Why do parents buy their children toy guns?

[milestogo]

Are guns ever toys?

[jimfields33]

1. It's been that way for decades. I'm sure it's for cops and robbers or some game like that.

We got cap guns as kids. Water guns as teens. Fun times!

[haele]

14. Before guns, it was slings, toy bow or blunt sword/spear sticks.

But back in those days, those "toys" were training for hunting or war as well as play.

Kids are short, brutish, and sometimes nasty. Part of the growth process is to explore both life and death through play before they need to deal with it in the real world. Unfortunately, a good number of them never grow out of the childish fantasy stage.

Haele

[kimbutgar]

2. I never brought my son a toy gun when he was young

I remember as a kid In the 60’s having a cowboy type gun but with those little spark shots and got bored with it and gave it to my younger boy cousin (who ironically became a cop)!

I saw recently a pink assault weapon for a child and thought what kind of parent would buy that for their kid but an idiot.

[milestogo]

4. Yeah, I saw a couple of them today when I was out walking.

Toy assault weapons. There were none in my family when I was growing up.

[Celerity]

40. 'Murica

[JustAnotherGen]

3. We only had squirt guns

As kids.

[sunflowerseed]

5. Because they want them.

I wanted toy guns as a child because I saw them on TV. I got them. I used a stick or my finger to pretend I had a gun before I got them. I've seen other kids do the same.

[meadowlander]

16. Yes, I saw one mother explain if she didn't buy the gun he'd just use his finger anyway

"because that's what boys are like".

I don't agree at all with that, but I think that's the reasoning a lot of parents use. "Boys are inherently violent so what are you going to do?"

I think the obvious response is "Don't cater to it".

Also the parents might not be thrilled but they could get them as presents from grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc with different views and they don't feel strongly enough about it to take the present away from the kid.

And where do you stop? Most kids get collectable action figures from movies and TV shows and in most movies and TV shows the hero uses violence to solve their problems and therefore have weapons. If you kid has a bunch of action figures with little guns so they can shoot each other, how big of a step is it for the kid to have his own version?

My brother and I had lightsabers and plastic pirate swords and when we broke those we used sticks. I almost took his eye out once by accident. At least with a squirt gun the odds of that are reduced.

The real problem is thousands of years of mass culture telling us that violence is romantic and cool.

[Chainfire]

6. Enlightened parents don't, but

My real problem is with parents that buy their children real guns, or leave their guns unsecured from the children. IF you go to conservative forums, especially firearms forums, you will see videos of parents teaching first graders to shoot.

[patphil]

7. I had cap pistols and squirt guns as a kid, but then I was a kid in the 1950's.

One of my favorites was Hopalong Cassidy. Also got a BB gun at about 12 years of age.

Things have changed a bit since then, and the "toy" guns are much too realistic to be recognized by cops as toys.
It's all part of the gun culture programming...grooming kids to love their guns when they get old enough to buy the real thing.

[milestogo]

15. Squirt guns are fun because they do no harm even if they are annoying.

And they look like toys.

[patphil]

17. Yes they do, and I have no problem with them.

But my teachers still confiscated them. I should have claimed a 2nd Amendment rights violation, but my dad would have smacked me hard. So much for the constitution.

[Happy Hoosier]

8. I had toy guns as a kid.

Can't say it hurt me at all.

But then, my parents taught me to respect my fellow humans and disdained violence as a solution whenever possible (for the most part anyway).

I don't think toy guns are the problem. Most of us can separate fantasy from reality. I think our actual violent culture is the problem. Where people like MAGAts openly express the desire to murder their opponents and there is little or no pushback from our culture at large.

[Tom Kitten]

9. Playing cowboys and Indians

My folks didn't care about guns at all but I got a holster and toy gun (cap pistol) along with a cowboy hat when I was really little. Westerns were ubiquitous in my childhood and I thought they were all boring. Well except for the Lone Ranger. He was cool. And Zorro too. But Zorro used a sword.

[grumpyduck]

10. When I was a kid back in the late 50's and early 60s,

lots of boys had toy guns. A company by the name of Maco Toys produced enough military-style gear to outfit a pretend army: rifles, pistols, anti-aircraft guns, web gear, tents, you name it. My friend and I practically had an arsenal: we'd watch old war movies and then go outside and play them out. Nobody thought anything of it.

I doubt he ever fired a real one once he grew up, and the last time I did was in the military forty-odd years ago.

