Do you let your kids play with "toy" guns?

[mik1202002]

I just watched the what happens when you don't use hollows video. I have also noticed my little cousin who is 6 always gets toy guns. I think we all probably did when we were kids. But do you buy them for your own kids now?

I do not have childern yet myself...But I think that I want them to take it seriously. Even when they tell him not to point at people he still does and rarely is anything ever said. I think that I just want my kids to take it very seriously. That its not a toy maybe kids just need to be kids I don't know.

 

[misconfig]

My son is almost 2 and he has some toy guns - if you ask me; having toy guns when I was a kid was instrumental in learning proper firearms safety.

My father was always adamant about making sure I NEVER pointed it at anyone, then I moved to BB guns with that mentality and now real Firearms.

I think it's a great idea to train the kids early - also it's downright fun to play with toy guns as a child.

Although it does seem like toy guns are rather scarce these days - where the heck do you find them anymore?

JMHO

 

[DustyDawg48]

I grew up playing with toy guns as a kid. I always knew that there was a difference between a toy and the real thing. There has never been a proven link between any type of violence later in life with kids that grew up playing with toy guns. I'd bet the opposite of that is true and the number of safe gun handlers probably grew up playing Army or Cowboys and Indians, though.

 

[willie69]

i grew up with toy guns nothing to fear no relation should be drawn teach them the differance when there ready it's getting scary out there

 

[plowman766]

I had all girls so it wasnt an issue but my sister didnt want her son playing with toy guns so he ended up making guns out of legos and sticks and such so after while she gave up and got him a toy gun instead. My neighbors and I would spend hours buildind our own gun out of scrap boards and playing army and none of us grew up to be psycho killers I think parenting goes a long ways toward how children act.

 

[Bendrx]

I was at Cicis last week and they had a hunting arcade game. I was there with my dad and siblings (many years younger than myself) and I found myself telling them to keep the muzzle down range. I chuckled to myself when I realized it - not because it was silly, but just that it was habit.

If I had kids, I think my thoughts would be treat pretend like it's real. If you're playing cops and robbers, finger off the trigger until you're ready to "shoot". There would be regular reminders of Toy Vs Real.

EDIT:
Oh....speaking of making guns, when I was in middle school I was a bit of an "arms dealer". I used to make paper guns and would pass them around. There was an announcement or two over the PA saying they were prohibited. Kind of like Lord Of War Jr with the Principal Valentine.

Yeah, can't keep kids and toy guns apart, they're just too cool. Give them the toys or they'll find the real ones. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mr. Habib]

All of my kids have gotten real guns as gifts and learned to "play" with them.

 

[christman]

There are more toy guns in my house than real ones. My kids even gave up on conventional stuff and started designing their own out of random crap in the house. Im so proud..

 

[jeremy]

Kinda hard to play Army or Cowboys and Indians with out toy guns...

 

[Buckhunter]

toy guns

There are more toy guns in my house than real ones. My kids even gave up on conventional stuff and started designing their own out of random crap in the house. Im so proud..

This right here^^^

I could not even begin to count how many toy guns are around this house. Hell I couldn't even tell you how many have been left in the yard and run over with the mower. If your kids don't have any nerf guns I recommend buying them some cause I have just as much fun shooting up the kids as they do me.

 

[crispy]

In my youth I had toy dart guns with the real darts, not the nerf crap. I had this giant blue Luger like gun with a dart that was 12" long. Gun was powerful enough to stick the dart to the street light in the neighborhood. That had to be 30' straight up. We shot that at each other...

Then as a teenager, we all had BB guns. Some had single cock Daisy's. Some, like me, had the Crossmans that you could pump. We shot those at each other...

Not saying that was particularly intelligent.

Point being... that it didn't turn me into gun-toting people-shooting maniac...

 

[Eddie]

We have toy guns, toy swords and even some toy armor. I don't think it hurts kids one bit to have fun.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break_room/88008-conflict_in_western_indiana.html

 

[Jubba]

My son is 2 months old and will have toy guns to go along with the 22 pistol and rifle he already has. We talk about gun safety every day. I had a lot of toy guns as a kid and still have most of them.

 

[Bunnykid68]

We had cap guns and we pointed them at each other when we shot them. I have no scars to prove we were actually shot but we fell dead numerous times. We recovered fully and reloaded our rolls of caps. When that got boring we took hammers to unfired rolls of caps.

 

[gunwh]

I like many others here grew up with toy guns. My kids do have toy guns and play with them regularly. I do have stipulations though they either get Nerf guns or the cap guns with the orange indicator at the end of the barell. They know if they break that orange piece off its trash. By trash I mean I break the toy gun up in to pieces and puutit in the garbage. This action is to teach them to take care of there things but also for there safty. We all have seen too many cases in the past where kids were shot and killed for pointing a toy gun at some one that was not properly marked.

Now as far as real gun safty all my kids treat my real guns like they should. They know the difference between there toys and the real thing there for you can see the difference in there actions.

 

[Astrocreep]

I think that if playing with toy guns caused kids to become dangerous, murderous adults that everybody everywhere would be dead by now.

We made toy guns out of PVC pipe, spray paint and duct tape when I was a kid.

Damn right my kids will have them.
A fine way to teach firearm safety too.

 

[2cool9031]

The answer is YES...they are now 23 and 21...and they shoot real ones now.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

My friend bought his 7 year old an air soft pistol at the 1500. He's going to set up a target in the garage, and teach his all of the rules of safety. I think it's a good idea. His soon has already been to one shoe with us, so he has curiosity about guns.

 

[moischmoe]

I was against it for a while, but my 3 year old could, and would, make a "gun" out of anything that was remotely gun shaped. Plastic number 7's, and sticks make fine guns. Bread and cookies can also be nibbled into the shape of a gun.

I figured, "Why fight it?", so I bought him a couple toy guns for Christmas this year. He has seen my real guns and every once in a while, I'll unload my handgun and show him how to handle it safely. He treats the real guns much differently than the toy ones.

I also use TV shows to show him how guns hurt people. Or rather, how people with guns hurt people.

 

[hps]

I'm with Buckhunter, we put on safety glasses and have a blast!!! I highly recomend safety glasses those lil darts come whippin outta some of those toy guns.