Toy guns

[thegreylady]

My dd's mil has given dgs aged 5 and 7 a box of their dad's old toys and, of course the lads are delighted. There are cars, Star Wars stuff, Lego...and two snub nosed revolvers which are horribly realistic. I ahve asked the boys not to play with them (the guns) while I am there.
I don't mind, space guns, nerf guns, light sabres and plastic swords but these things look so menacing.
Dsil laughed at me but said that when I am looking after the boys my rules apply and neither boy minds. But AIBU?

I'm with the pp about children being taught appropriately. When she is of an appropriate age, DD will learn about real guns and how to treat them with utmost respect.

She has one toy gun, an old fashioned pistol from a pirate's outfit. She is not allowed to pretend to shoot anyone. The whole "don't point a gun at a person" is so deeply ingrained in me that I can't even aim at a photograph!

Her school does long bow archery as soon as the kids are big enough to hold the bow, so they learn all about bow and arrow safety from a very young age.

Yes I am confused about the pistol whipping too.

I don't mind guns but I wouldn't let realistic ones in my housr. But it's not your house so I think I'd just bite my tongue

Thanks all. To answer some questions: it is when I am looking after them in their parents' house that I object. The parents are happy that sometimes 'Grandma's rules' apply if parents are not there and I do nothing without consultation.
The guns would pass as real I think and that is what bothers me. Lego guns, multi coloured super soakers and nerf guns, space guns with flasing lights and strange noises are fine to me. They are obviously toys and are played with as such. It is just these horrid things, I am 70 now and when my own son was little I didn't have realistic guns for him either.
I may be a little unreasonable but at least I didn't bin them!

I'll see them again on Wednesday and I'll get a photo of the guns :) They are lovely boys who play very few violent games, just a bit of wrestling and Star Wars etc. I am lucky I suppose that there is no friction. If I was told that the parents wanted them to play with them all the time I would have no option.

YANBU, my two ds's were never allowed guns, not even gun shaped waterpistols, tbh they were not really bothered until they were around 10 when they bought one that fired pellets from a holiday site shop when we were not there, this ended up being thrown from the car window on the way home when I had had enough of it being pointed at my head by my very challenging DS1. I don't see why they are made as toys as they are not fun items.

What do you mean by realistic? We're they replicas?
To my knowledge, in UK it is illegal to sell/own items the might resemble a real weapon. It can be different around the world though. But concerning toys, over here i've never seen anything even remotely realistic.

Its just a toy.

I doubt the police are going to shoot a 5 and 7 year old for playing with toy guns. Maybe in the states where there is a higher chance of them being real, but i doubt it in the UK

Unless you are stateside OP?

There are huge advantages of guns over swords in play fighting, as I discovered after having ds.

Guns, you shout "bang bang" from a distance and no one is hurt other than the fist fight afterwards when one refuses to die. With swords contact will happen and sometimes injuries happen.

I insist ds takes full NSPs (Normal Safety Proceedings, I think it stands for) when he uses his Nerf guns. He still finds it strange that I have handled guns (from CCF at school), but he does the checks carefully.

These guns are relics from the 1970's and would not be sold now.
My own dc were in Pony Club Tetrathlon when they were 8 and 12 and did competetive target shooting but those air pistols were kept under lock and key and only used under strict supervision.
The two I am talking about are honestly not nice! Dsil looks on them fondly as toys from his and his brother's childhood. In fact dd agrees with me but hopes they can be 'lost' when the boys forget about them. I will make sure they all know about the orange paint law.

Me ? I am in Shropshire and am less worried about the police than about the boys playing at cops and robbers at home! I know I am being a bit ott about it but I bet none of you have guns like these in the house. I will put pics on tomorrow :)

I have friends whose kids have actual rifles and shotguns (of their own) in the house. Now THOSE are the ones I'm worried about...

These two guys - grown men - loved messing about with gun toys. Loved action films, always mimicking action hero moves, etc. Paintballed and so on. One day a group of us were all hanging out together, someone had brought along a real, deactivated, handgun. Everyone was interested. I and the owner of the gun were the only ones with any experience of real weapons, so there was naturally a lot of curiosity.

The two guys started messing around, doing their action hero stuff. One pretended to pistol-whip the other (ie pretended to slap the other across the face with the gun), part of a regular mucking-about routine they did. He was used to miming or playing with plastic guns. A real gun is a heavy little machine. He totally misjudged the momentum of the gun and actually hit his friend. Split his cheek open (very luckily did not break his cheekbone or nose) and then fainted at the sight of all that blood.

Of course once I was with the boys I completely forgot the guns! The theme of the day was teaching the younger one to race for Sports Day next week. Dgs2 is totally non competetive. Dgs 1 was eager that his little brother at least made an effort this year instead of rejecting a sticker 'for trying' because "I didn't try".
I didn't see the guns and they seem to have lost their novelty appeal. Was I BU to hate them, maybe but there is no harm done. I am lucky in my family.