| Toy guns
Posted: 12/31/2006 5:42:59 PM | | I grew up in the NWT, where guns were used as tools for hunting, and bringing home a moose, or a caribou. Most kids knew how to clean, load and handle a rifle quite young. However, from a very young age, kids were taught the right way to use them, and what they were for. Yes, we all still played cops and robbers, and had toy guns and used sticks as guns too, and we still grew up to be functional adults who did not kill things...again, it all boils down to proper parenting - teaching our children about the things that are dangerous, and why, and showing them proper ways to handle it. Simply saying it is a weapon and is banished is foolish -you can kill someone with anything if you set your mind to it. | |
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Posted: 12/31/2006 5:55:40 PM | | Until he starts carrying a glock, I wouldn't be too concerned. Nice to see that some people actually parent their kids instead of ignoring everything the kids do then blame the system or the schools when their kids f*ck up. | |
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| Toy guns
Posted: 12/31/2006 11:48:12 PM |
Incidentally, any kid, ANY KID can tell the difference between a toy gun and a real firearm
This is so completely wrong. There are numerous accounts of POLICE OFFICERS who were unable to tell the difference. Toy guns are so incredibly realistic, it is an irresponsible statement to assume ALL KIDS could possibly tell the difference.
Lets keep the discussion to actual facts - the real kind, not made up ones. | |
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Posted: 1/1/2007 12:55:24 AM | I have 2 boys, 6 and 12
They play with toy guns all the time.
Educating your child about a gun and the dangers of it, is to me what I felt was best.
I think its in males genetic make up going back to caveman to use weapons, be it speers, guns, or bows. | |
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Posted: 1/1/2007 1:03:09 AM | I kind of struggle with this issue to but I found that I can't really stop it. I share custody and can't control what happens at the other house. I can control what happens at my house but then things happen like at the park.....he found another boy who actually had a plastic gun there and played with him.
I guess I sort of decided on.....guns (any weapons) are not ok to play at school and only ok to play with other kids at the park if they are playing guns too. Meaning don't start shooting everyone at the park. I also have talks with him about what guns do in real life and what happens when people get hurt. He seems to respect this and asks me first if it is ok to play.
There is so much violence in the world in many forms (cartoons, movies, the news, video games, adults yelling & fighting outside, etc.....) all we can do is talk to our kids and let them know right from wrong. Eventually they will make their own decisions good or bad regardless of what we say. Hopefully some of our talks will get through and they will make the right decisions.
I grew up playing guns with other kids and I feel it actually taught me some skills such as how to be quiet and hide, agility, how to track things, etc.... Not everyone will need these things but they come in handy when you are hiking and trying to find a lost trail and so forth... | |
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Posted: 1/1/2007 6:41:45 PM | I think a lot of it also boils down to responsible parenting too, Ok yes we do live in a more Violent Society these days...certainly more so Than when I was a kid, I'm 44 this month and was allowed to play with Toy Guns and Bows & Arrows and all that sort of stuff as a Kid. Spent many happy days in the fields or woods playing war games or cowboys and indians and having a good laugh...I was a bit of an ambush specialist hiding out in bushes waiting for the 'enemy' to come past before making my move and then possibly falling about with laughter having just scared the daylights out of my 'opponent' The important thing here is that we all knew it was only a game and it stayed that way because that is how we were brought up by our parents....I didn't grow up to be a Psycho wanting to kill everyone
It got us out of the house and plenty of exercise too compared to todays overweight couch generation playing Computer Games...(Some of those being quite violent ironically enough but you still let your kids play them !!!)
Ok I live in the UK, so guns are maybe as not easily available as they are in the States (but I wont kid myself here either because where there is a will, there is a way to get hold of them) I was allowed to use knives during my time in the Scouts and learned to respect them and later did time in the Forces actually firing several Real Weapons and learning to respect them too (Try working down the butts on the Firing Range doing the Targets and watching all the stuff flying everywhere and ricochets too...you know not to get in the way of them !!!)
