Posted on 05/25/2012 5:25:29 AM PDT by marktwain
Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- Parents preoccupied with creating a conflict-free Utopia for their kids would seem to have little to fear from a Danish toy maker, an ingenious and enterprising British youth, and a small San Francisco publishing company.
Yet this trio causes much handwringing in the May 16th edition of The Mommy Files, ( http://tiny.cc/bfjrew ) an online parenting blog published by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The source of the anxiety is LEGO Heavy Weapons, a guide to building toy guns out of LEGOs. The author is Jack Streat, a 17-year-old resident of the United Kingdom, and the book is published by the San Francisco imprint No Starch.
For a culture of inclusiveness thats nonetheless determined to exclude the Second Amendment and its advocates, the book is bad news indeed. LEGOs are everywhere, even in the homes of enlightened progressives who would never dream of letting a Nerf gun or cap pistol contaminate their childrens cruelty-free play spaces. The idea that the makings of gun-like objects might already exist under their own roofs must come as a shock unless, of course, the parents have actually observed children at play. If a stick is not available to serve as a rifle, a boy will chew his grilled cheese into the shape of a pistol.
Those youthful impulses of adventure and self-determination run deep, as the books author vividly illustrates. Even modern Britains determined effort to demonize and eradicate civilian access to firearms could not suppress the creative impulses that turned a bin full of interlocking plastic bricks into a functional scale replica of a AKS-47U (the second of four models detailed in the book).
The Mommy Files does its best to provoke righteous indignation and gets some traction with a random British father, who in a rather un-English display of temper whines that its just wrong, wrong, wrong. Yet even the developmental psychologist the blog consults cannot muster much concern. Play is play, the doctor states, adding that research has not shown that playing with toy guns can lead to aggression. But, argues the blogger, these guns are realistic.
Theyre not realistic, responds the doctor. They dont shoot. These guns are related to the impulse to create, not the impulse to kill.
We agree, which is why at least one ILA staffer has pre-ordered a copy for his own eight-year-old LEGO fanatic. Jack Streat should be commended for the effort and intelligence evident in his creations.
The only thing scary about his book is how some are overreacting to it.
About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
Actually, I think you're jumping a little too much to the conclusion; he's saying These guns are not 'the impulse to kill' just as you are saying that this is not related to an impulse to kill.
IOW, he's addressing the same premise as you are. Though he's looking at it from the child's perspective wherein the goal is play/fun (creation via imagination); let's be honest, the LEGO-guns have nothing to do with an impulse to defend self and others either. (I.E. The child "protector" won't use the LEGO-gun to keep someone from being beat up, he'll use a stick, fists, a rock or something that he can use as a REAL [not imaginary] weapon.)
Nope, just scary looking black plastic guns
“Our toddler son used to fashion handguns by creative nibbling of toasted white bread.”
My nephew used to bite the corner off his graham crackers to make them into handguns. Funny.
Yes, they will think it’s cool. Have fun, Gramps.
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