selling fake machine guns at a family event?

[nearlyreadytopop]

Feeling rather grown up, first aibu post. I don't know if I am being unreasonable so need the collective mn wisdom.
Last night we attended a super Halloween night organised by the council in the city park. Fancy dress, music, fire dancing, artisan food stalls, illuminations, bonfire etc.

There where a few stalls selling glostick type things and one was also selling toy machine guns. I say toy but they looked very real to someone who has only seen on from a distance or on tv.

aibu to think the council should not allow these things to be sold at a family event? Or is this normal?

Tricky one.

You can buy fake guns anywhere, and you can of course buy BB guns, though by law they have to be brightly coloured so they don't get mistaken for a real one.

By not selling toy guns, you won't stop children pretend playing with gun - a stick, a banana, a hand, all will do as a pretend gun!

But having said that, YANBU for thinking it's inappropriate at a family event. But would you feel any different if they were selling fake knives or swords, both of which cause more death and injury in the UK than guns?

no, I don't think those should be sold either. I think it was the clash of happy postive event and these toy guns.

I am in Northern Ireland and I wonder if being more aware as an adult of our past has made me more sensitive to this?

Oh, I can see how you would be looking at the issue in a different context, OP.

By not selling toy guns, you won't stop children pretend playing with gun - a stick

^^This

I vividly remember as a child playing on the sand dunes and making a pretend camp. I had found some sticks and turned them in to a pretend spit to go over my pretend campfire. Whilst I was off down the side of the sand dune checking my pretend fishing lines a little boy ran up over the dune, spotted my "spit" and said "Great! A machine gun." picked it up and ran off with it.

At most of these events the stallholders just pay their fee and sell their wares. I can't imagine the event organisers take an inventory of everything that is to be sold. For me it comes down to the fact that people have a choice not to buy them. However I can see that lots of children running around with them might dampen the friendly festive type atmosphere. On the flip side (I'm from northern ireland) I think how 10 years ago no one would have dared sell or buy something like this for fear they would be mistaken as real.