8 and his thoughts sometimes are scary, he always remembers how things are done on the video games..
I was about 8-9 when i had real guns, I imagine my dad would worry alot when we would go out, but it never showed..

My grandson on the other hand, from talking with him, i would not let him go out until he was much older..
All his reality of guns and stuff have come from Video games, so i have a hard time trying to get him to relate in what it is really like to handle guns.
i will say he sure has learned fast and is very responsable when he is out with all of us adults( I am very proud of him)
Now what is cool is he wants to go hunting with Gramps,I see a hunter education course coming real soon for him

 

[stephpd]

Didn't have toy guns growing up. Just used a stick, also good as a sword. Trash can lid for shield. Also remember TV being more violent; Cowboy movies, WWII movies, Hogan's heroes, 3 stooges, bugs bunny............. Was told by the mainsteam these would all cause us to go crazy and start killing everything.

Did have real guns, for hunting, and somehow the mind of a child was able to tell the difference between the two. Don't ever pulling out the real guns for make believe play time.

And fights were fights, no weapons. Just someone beating up someone else. Fun to watch, fun to win, not so fun if you lost. Don't remember any kids dying, just an establishment of the pecking order and kids to avoid. :???:

 

[joe sixpack]

(anybody remember "Disk Guns"..lol , moms sure hated finding all those little disks everywhere)

man those was fun, i forgotten all about those.. i wonder if they still make them.

i remember rubber band guns too.. those was fun..

 

[grouchy hippo]

Keep in mind that the tv violence of years gone by was less realistic than what we see today. And in B&W days it was even less real.

 

[Jason1351]

My 3yr old lil girl out shoots her older male cousins when it comes to the Nerf dart gun wars that happen every time there around eachother. Kinda makes me proud when they start crying and whining when she doesnt give'em any mercy.

 

[Funshooter]

I agree with grouchy hippo on this. My kids have had some of the obvious nerf guns, but I do not like the air soft type guns. One of the less desireable kids in my nieghborhood had an air soft that looked like an AR 14 and freaked out my 9yr old daughter. I looked into the situation before calling the LEOs and found out what it was. He turned out to be pretty receptive to some suggestions, so I gave him a quick safety course. Saw him the other day and he was handling it better, so something must have taken.
It is deffenately a different world than I grew up in. My son is 13 will start learning on a single shot .22 rifle pretty soon. I don't have access to the spots I had when I was young, though and have to do the range thing.
I think the NRA safety courses are great starters.

 

[dbsoundguy]

Kinda makes me proud when they start crying and whining when she doesnt give'em any mercy.

lol....

 

[pioneer461]

If kids are not allowed to play with toy guns, they will find a way to simulate them, such as pointing "finger guns," making them from scraps of wood and tubing, etc.

I was an "Army Brat" and my father, and the fathers of my playmates, furnished us with real military gear such as helmets, web gear, holsters, canteens, tents, and in my case an M-1 bayonet. For play guns, we used whatever we could get our hands on. Some store-bought, some improvised. We visited the training areas on post, where we found empty brass and links, which we put together for our play "machine guns." During some special events, we even had an opportunity to play with parked (ignition disabled) tanks and artillery pieces. It was great fun and a valuable learning experience.

During my childhood, in the 1950's, we did not of course have the options for play such as we see today. Things have dramatically changed with the advent of computers and polymer (real) firearms, but safety lessons have remained important. My Dad, a combat veteran of WW2 & Korea, very firmly instilled in me the idea of gun safety, even toy guns. If I broke the rules and was caught, there were clearly defined penalties. I never got caught.

Some studies have revealed what most of us know by instinct, that young male humans have a natural inclination to play at war, thus preparing us for protection of the tribe. Young girls on the other hand, have a natural desire to play at domestic scenarios, preparing them for care of the family and home. No political correctness here folks, that's just the way it is. Kids are going to play with toy guns, whether they have to invent them or not. Any attempt at political correctness, to guide young boys away from playing with guns, confuses their natural instincts and corrupts millions of years of evolution.

The first time I got my hands on a real firearm, a .22 rifle, was when I joined the NRA's Junior Marksmanship Program, at the ripe old age of 12. I received my first firearm on my next birthday, which was a milestone of my life. The lessons learned in my childhood remain with me to this day.

Duty. Honor. Country. Thanks dad.

 

[dbsoundguy]

pioneer461 ....Nice reply, very well said
Thanks

 

[sethnchrista]

My older son (4) and I love to play nerf war. Nerf guns are, as has been said, obviously different. I keep real guns locked but not completely hidden. When I clean my guns, I invite my son to sit with me and teach him about gun safety. He almost always repeats (4 year olds love repeating)- "That gun is vewwy dangowiss! We hafta be caowfow..." He also understands that he's not allowed near it without me holding it. Next year when he is 5 I'll take him to the range and let him pull the trigger on my .22 mossberg. It will be an evolving lesson.
Water guns are good too. Like many here, I wouldn't be comfortable with either of my sons playing with a gun that doesn't have an obvious orange barrel tip or some other feature that distinguishes it from guns that are not toys.

 

[bmrtek]

pioneer461

Very well put.

 

[Gray_Wolf]

I played with guns when I was a kid; toyguns, cap guns, airsoft, airguns (bough my own at 18) and now I 'play' with firearms. in fact I still call them toys! (but don't treat them as such )

I'm in Canada (anyone wants to borrow a few liberals?) and there's a lot of the anti-gun crap here. I've seen a few times at stores moms say 'no guns' to kids when toy shoping and I have to say I feel sorry for them. There's nothing wrong with playing with toy guns IMO. Kids are kids and will learn to respect guns as they grow up.

I don't have any childred (yet) but when I will I won't alow my kids to play with any non gun toys