Toy Guns

[bauerdj]

When my grandson gets a few years older he will be introduced to firearms in a proper and safe manner. I am wondering what attitude to take towards toy guns, I am concerned that the line between toy and real firearms could result in some confusion in the young mind.

[Skooter]

Toy guns in my opinion are okay PROVIDED you teach your children the differences. I have been carrying toy guns concealed since I was 5 years old. Times have changes since then and unfortunately violent television programming, violent music lyrics and popular video games seam to desensitize our youths about gun safety today.

[Oldgringo]

My, how times have changed. I remember a day when toy guns were about all of the toys one could buy for a boy.

[7075-T7]

When my grandson gets a few years older he will be introduced to firearms in a proper and safe manner. I am wondering what attitude to take towards toy guns, I am concerned that the line between toy and real firearms could result in some confusion in the young mind.

Not to be blunt. But if he doesn't know the difference between a toy and the real thig (or can't learn it really quickly) then maybe he should stay away from the whole thing.

[bauerdj]

We are a long way from being ready to introduce firearms, real or toy. First the child will need to master things like crawling, walking, talking and potti training (2 1/2 months old). My query was more to the point of will playing with toy guns be a handicap when initiating training with the real thing. Since there are firearms at almost all relatives homes (parents are LEOS, all grandparents and great grandparents with one exception are LEOS or have CHL's) some basic training will be given as soon as he appears ready. Despite the fact that firearms not in use are secured in safes I feel that an early introduction to firearms saftey is important here. I am also interested in what age others here feel is appropriate for early lessons, though obviously this varies from one child to another.

[7075-T7]

2.5 months old? I take back my other comment

Well personally I've had toy guns since I can remember, and when I shoed interest/found the BHP my mom had, and I asked about it, they took me to the range very soon afterward. One round was enough to teach me the difference. One goes snap and the other one goes boom, deafens you, smacks you in the face, and rips your thumb knuckle open, and the first thing my mother said (once I could hear again ) was "if that's what it feels like on this end, imagine what it feels like on the other end". Pain is a good teacher.

I plan to teach my non-existent kids (someday) with the BHP or a 10mm, if it scares them enough to teach them to ALWAYS respect it, then I've done my job.

Good luck!!

[bauerdj]

2.5 months old? I take back my other comment

Well personally I've had toy guns since I can remember, and when I shoed interest/found the BHP my mom had, and I asked about it, they took me to the range very soon afterward. One round was enough to teach me the difference. One goes snap and the other one goes boom, deafens you, smacks you in the face, and rips your thumb knuckle open, and the first thing my mother said (once I could hear again ) was "if that's what it feels like on this end, imagine what it feels like on the other end". Pain is a good teacher.

I plan to teach my non-existent kids (someday) with the BHP or a 10mm, if it scares them enough to teach them to ALWAYS respect it, then I've done my job.
Good luck!!

Well I dont want to scare him to the point where he wont want to shoot. I guess I am rushing things, but I had almost given up on a grandchild
and now I cant wait for some of the fun stuff as he gets older. (One of the gifts I gve them at the baby shower was a Cricket, bought it as soon as the Doc told us it would be a boy so I knew what color to get)


DaveB

[maximus2161]

I think this is a totally valid question. My son is 10 and loves to play war and has lots of toy guns. I did too at his age though it was different generation. As a kid some of my toys guys were metal and looked very real. He has known the difference for a long time. When he was 5-6 years old I would have to take him to the gun store with me. He learned pretty early the difference between toys and real and gun safety. He knows if he is in doubt not to touch it period. Gun safety while he knows about it already is still brought up to remind him. Its a repetition for safety. His toys look like toys mostly. but he has a few that are pretty real looking too. However any gun that shoots any toy projectile (like rubber darts, the little yellow plastic balls, etc) are never to be shot at anyone. And he obeys that. My son has held every one of my firearms. He knows what they are, where they are. Its not a secret. He wants to see a gun of mine all he has to do is ask and we sit and talk about. He likes to ask about why a gun functions like it does and things like that.

When I was a kid I carried toy guns around that could get you shot nowadays! I remember having this gun that looked like a PPK sort of and had a detachable magazine for a strip of those plastic caps, not the paper ones. That thing was LOUD and you could see smoke and sparks shoot out from a little ejection port. The only way you could tell it was a toy was up close. There was a TINY red rubber ring around the end of the barrel. You dont see those anymore. Even notice guns that dont resemble a real gun in anyways are bright colors. Look at the current line of Star Wars guns. They are white, gray, green, blue and stuff.

[paadams]

I grew up playing with all kinds of toy guns, BB guns etc... Cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, "army men." On top of that my favorite video games are usually the most violent/realistic ones, and I listen to some really heavy freaking rock music. I'm 31 and I turned out just fine, never confused real and toy guns, never been in trouble, never arrested, never been on a killing spree, or 7-11 robbery binge.

I see this topic come up on occasion. Now, I don't have kids, but I think some people worry about this way too much. As long as the kid is raised correctly, with proper morals and you teach the difference with pretend and real, which everyone I think instinctively knows, you shouldn't have a problem. Kids know right from wrong, you just have to teach them to always make the correct decisions.

just my $0.02

ETA: I was raised by a fairly strict mom, who was the daughter of a preacher. So my morals etc, were what was taught in church. We always had to be there if the doors were open. Haven't been back since I moved out my moms 10 years ago and I still haven't gone on a killing spree or any of that.

[Hoi Polloi]

We had guns in the house, and at my grandparents they were left loaded and unattended even, but my mother had a very strict rule that you didn't point a gun at anything you weren't ready, willing, and able to destroy. That included toy guns in her book. If we pointed them at people, pets, or the family TV, they were taken away immediately. I've carried that rule over to my children and it has worked well. They have to work to pay me to get a toy out of toy jail, so they have motivation not to repeat the offense.

At home, the rule is that it is either with a responsible adult or locked up so they aren't out and about to be confused. The toy guns stay in the toy box and we explain that the real guns are not toys and they can kill, even on accident, so we have to be very careful with them. We watch and talk about Eddie Eagle and I emphasize that if they're at a friend's house and a gun is found in the toy box, they shouldn't wait around to find out if it is real or fake if there's any doubt at all. They should go get an adult immediately and allow the adult to decide and tell them. Better to be safe than dead. I'm such a mom that we have this conversation (along with what to do around pools, chemicals and cleaners, medications, people who are not respecting appropriate boundaries and what appropriate boundaries are, drugs, etc as age appropriate) almost every time we go to someone else's home.

At home, if they want to handle a real gun, we let them at any age with proper supervision while talking about how to safely handle a gun. With a young preschooler, that would be mostly emphasizing not pointing it away from the safe spot and naming the parts of the gun then an older preschooler it would add stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult. We'd say that to a younger one but wouldn't expect it to be understood or followed. By the time they're 5ish, they can start handling the other rules and understanding what it is they're holding is different than their toys. It isn't until they're about 7-10ish depending on personality and maturity that they can really grasp what is so different about a real gun and what is meant when we say it can kill. Until they are neurologically able to make that distinction, we have to work with the understanding that they don't know the difference yet and they don't have the framework to be able to, so we have to order their environments and teach them what to do when seeing a gun--any gun--that will keep them safe.

Obviously, a reasonably intelligent teenager can understand the difference between a paintball gun and its purpose and a handgun and its purpose and what the cause and effect of hitting someone with each would be. At that point, the nuances of awareness, safety in the face of distraction and peer pressure, and machismo become the bigger teaching points.