I don't have a clue what changed.

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. I had to stop and think for a second before I answered this question.

Because my first thought was to remember what "I" used my toy gun for when I was a child. It was solely for one purpose...to kill people I was told not to like, such as Injuns and Nazi's (we just called them Germans).
I would hazard a big ole fat hypothesis that this has not changed in 60 years. They are bought so that kids can pretend to kill people they don't like.
I am open to other reasons.

[sarisataka]

12. I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of kids,

Mostly boys. We had lots of toy guns, pistols, rifles, shotguns even toy submachine guns. They made all kinds of bangs, pops, clicks, or fired caps. Some shot darts, balls, water or sparks but most just made noise.

Somehow all of us grew up, not always on the straight and narrow, without ever shooting anyone.

We knew the difference between "toy" and "real".

[rurallib]

13. I had toy guns and squirt guns as a kid

and that was the last time I ever touched something that looks like a gun.

I think the problem has less to do with toys and more to do with role models, especially parents.

My parents never had a gun, nor did any of their friends. My brothers nor I ever had guns.

Our parents were very heavy smokers and drinkers. My oldest brother never quite took to those vices, but my older brother and I sure did. I quit smoking in my 20s after 12 years. I quit drinking @37 after well over 2 decades of heavy drinking. My brother has only quit in recent years.

My dad was also quite a gambler and carouser and those almost got the oldest brother into trouble. Fortunately he realized what was happening before he really fell in.

People in public life praising guns are I think much more cancerous than toys. They make it acceptable.

[Trailrider1951]

18. I never bought my daughter a gun

I never bought her a barbie doll either. She got a bicycle, skis, and star wars action figures, among other things.

[Kaleva]

19. Why do parents let their kids play violent video games?

What's the the difference between having a toy gun in hand or a controller where in each case, the goal is to kill others?

[Binkie The Clown]

26. Playing video games increases IQ in children. It's a proven fact.

https://www.healthygamer.gg/blog/video-games-make-you-smarter-backed-up-by-research

My kids all played violent video games as kids. They are all peaceful, loving, law-abiding adults.

Now my grand kids play violent video games as they grow up, and if you ask them they think you'd be an idiot to confuse a game with reality. Oddly enough, they do know the difference between fantasy violence and real violence. They can enjoy the fantasy, yet hate the real thing. That's not an issue for someone of average intelligence.

[Mr.Bill]

41. I can agree with that.

But there were no video games when I was a kid, so my favorite toys were Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets. I wouldn't deny kids video games, but toys or games where you build something rather than destroy something have to be good.

[Kaleva]

43. You probably feel the same way with toy guns then

They are harmless

Read an article awhile back stating that the military was developing modern weapons control equipment that is similiar to gaming controls. I thought at the time that was a smart move. Millions already trained or at least familiar with modern weapons and trained in small unit tactics.

[Binkie The Clown]

44. I grew up with lots of toy guns.

They didn't harm me. Of course a sample size of 1 is hardly statically significant.

[Kaleva]

46. Same here.

I went hunting the first year I was old enough but was the only time. The idea of killing something that I really didn't have to turned me off despite years of playing with toy guns.

[Binkie The Clown]

47. I had a BB gun once.

One of my friends asked to see it. He took it and shot a bird. I was so shocked and horrified I took the gun back and put it in the garage and never took it out again. That was more than 65 years ago and the memory of it still bothers me.

[usonian]

20. It's societal. Movies and TV are full of "clean" killing.

And it's considered too traumatic to show stuff like "Full Metal Jacket"

Except for kids who witness it, sadly, in real life.

For the music lovers among us, opera is absolutely FULL of murder, suicide, you name it.
But in every instance that I recall, the dying person sings a damn nice aria.

And how about "A Masked Ball" by Verdi?
Censors were so ripshit about a king being murdered, that he had to move the plot to BOSTON!!

[Earth-shine]

21. When I was a kid, my parents would not buy toy guns for me, although I wanted them.

So, I made them myself.

[chia]

24. I'm reminded of my friend who wouldn't buy her son guns, and he made them out of everything he could

find: sticks, legos, tinkertoys. I think she finally gave up.

I grew up with squirt guns, cap guns and BB guns, I can still smell the gunpowder from the cap strips, and when a cap gun wasn't handy we'd scrape them with a rock on the sidewalk.