Kids will always find a way of using their imagination to invent weapons....we used small tree branches if we had no toy guns available.
It is not old fashioned wargames encouraging violence these days but more the wannabe Gangsta image where guns/knives and Violence is too readily Glorified...along with the attitude promoted by it as well....There is plenty of evidence of this all over the internet as to who they are copying......I wont blame the Music...just the Image that goes with it. | |
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Posted: 1/1/2007 8:15:25 PM | i'm in the camp of those who advocate letting kids play with toy guns and teach them about the difference between toy and real. i grew up around guns and played with toy guns all the time. the only gun i have now is a pellet gun and i take my boys out to shoot it. i teach them about real guns just as i learned it: about checking any gun someone hands you to make sure it's unloaded, how to carry it properly, understanding that when you are the one shooting you take the time to look around to see where other people are etc.
i'd much rather they understand that even a pellet gun will blast through a tin can with ease and that is a lot different than pointing a stick at someone and saying 'bang, bang'. most importantly for me is that i'd much rather my kids learn about guns and the proper handling of them from ME rather than some kid who know where dad keeps the key for the gun cabinet. | |
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Posted: 1/2/2007 3:01:26 PM | Now this is spooky because this video has just appeared and covers the very subject that is being discussed here except that the kids have grown up a bit now but still using sticks for Guns...and the odd log for a Mortar/Bazooka launcher and maybe the odd sound effects....listen for the human version of machine gun fire...!!! (That really brings back memories)...These are grown dads using nothing more than the same imagination that we did as kids.
It makes exactly the point I was making above.
Also Ironic is that it was filmed in woods just 4 miles from the woods where I used to play games as a Kid....and it is sometime since I lived in that area.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1579238392
Watch it and see some harmless childhood memory fun....There is NO bloodshed although one shot does like someone pee'd their pants lol !!! | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 9:56:02 AM | | Ok are you kidding me. what child throught out time hasn't had a toy gun to play with as a child. you know all those school shootings by kids, they where asking what they where listening to or what they where watching. who the **** cares seriously its how you treat your kids and how you disipline them. Toy guns are just something fun for kids to play with. Treat your kids hoiw to us guns right and they will be fine | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 10:20:37 AM | | I was one of those parents that in the begining said no way no how now guns, swords etc. Then my son turned his toast into a gun, and his finger, and his lego and every stick he could find. I realized that he was going to play with them whether I bought him a toy one or not. Today both of my son's play with toy guns, they have toy army men, and those lego knight (which have swords), My oldest got a toy wooden samuri sword from Japan, etc. Having toy guns and other toy weapons isn't going to determine who they become, it's how they are raised and what you teach them about weapons in genreal. For example, Their toys camping set came with a plastic hunting knife. They know they can play with that one but also know that real knives are dangerous. The same with guns, they know the difference between a toy and a real gun, playing with a toy one has not made them aggressive, or wanting to commit violent acts etc. | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 2:30:51 PM | I entirely allow my son to play with toy gun, swords, etc. If I didn't, he'd just use his thumb and finger or a branch anyway, and I would be less aware of what he is doing and how he is doing it. As it is, he understands how dangerous a real gun or weapon is, that they are very different from the toys he plays with and must be handled with the utmost responsbility. He knows for instance that under the laws of our Anglo-Nordic ancestors, if a man injured himself on a weapon you left just laying about, you'd be held liable for the wound.
Violence and aggresion is not a learned behavior. It is a fundamental aspect of pretty well every single organism is existence. It is there in the human race, and in our children, regardless of the level of acceptence.
I choose to make my son aware of his aggressive impulses, and teach him how to deal with them, rather than ignoring them and hoping they'll just cease to be. If he doesn't learn from me and other men, he'll learn from his peers, who, by definition, don't know any more or less than he himself knows. | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 3:17:34 PM |
Violence and aggresion is not a learned behavior. It is a fundamental aspect of pretty well every single organism is existence. It is there in the human race, and in our children, regardless of the level of acceptence.
