to think you don't let your kid shoot people in the supermarket?

[DonkeyHohtay]

Busy Saturday morning in the supermarket. Boy of about 8 with his Dad. Dad busy filling his basket and behaving perfectly normally.

Boy has a large, black plastic gun. Rifle type rather than a pistol (I'm not a gun expert). Boy is holding gun up to his shoulder, looking down the length of it, pointing it at people and saying "bang bang you're dead". When boy pointed it at me I said - perfectly politely - "Please don't point that at me, I don't like guns".

Father looked at me as if I had grown two heads.

AIBU to think that the supermarket on a busy morning isn't the place for toy guns??

Full disclosure - I'm not a gun fan. Although who is. My kids have in the past had those large "Nerf" type guns which are bright orange and could never be mistaken for a real one. The rules were always that shooting the little foam things at people was not allowed. The had hours of fun in the garden trying to hit a tree or something. This wasn't a gun like that. It was a toy gun, but a black one made to look like the real thing.

AIBU to be a wee bit shocked and think this was completely inappropriate?

I also hate scooters and heelies in shops and cafes too. It's not the time or the place and people shopping shouldn't have to dodge children whose parents haven't bothered to apply an ounce of common sense

That's not the same thing though is it? A kid pointing a toy at you can't trip you up or knock things over like a kid on a scooter can. A kid pointing a toy at you does nothing.

I despise guns. I can't think of a good thing about them. Children carrying 'guns' is a horrible sight. Mimicking killing people isn't ok. I don't want one pointed at me so I'd hope to be polite as you were, OP but it would be a struggle.

nuno
It doesn't do anything to me personally, no. As I said earlier to the OP, I think their response was quite unusual with the 'I don't like guns'. I would probably have smile and continued shopping.

But I dont believe that shops are a children's play area and its basic common sense to not allow your child to walk around the place pretending to shoot at people, certainly not strangers.

Some parents don't seem to understand that the world isn't their child's playground and so think anywhere from cafes to supermarkets is the perfect opportunity to let their darlings do what they like

There's a huge difference between playing with a pretend gun and using a scooter or heelies in a supermarket or kicking a ball round a supermarket. The difference is glaringly obvious.

Sad world when children can’t play. Children have been saying “Baby,Bang you’re dead” since time immemorial. If they aren’t allowed guns they use sticks. No a supermarket isn’t somewhere to allow children to go hurtling along the aisles at great speed but getting uppity because about a child just pointing a toy seems a tad precious.

I dislike the reality of guns. I do understand that children playing is a very different issue and children use play and fantasy as a way of dealing making sense of the world around them. Read Bettelheim. It doesn’t make them more likely to be violent or psychopathic monster. In fact, a child able to engage a stranger probably has an inner confidence and social skills that make them less likely to end up as an isolated killer.

I live in America where my dd has to have intruder drills at school. It isn’t funny. It isn’t innocent. Our children are being robbed of their childhood.

They are different as they are both unacceptable, but for different reasons 🙄
Apparently one way we can now divide parents is those who teach their children not to pretend to shoot at strangers, and those who don’t.
Those who understand why pretending to shoot at strangers is inappropriate behaviour, and those who don’t.

This thread is depressing. Depressing in as much as a vast number of posters think it's perfectly acceptable to allow a child to walk around a supermarket with a 'gun' threatening to shoot people dead.
I despair. I really do.

Yes children should learn to engage with adults and new people (politely...) , but no saying “you’re dead” as an opening line to an adult stranger is not a sign of developed social skills or sophisticated speech and language.

This thread is depressing. Depressing in as much as a vast number of posters think it's perfectly acceptable to allow a child to walk around a supermarket with a 'gun' threatening to shoot people dead.
I despair. I really do

I despair of attitudes like yours. Ruining childrens' play and looking for ways to be offended.

It does bother me when a child pretends to shoot me, I don't have enough time to practice my realistic dive, if I have time to prepare I sometimes do a drop and roll and shoot them back. Hate surprise attacks

You really can divide those who’d say don’t do that to their dc and those who wouldn’t

It's irresponsible. Hope they don't do that to someone like my husband, who had been shot and riddled with PTSD from it.

Play is great. Play is important. Not all forms of play can be done everywhere, though. Children need to be taught this. Church, hospital, railway station, busy bus, shops - all places where children need close supervision, if indeed they have to be there at all, and they can't run around with large toys getting in other people's way.

You really can divide those who’d say don’t do that to their dc and those who wouldn’t

Yeah, surprising that isn't it? Some people think it's ok and some don't. So obviously some will tell their kids not to and others won't!

Yeah ok Nuno insightful

Love quoters, why bother

That was my whole point, your post was the opposite of insightful!

Well don’t waste time quoting it then

Well don’t waste time quoting it then

You can really tell the adults from the children

And again, loads of other posts to quote, go for it

Don’t get why guns are considered anything more than a toy in the UK, because the real thing is banned anyway. Kids don’t really need to know gun safety because they will never touch a real one

@Backwoodsgirl
I think you would be surprised, there is gun violence in the UK, no where near the amount in us but even just in London there was something like 25 fatal shootings last year.

because the real thing is banned anyway. Kids don’t really need to know gun safety because they will never touch a real one

Surely you're aware that some people possess guns illegally?

And they're not exactly 'banned' - you can own one if you hold a licence.

Marsha, you’re right (ignoring quotes). Ah yes, children brought up with no boundaries, never being told no or to wait. What well adjusted, polite, respectful adults they’ll become. And then we have the threads where parents are outraged at children missing five minutes of break as they can’t follow instructions/behave appropriately in school. Wonder why that popped into my head.

I have PTSD. I like guns.

When I was teaching, my classroom had a fantastic armoury with guns, swords, catapults, a mace, stocks and bows with arrows. As far as I'm aware, none of the children I've ever taught have gone on to shoot someone.