Do you allow your child/children to play with toy guns?

[£amb]

My boys were allowed to play with plastic guns and squirt guns (even plastic swords). They would pretend to be cops/robbers or spys. Kids will use anything to pretend play such as sticks, fingers, even coke cans...yeah, my boys did this . The only rule I had was no pointing in the face, or squirting water in the face.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

I plan to buy my kid his own toy arsenal.

I'm mostly kidding, but I have no problem with toy guns. I would prefer water guns, toy rifles, that sort of thing, to a realistic looking handgun though. Toy swords are fine too. We will discourage "I'm going to kill you" type talk while playing with the guns though.

Boy have little warriors in them. Even if you don't give them a toy gun, they are going to use sticks, legos, their own fingers and still PLAY cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, what have you. I think it is part of how they learn.

Boys? Tell that to my daughter! lol - but with her father she didn't stand a chance - he loves toy guns as much as any 10 year old!

 

[TCat]

Lol

 

[Surrender2Win]

yep...my kids play with toy guns, water guns, swords, etc...

 

[wallew]

First and foremost, the only children my wife and I have are the four legged,very hairy type - dogs. REALLY BIG DOGS. Second, I'm a retired gunsmith and a retired NRA certified firearms instructor. So you need to have that info before I go any further.

When my nephew was four years old, I purchased a used 'Cricket' for him, which is a single shot .22 caliber rifle. I completely refinished it and even carved his name in the stock (in very small letters). I gave it to his parents to give to him. When he turned five, I got a phone call, with him telling me he got his first rabbit.

Understand that he lives on a 'small' ranch (anything under 1000 acres is a small ranch) in West Texas. Both his parents (my sister and BIL) are big outdoors people. My sister rides horses. My BIL hunts almost everything.

My nephew turned 13 and called late last fall with a minor complaint. "Well, I got my deer, I got my turkey, I got my javelina (wild pig) but I didn't get my wildcat." He was really crestfallen.

My personal opinion about firearms is this. As MOST of you with children have already found out, children will mimic firearms with almost everything. Even including making their finger a pistol and going 'bang' at their play mates. IT IS human nature in our society.

Also consider this. In every attempt to make things "EVEN" in sporting events, even to the point of not keeping score, those who are winning KNOW IT. Those who are losing KNOW IT. And you will NEVER hear any team who is winning say "Well, it's just a game". FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Wouldn't you think it better to actually teach your children about firearms. MAKE THEM AWARE that firearms will kill things. They are NOT toys. NRA has a fine program for children called 'Eddie Eagle'. You don't even have to be a member. Go to their website and do a search for the Eddie Eagle program. Your children can never be too young to learn proper firearms safety.

OR, you can 'hide' this information from them. If you choose this path, do not be surprised if they are injured by either a playmate or themselves when they pick up a loaded firearm and cause it to go off. I've seen children figure out how to open dad's safe BECAUSE there was a firearm in it that they were not allowed to touch. Children are extremely smart.

Children are naturally curious. You have one of two choices. Attempt to stifle that curiousity about firearms, perhaps with disasterous results. Or be open and honest and TEACH them about firearms and the consequences of 'playing' with them. Which can be death.

That insight is from being a member of the 'gun culture' for more than forty years. I'm 55.

 

[marezee]

yep...my kids play with toy guns, water guns, swords, etc...

ditto!

 

[Hadassah]

I plan to buy my kid his own toy arsenal.

I'm mostly kidding, but I have no problem with toy guns. I would prefer water guns, toy rifles, that sort of thing, to a realistic looking handgun though. Toy swords are fine too. We will discourage "I'm going to kill you" type talk while playing with the guns though.

Boy have little warriors in them. Even if you don't give them a toy gun, they are going to use sticks, legos, their own fingers and still PLAY cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, what have you. I think it is part of how they learn.

^^ yeah that..

We have a history of military service on my side of the family that goes wayyy back, and on my DH's, it skipped two generations (the 'wild 60s thing and pacifism in this generation)... but all boys play with sticks, "swords" and "guns" even if you don't give them physical toys to match.

We're open to dolls and household related toys also.. but if my son asks for these things, I'm sure after some talking about it that he will get to play with them, supervised of course.

 

[who93]

Thank you all for your input.

 

[heart of peace]

That would be a big yes to your OP

 

[katelyn]

Yes, we just bought a Nerf dart gun...well, my DH bought it for himself. But the girls are having a great time with it too. They both like to retrieve the darts, and Natalie (3) likes to shoot it. It is providing an opportunity to teach about gun safety, i.e. telling her not to aim at anything she doesn't intend to shoot, etc. I don't know how I would deal with the idea of them shooting each other with toy guns. It would depend on the situation (i.e. a pretend scenario like cops and robbers might be okay, doing it because you're mad at your sibling, not okay) and safety rules would definitely apply.

 

[12voltman]

Hello! My husband and I were talking about child rearing the other night and the issue of play came up. We currently do not have any children, but should the Lord ever bless us with one or more, we like to discuss how we would like to parent them.

Anyway, what my husband and I were wondering is, do you allow your child/children to play with toy guns/weapons?

I am not looking to get into a debate about what I or my husband thinks about the matter. We are just curious as to what other parents do regarding this issue. Thanks in advance for your responses. God bless!

My parents let me play with toy guns and I turned out just fine. My lawyer says I might even be eligible for parole in 2010.

Just kidding. Yes, we let our children play with toy guns when they were younger. Now that they're in their teens and approaching their teens, they have real guns. Of course, the rule for the younger ones is "not unless dad or grandpa are around".

Real guns are real guns and toys are toys. I believe that children understand the difference between making a gun with your fingers and going "bang bang" and hurting somebody. At least they do if they were raised right.

We knew our kids would be around guns anyway, so it was never an issue. And the good part is that we were able to use the toy guns to teach them safety to prepare them for the day they would get a real gun.

My son has a fascination with WWII and he and his friends used to go and play war in the woods with their toy guns all the time. He turned out great.

The only thing dangerous about it was that he learned how to dig a foxhole by watching "Mail Call", so for a long time, when you walked in the woods at night, you took your life in your hands.

 

[jessesgirl]

Yep. J plays with toy guns. Now, it is just for the noise more than anything.

Later on, though, we will absolutely, positively teach him about gun safety. We are a firearm owning family so it is of utmost importance that he know how dangerous they can be and how useful they can be.

For now, though, we let him play carefree. Eventually (when he is old enough to hold the gun up), we will teach him not to point toy guns at people, etc., etc.

 

[LegacyOfLove]

Initially we started out not allowing toy guns of any kind, but as they got a little bit older, they wanted water (squirt) guns and we got some for them. Never saw any problems from that.

My oldest son, now just a few months shy of turning 19 - is heading off to the Marines in October. He's very excited about the prospect of getting combat training and will be using a real gun for the first time.

As with all things, I believe that teaching our children about responsibility & safety should be the primary concern.

 

[Utah Knight]

although my kids are not old enouph yet i think it would be a bit hypocritical of me not to allow them to do so . I collect swords and i own a couple of guns one i keep with me most always

 

[RedTulipMom]

Yes i will allow toys guns to be used appropriately like to pretend to go hunting or play cops and robbers or indians and cowboys or whatever. My son is 4 and so far only has water guns for the pool and really hasnt shown an interest in them, but if he does i will allow them and explain about gun safety and proper uses when he is old enough to understand. Play swords, guns etc are common items for boys to play with. What i wont do is allow violent video games and cartoons in the house so that he doesnt pick up on violent acts or get desensitized to violence.