Well I agree with your stint about playing with guns and swords. I would much rather teach my son proper usage of them around me, then simply to concede it's the items themselves that is causing the evil.
However I don't know if I can fully agree with the above statement. Children are not born with aggression in them. Only when exposed to situations will they start to exhibit behavours that may appear to be aggression. When in reality it is more of simply not understanding their environment, and feeling the need to correct it.
To have aggression towards something, you first have to exhibit anger towards something. To have anger towards something, you first have to feel it's wrong. So unless little Bobby is taught that his toys are his, and no one else.. When another kid comes to play with them, why would he even care.
Violence is a result of aggression. Violence is when you have have anger towards something, and you decide to take it out on someone or something. And there are many different forms of violence..
To me these are learned emotions. It's like Hate. Racist people are not born with the idea that the another race is less worthy then them. But in fact is taught that by their direct environment. | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 6:55:24 PM | | Everything thing from lions to sheep to one celled organisms, none of which have any moral concept, exhibit aggression and violence. It is a basic survival instinct. | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 7:23:10 PM |
Everything thing from lions to sheep to one celled organisms, none of which have any moral concept, exhibit aggression and violence. It is a basic survival instinct.
Yes it's called survival instinct.. Not aggression. There is a difference. The Lion does not hate the Zebra... It stalks and kills it to survive. It's not aggression, it's called getting dinner. When you bite into a pizza, are you showing aggression towards it? No because for you it's food. | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 8:29:43 PM | | Hmm.My son shot his first grouse at 10.He has a gun and a hunting licence.He loves to play toy guns,but has a lot of respect for the real thing,and sure knows the difference! | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 9:13:57 PM | | Nope my boys aren't allowed toy guns, and the know it now. It's an agreement that even their father is on..there are so many other amazing toys. | |
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Posted: 1/5/2007 11:00:38 PM |
Yes it's called survival instinct.. Not aggression. There is a difference.
No, there is not a difference... save for a trivial difference in semantics.
You seem to compare hatred and aggression, but this is where we enter into something more than a semantic difference, as the two are in entirely different ballparks. The pup that steps all over it's sibs in order to nuzzle it's mother's bosom is being aggressive, asserting it's right to life, it is not being hateful. | |
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Posted: 1/6/2007 1:25:15 AM | These is absolutely no need for toy guns in a child's civilized play society.
Why would anyone even consider it.
Same goes for shoot 'Em Up video games. | |
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Posted: 3/18/2008 1:20:55 PM | Tbay, you kinda ignore the fact that today's society is no more civilized than it was 200 years ago. In fact, it is much LESS civilized now. People are meaner, nastyer, and more likely to kill you for your SNEAKERS or a few $20's in your wallet.
gun violence 50-200 years ago meant a Duel, structured for the most part...the occasional rowdy barroom brawl, indian fighting, or dealing with pirates/highwaymen. You were in more danger from NATURE than you were from your fellow man. And people had MANNERS & respect for their elders...far cry from today.
On the upside I've used toy guns to spend time introducing modern weaponry to my 9yr-old. I made him name all the parts of a Nerf Shotgun before I gave it to him. I taught him that he is NOT to point it at nor shoot PEOPLE or DOGS with it (Cats are targets anytime...bloody wastes of fur). He wants to get an Airsoft gun next...if he continues to be responsible and follow directions properly, I've got no problem with that.
My entire family is service-oriented...we are firefighters, cops, military, etc...chances are he'll use a gun to serve his country one day and I've no problem with that at all...he'll be one of the few going into Boot that will be able to outshoot his instructor  | |
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Posted: 9/19/2008 10:17:44 PM | | I see nothing wrong with kids playing with guns, swords, hell, up to high school, when I was about 15, i used to play military with my friends and we would shoot at imaginary enemies, that was when i was 10, 11, 12 etc... and I played with sticks as swords and played with my friends in creativity in which we were in our own world and there was a story behind it all. Now I go out in the front yard and spar with my friends, wrestle, go to the shooting range, but all in good fun and I've turned out well, like someone said, boys will be boys, but yet we allow kids under 14 play grand theft auto or gears of war, or halo but they can't play with a toy gun, whats up with that? | |
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Posted: 9/20/2008 1:56:48 AM | My kid recently turned 8, and for his birthday he asked for a CO2 pellet gun. Since he already knows how to shoot with a bow and arrow, we went shopping and he chose a very nice Gamo single-shooter. I taught him range safety, and is always supervised.