We considered them toys, nothing more. My kids had airsoft guns and played paintball, but towards the end of their high school years, that fell by the wayside. Sports and jobs took up a lot of their spare time, and by then (early aughts) I was too worried that someone would call the cops on them if they were shooting targets out in the field.

[DavidDvorkin]

22. Why not?

I had toy guns growing up, and my friends and I played violent imagination games with them. I grew up to be a strong supporter of gun control. If it were possible, I'd love to see guns completely eliminated. At the same time, I have enjoyed movies with guns and violence; those have nothing to do with reality.

There's no correlation.

[alfredo]

23. In hope he will be in the news someday

Maybe he will go down in history as the most prolific school shooter ever. Even gun nuts have aspirations for their kids.

[Binkie The Clown]

25. Born in 1945, I had lots of toy guns as a kid.

I grew up to be a pacifist, and I would never in my life own a real gun.

But as a kid, I had a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a six shooter in a holster at my side, just like all my other friends.

IMHO: people who blame toy guns are way off the mark.

[milestogo]

27. I think something that was wholesome in 1945 and 1965 can be unwholesome later on.

Its the context.

I never dreamed that harm could come to me when I was growing up. School was the safest place in the world.

But the country didn't have 400 million guns and a crazy right wing when we we growing up. There weren't mass shootings every other day. Kids weren't killing kids.

[Binkie The Clown]

29. I grew up with daily duck-and-cover drills and warnings of imminent atom bomb attack.

I'm glad you felt safe, but I never did.

[milestogo]

34. We had something like that in the 60s but not so often

and I'm not sure anyone explained why we were doing it.

[Elessar Zappa]

42. The gun violence rate

was actually much higher in the 70s, 80s, and 90s than it is now. We have now a specific problem of mass shootings but otherwise, we live in a (relatively speaking) more peaceful society than any other time since the early 60s.

[inthewind21]

28. Better questions

WHY do "toy guns" exist in the first place? Ever seen a toy nuke?

[Binkie The Clown]

30. I had a toy howitzer as a kid.

My son had a toy death star ad that sucker could blow up an entire planet!

[EX500rider]

33. Because there is a demand for them in toy stores?

No demand, no toy guns...however there is.

[sarisataka]

35. Do you want

Salt and pepper shakers


Or toy storage


Perhaps an inflatable


A game for all ages?

[EX500rider]

37. "Ever seen a toy nuke?"

Yes, my 1/48 scale model B-29 Superfortress bomber came with a scale A-bomb, actually both of them, Little Boy & Fat Man

?m=1601599496

[tenderfoot]

31. My mother wouldn't allow them

and good on her for it.

[samnsara]

32. i still have my machine gun water pistol from the 50s...

...guns were part of the roy rogers annie oakly childhood cowboy heroes of the past. They were not looked upon as weapons of domestic terrorism as they are now.

Also my grandfather was Chief of Police so everyone had a healthy respect for them... i would (try to) hit my sister on the head with the butt instead of 'shooting' her....

[iemanja]

36. Does coverage begin tonight?

[gulliver]

38. Cops and Robbers is fun and harmless, but 2A fantasy people took that away from kids

Run around with a toy gun today, you'll get shot by someone. (Honestly, I remember coming close to someone doing that even back in the 1970s. You had to be careful playing Cops and Robbers around some houses.)

Take a toy gun to school or even point your finger like it's a gun at school, and you'll now get parents called in by the school administrators at a minimum. You could even get an in-school suspension for a first offense and a note in your permanent record.

That happened because of Columbine, and Columbine happened because of assault weapons and the evil trope scripts they facilitate. Kids can't play Cops and Robbers or soldiers anymore. Too many "grown-ups" (loosely used term) want to do that now.

[Mr.Bill]

39. I had toy guns as a child in the 50s.

I don't know how it affected others, but it made me see guns as part of my childhood I left behind when I became an adult.

Sort of like having a fort with a sign that says No Girls Allowed. As an adult, I prefer the presence of women everywhere I go.

[BannonsLiver]

45. I don't think that's really a thing anymore

I had an arsenal of them as a kid. M16, Star Wars blasters. I’ve owned exactly 0 real firearms in my life and have no desire to own one.

[SYFROYH]

48. Lots of adult things are made in toy versions. Like toy cars.

I bought my kid one of the wooden toy shotguns that pop a cork attached by a string.

I think I heard a million pops that weekend.

[fishwax]

49. guns are never toys, but these aren't really guns (they're toys)