acceptability of toy guns?

Question

considering the gun control laws in this country should the sale of toy guns for children be banned or is it up to the parent to decide? personaly i would ban toy guns

some of the answers i am getting are from the USA please note this is a UK based question and where gun ownership is very tight

Answer 1

I don't agree with toy guns- don't know whether banning them would be realistic though. The trouble is they make them anyway, I worked in a Nursery a little while ago, the little boys would always make guns out of the lego- I don't think they wanted to shoot each other- they just wanted to be a ninja turtle or a power ranger or a transformer or whatever else they've been watching on the American Tv programmes they've been plonked in front of! A better tactic would be to ban these programmes!

Answer 2

oh please! I grew up playing cowboys and indians with my brother and friends and we all ran around the streets with toy guns pretending to shoot each other. None of us, to my knowledge, ever grew up as a mass murderer. We watched Tom n Jerry - the cat was always being pushed off a high building or splattered with a steam roller .... nope, none of us decided to go into murdering each other that way. However, I think some of this is that you are socialising with each other and know it's a game. It's a different story with playstation-type of games, where you play alone, and where you're playing violent video games. That king of play is more in the mind, rather than physical action, and I could see that it alters your perception and frame of mind more because you are actually 'in' the action, alone, in your head. Much different than running around the streets with your mates, whooping and hollering, waving toy guns before being called back home for your tea.
No, I wouldn't ban toy guns. But I would take a serious long look at some of these solo video games instead.

Answer 3

No. You obviously do not understand the problem.

Do you think that guns are bad? If so, should we disarm our police? Of course not. The police are armed to deal with the criminal element.

Well what about the rest of us? How do we deal with the criminal element when there is no policeman available? Are we to be victims like the students who were in a "Gun Free Zone", and unable to defend themselves?

The problem is not guns. It is a culture that glorifies crime and violence. Look at rap. Look at the values it promotes. Why is it that that this type of garbage aimed at young people is tolerated? You can see the results of it.

Why do people take illegal drugs? The answer is, because illegal drugs have been promoted by the youth culture for over four decades. Why don't our politicians take actions against record companies who promote drugs to young people? Because our politicians are in bed with the record companies.

Our politicians are not interested in stopping drug use, rather they exploit the drug problem. It gives them the excuse for more power.

In the same manner, the rap culture promotes violence. Government uses this violence as an excuse to disarm the American people. The real problem is our own politicians and their lackeys in mainstream media.

Personally, I think guns are a good thing. Guns prevent a lot more crime than they are used in. That's why there are over 100 million gun owners in the US. Do you think that these people are criminals? No, they just want to be able to protct themselves from criminals. And that's a basic human right.

Answer 4

I grew up without toy guns.
but at the same time, my dad had real firearms in the house(locked up safely, but still there,...) and had been shown how to handle them since I was little.

the idea was engraining a respect for what guns were and how to handle them safely.

as far as playing and stuff... what your going to ban the existance of all L-shaped hand-sized objects? or merely a pointed hand? its just silly , really.

now, the ultra realistic ones should be limited severely... kids type toy guns should be very obviously and un-avoidably un-real. some of the orange ends are sufficient... some not.

then theres stuff like the Airsoft guns... those should IMO be treated somewhere between paintball guns and real firearms. they might not in any normal sense, be lethal whatsoever... but they LOOK real. and thats enough to cause some severe problems.

Answer 5

About 15 years ago when I was living in Michigan a 5-year-old child was shot to death by a police officer who reacted instinctively when a very realistic toy gun was pointed at him as he searched the home in response to a call. The child died clutching the officer's leg and saying, "I'm sorry, mister, I'm sorry!"

When I was teaching in Miami a child brought a similar toy to school, I told the class that story, took the toy and.... tucked it in my belt and forgot about it. Soon the bell rang, the classes changed, and the next group were extraordinarily quiet and cautious. Finally after awhile I realized why. Many of these toys look Very Real.

Answer 6

I dont think they should. My dad grew up playing pretend war games (british and the gerrys) and hasnt grown up to be a killer/weirdo/aggressive.
My two boys dont have guns but still play pretend games as if they did.
What I do think should be banned are games such as grand theft auto and the like. BSM are running a trial at the moment on youngsters. They are getting them to do a driving test, then play a video driving game and then get them to do the test agan. They think these types of games are linked to the amount of bad/fast driving done.
I believe games like GTA have the same effect.
So no, ban computer games.

Answer 7

Irrelevant. Boys will always find a way to make a gun. Fingers, bits in a sandwich, a properly shaped stick, a few legos, etc.

Banning toy guns would have absolutely no effect.

Answer 8

up to the parent(s).
you can't put your kids inside a bubble and expect them to be safe from everything because they've never been exposed and had things explained by a rational adult.


Are you going to ban ALL toy guns? Even the bright neon colored water guns?
Would the sharp pointy Spork be next on your list?

Answer 9

One thing about baning guns is this the local game member will alway have them or know how to get them when will that leave us the innocent victim and our family
We too need guns for our own protection again someone trying to rob,kills and rape us

Answer 10

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita

Some studies I have seen showed that the safest kids around firearms were ones who had been traines in gun safety with the real thing. (including live ammo on the range)
They were much more safe than the kids who had been restricted from any exposure to fire arms. They recognized the reality of the danger.