BB guns were better, and by the time I was 10 or 11, if I wanted to “play with guns,” I took a .22 rifle and a box of shells out into the woods.
Posted on 03/27/2023 8:51:53 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Why don’t parents like their kids to play with fake guns? – Henry, age 11, Somerville, Massachusetts
A major reason parents don’t like kids to play with pretend guns is they’re afraid you’ll get hurt.
It can be hard for others to tell if a gun is real or just a toy. While you and your friends might be able to tell it’s a harmless game, others won’t be so sure. Someone could mistake your toy gun for a real gun, see you as a threat and try to defend themselves, hurting you in the process.
Hundreds of children die because of gun violence each year in the United States. Because of these numbers, people like us – a pediatrician who has worked on firearm violence for 40 years and a firearm injury prevention researcher – are very concerned about firearms that are not stored properly and the injuries they can cause.
Some of the toy guns available for kids and parents to buy look very much like real guns, including pistols and rifles. Because these toys look so real, kids who come across a real gun may not realize it’s dangerous and not a toy. They may pick it up, fiddle around with it, point it at a friend or themselves and pull the trigger. More than 100 children are killed each year in the U.S. because they or a friend were handling a gun that unintentionally went off.
Violent games encourage violence
Playing with toy guns can also affect the way you interact with the world and think about how to solve problems. Researchers have found that just seeing weapons can make people act more aggressively – this is called the weapons effect, and it applies to toy guns. After watching a movie that contains a lot of gun violence, kids tend to be more interested in playing with guns, too. These are reasons parents may want to limit kids’ exposure to movies and TV shows that feature guns and prefer for kids to play with nonweapon toys.
Playing games that involve violence can make you more comfortable with violence and aggression. Kids can even become more violent themselves. Researchers have found that kids who play a lot of violent video games tend to show more signs of aggression than those who don’t play them.
We worry that kids who play a lot of shooting video games and with toy guns will believe that settling arguments with violence and guns is the right thing to do, when there are more constructive ways to resolve disputes.
Real guns are not toys
Adults who have firearms at home have a responsibility to keep them locked up and to prevent anyone from inappropriately accessing and using them. But some people who have firearms don’t lock them up. Or they keep them loaded with ammunition, which is very unsafe. It is always best to treat a gun as if it is real and loaded.
What should kids do if they find a firearm in their home or at a friend’s? The answer is very simple: Do not touch it. Leave it alone and tell an adult – even if you think it may be a toy. Checking it out yourself may cause the gun to go off accidentally and hurt someone if it turns out to be real.
The same is true at school. If you find a gun or hear classmates talking about a firearm, tell a teacher. Even if you worry your friends will get mad, telling a teacher could help prevent a serious or even deadly injury.
Parents who are responsible gun owners will teach their children about gun safety and how to handle and shoot them safely. But if you’re a school-age kid, you should never handle a gun by yourself.
Playing with or handling guns – real or fake – is dangerous and can be deadly.
Yep. This article is a prime example of the catastrophic failure of the education system and parenting.
The authors are adult children and lack critical thinking skills.
The author is saying “Hi, I wrote this and I am a fag.”
“The Conversation”
A candy store lineup for left side Bell Curve progs...
https://theconversation.com/us
How about “The STFU because YES, they are making the world sick?”
.
BB guns were better, and by the time I was 10 or 11, if I wanted to “play with guns,” I took a .22 rifle and a box of shells out into the woods.
Assault phaser.
I got a .22 for my 15th birthday but before that had a pretty powerful BB/pellet gun. A Crosman Powermaster.
I was also told not to point any gun, real or toy, at anyone and specifically warned that that could get me shot.
Not a fan of any of the airsoft or paintball type LARPing that entail shooting other people. Watching youtube vids of millennials having meltdowns and going postal on each other is kind of amusing, though.
I had that M1 carbine air rifle. The one you cock by pushing the barrel straight back? Daisy I think but I’m not sure. It looked good but it was pretty weak.
I also had (still have) a Marksman BB/pellet pistol that looks like a 1911 .45.
I was out with a friend with our BB rifles in the fields around the RR tracks just hunting and shooting at whatever. I had the Marksman in a holster my belt. A railroad guy (inspector?) stopped us to ask what we were doing and give us the “railroad tracks are dangerous” spiel or something.
He noticed that .45 lookalike and his eyes got real wide. “Is that real?” he asked. I couldn’t believe how startled he was. We were 13 or 14 I’d guess but I thought “why shouldn’t it be?” After all, I knew how to handle a gun and we might be approached by some sketchy guy. Like him. lol
I remember having one of those. We carried out disc-shooter battles in the classroom during noon hour. Of course we’d be crucified for that today.
A sad article I read from a woman’s magazine the early years of “women’s liberation” and Ms Magazine brainwashing.
A woman recalled forcing her little son to play with toys that didn’t reflect the patriarchal societal paradigm.
“But no matter what I did he’d find a way to root around in his toy chest until he found where I hid his ball or his soldier and gun toys at the bottom. I felt like giving up shaping him.
So sad for those boys.
Yeah. I had the 1911 pistol. Wore the seal out. I feel a little better knowing the M-1 was underpowered.
When I was a kid we used our hands...like a pistol.
I was out in the woods last weekend with a friend’s two little girls (I’m a guy). People have placed gnomes and other decorations in the area and they were excited to find them and would exclaim “Another one!” and run to see it.
At one point I saw a bunch of branches made into a lean-too and told them about the cool fort. They didn’t even give it a glance as they searched for more gnomes.
Their dad came down to let us know dinner was ready. As we were walking back up he said “Hey - did you see that cool fort over there?”
When I was growing up, practically every kid had toy guns (cap pistols? oh, hellyeah!) and we all played “army” or Cops ‘n Robbers or Cowboys and Indians. And my generation grew up to be far less predisposed to violence than these kids today.
Guns don’t make kids violent any more than spoons make Rosie O’Donnell a lard-ass.
Twenty or thirty years ago when all this crap was bustin’ loose, I saw a program trying to determine if toys the kids were given to play with determined their gender. It was a real hoot. They had two boys in a room and left them there to be observed. The only toys in the room were two Barbies. The boys picked them up and started to sword fight (fencing) with them. ROTFL.
Kid from the corner: "Do you want to play guns?"
"We're not allowed to play guns.
"Oh." Silence. "Well, do you want to play knives?"
"OK!"
Remember the six year old who was arrested for biting his chicken nugget into the shape of a gun? Apparently, that kid was worse than Hitler.
Ditto. My fav was my toy machine gun like Sarge from Combat!
AND no one mistook them for REAL GUNZ!
The author is a simpering putz.
In my house both growing up and for my son, we did not play with guns, ever. We have real guns that are not toys. We feel that toys and sports are the development ground for life; so pointing/shooting a toy gun at a person is never permitted.
I think it worked out okay as my son, as a teen, became a 2x all-American in shotgun.
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