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 know you can own a shotgun or bolt action hunting rifle with a license, but the majority of weapons are banned.

I am aware that there is a lot of knife crime didn’t know gun crime was that bad.

I remember reading a news story many years ago now about a boy in a cafe in Norway with a toy gun that was so realistic the police were called. Armed police arrived if I remember rightly. I hate guns. My 4yo likes them as he's seen other boys playing with them (my ex's son) and likes to pretend to shoot. This seems to happen at nursery too. I refuse to let him have one and discourage all pretend shooting and explain why each time.

I'd have said something too OP.

Ah yes, children brought up with no boundaries, never being told no or to wait. What well adjusted, polite, respectful adults they’ll become

The problem is you're equating "letting child play with a toy in a supermarket" with having no boundaries and never being told no to anything. There's quite a gulf between those two things, but as usual on mumsnet there is no middle ground!

" 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."

Half that, 12 fatal shootings...

This thread is bizarre! A toy gun, telling strangers they’ve killed them. Yes, obviously the same as a child playing with any old toy and interacting politely (or not at all) with people outside their family circle 🧸🧐😂

If a small child pointing a plastic toy gun at you and saying "bang bang you're dead" genuinely shocks/concerns/upsets you, then I'd say it's not the kid who needs to learn about social interaction.

I played with guns, swords, knives, cannons, arrows and medieval weapon toys and I'm a professional adult with very good morals. I still love shooting games on the Xbox. I have RIFs and a UKARA.

Killing people would never, ever enter my mind. People can enjoy guns and shooty games without being psycho killers.

I don't care if children have toy guns, but there is a time and place for them, and pretending to shoot strangers in a supermarket is not appropriate. You have no idea what the person you are 'shooting' may have experienced in their life. Shops are not playgrounds.

Basically I think its inappropriate and rude as it is hostile and challenging. You had every right to respond how you did. Equally you could have taken it differently grabbed your heart and pretended to die. This is a values based issue. I wouldnt let my kids do it as it's basically disrespectful. Others see it differently.

If a child came up to you and said I am a suicide bomber bang you are dead, would that be different?

When I was a child we used to play cowboys and Indians, and the Indians were always the baddies. Obviously we are more educated now. Do children still play that? Don’t see so many westerns on tv nowadays.

Yanbu
Inappropriate to pretend to shoot strangers while shopping.

As someone who lives in the U.S. I would have said something also.

Armed Response police are highly trained. Exactly How many 8year old UK children have been shot by armed response police in UK?....LONG PAUSE.......

As I don’t come from from or currently live in the UK I don’t know. I know it does happen though and colour of your skin and the neighbourhood you live in are factors.

I would have made a joke of it and pretended to die.

As I don’t come from from or currently live in the UK I don’t know. I know it does happen though

It doesn't actually happen in the UK though, I think that was PP's point. As in, it's never happened in recent history.

I'd have let him pretend to shoot me, I'd pretend to die an agonizing death, and then Id pretend come back as a zombie and chase his ass out the store.
But I'm weird like that.

Don’t see a problem with it.

It’s a toy gun, so what. Get over it.

YANBU. I'd have felt the same way.

But then again I can't get my head around the fact that parents actually buy their kids games whereby they practice shooting and killing people.

The graphics are realistic and imo it's just normalising really fucked up behaviour.

I wouldn't be bothered really but what does make me furious are parents who let their children skateboard or rollerskate at the supermarket.
I had my foot cut right open by one of the little shits rollerskating over it. Parents did nothing.
The supermarket is not a fun park.

@woofwooftrucks
Studies have shown that before the invention video games no-one got shot, never. And everyone who picked up a PlayStation control murdered at least two others...while listening to death metal.

YANBU dad could have diffused the situation by saying sorry and telling his son to shoot the cans or whatever ... after all he could not know if you had ever been affected by a shooting incident in your life which in itself would have been traumatic.

I would be tempted to act wounded and like a mad joker attempting to stun him with some biscuits and hope he was a little bit worried to think twice next time

OP, I'd have done the same. And sounds like you were perfectly polite –you're allowed to request someone doesn't do something you don't like around you, no matter what it is. You're allowed to draw boundaries.

If the kid had had a spider in his hand and shown it to someone who didn't like spiders, and they said, calmly and politely: "I don't like spiders, please don't bring that near me", would PPs have told them they were 'prim' and socially inept too?

On the other hand, I don't love a gun in my face either, real or otherwise. I'm not cool with people thinking it's fun to pretend to hurt me, whether they're children or adults, 'playing' or otherwise.

I HAVE been hurt, though, several times, so maybe it affects me more than others.

I do wonder how PPs would have felt if it wasn't a distance-death.

What if the kid had had a toy knife, run up to the OP and pretended to stab her to death in the supermarket?

"Stab stab, you're dead."

Lovely.

It would be a great game in the aisles. Fab!

Oh ffs just when I think I’ve seen it all.