Guns -weapons- are not going to disappear, and children need to be taught to be responsible around them. The "weapons are not allowed" approach is just like burying your head in the sand: they're not going to go, and your child will be exposed to them, whether you want it or not. | |
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Posted: 9/20/2008 5:59:37 AM | I just gotta shake my head at some people ... kids are okay to watch stupid, violent cartoons .... endless murders on television ... play violent video games ... watch horror movies from the time they learn to talk, and yet some parents don't want their child playing with toy swords or guns??
Yes, maybe some should worry about toy guns ... after all their child sees of guns is "bang bang- you're dead" on the t.v. Maybe some parents should actually take the time to explain and show kids what real guns are...and what they can do? It seems the less kids know of real guns, the more infatuated they are with them....thus, the problems happen.
I seriously don't think promoting sons to play dress up and play with barbies is ever gonna stop any violence from happening in this world... | |
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Posted: 9/20/2008 6:33:24 AM | All of my brothers received a BB or pellet gun when they were growing up. My dad and other relatives hunted and owned several real guns and cross bows themselves. When my brothers received the pellet guns, they were taken out to the feilds and bushes and shown how to shoot properly and use it reponsibly. When they were at home, the guns, whether real or not, went into the locked closet together. As my brothers got older, they got thier hunting licences and now own several real guns and cross bows. There has never been an incodent of violence with guns (fake or real) in my family and I attribute this to myself and my brothers being taught gun responsibility and dangers from my parents.
Your kids WILL play with toy guns, whether you allow it or not. When they go over to thier friends house, when they are at school, when they play video games where they shoot things, or even making a gun using thier 2 fingers... it's going to happen. It's no different than letting your children ride a bike on your street and telling them the proper rules and dangers of riding thier bike. By doing this, your child will know that it's wrong to ride in the middle of the road and not to signal or look both ways. The same goes with gun safety and proper use. The more the kids know, the better.
If 2 kids are in a house and they see a gun in a closet... who is likely to hurt themselves or others... the one who grew up with guns and was told about gun safety, or the one who has never seen a gun or was never allowed to even shoot a water gun? | |
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Posted: 9/22/2008 3:48:05 PM | I remember bringing my .22 to SCHOOL, giving it to the principal, picking it up after classes ended, and going squirrel hunting...it was never even an ISSUE in the 70's & early 80's.
People banish the things that they fear and do not understand.
I think the USA would be FAR better off if everyone (non-felons at least) spent a few days at a gun range learning Basic Gun Safety. | |
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Posted: 9/23/2008 1:04:13 AM | Crikey i hope some of you never come to my house..!!!! It is stuffed full of toy guns, swords, bow and arrows - my son is 5 and absoloutely loves all that stuff, we even went to a " Hoe Down " Party on Saturday night and he dressed up as a Sheriff, the place was filled with children dressed as either Cowboys or Indians and they all had a marvelous time running around pretending to shoot each other and taking people into custody.
To them this was not real life, this was dress up - all the adults were dressed up as well and everyone had FUN. Do i take all his cars away because every now and then he wants to drive and crash them into each other..? should i worry because he is going to want to do that in real life..?? of course not !! HE'S PLAYING.
My son knows right from wrong, we shoot, beat and pick up - so he knows about guns he also knows about dogs as we train Gundogs, he also knows the rudiments of gutting Pheasants, Partridge and Pigeon as he has seen me do it many times. This is not going to make him the next Serial Killer..
What is wrong with allowing our children to BE children.. they grow up so fast as it is - lets not take away a fundamental part of growing up away from them. | |
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