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?

Depends where you are. Where I live now, it would be one of those times when I would just pretend I couldn't see or hear that child and it was beneath me to notice that he was talking. Where I used to live, the whole shop floor would have probably dropped and cleared!

magic Regardless of instinct you assaulted a five year old child yet still seem quite unrepentant.

Not sure how you got that, as I already said I wasn’t proud of it.

And I didn’t ‘put on tears’ it was pure adrenaline comedown, and I felt awful for having overreacting and hurting the child. Yes I should have pushed the gun away instead, not even sure why I didn’t.

It all happened so quickly. But it was the wrong reaction, I know that. But I also wish kids weren’t allowed to run around pointing toy guns in peoples faces.

A bunch of flowers💐
You poor thing Platitudes
Not exactly a searing criticism.
In fact it is mimising an assault that resulted in a caution

Of course you do
Tell me is this empathy global to all perpetrators?all assault?.you're right there,all empathic all the time
Or only when it spuriously supports your POV on a thread

I’m just remembering a time when I was driving and my teenage niece was in the car when another car shot out of a side street narrowly missing the passenger side and I automatically, involuntarily slammed on the handbrake and threw myself across my niece. Obviously some sort of protective instinct. I was not “thinking” just reacting.

I can well imagine that if I had a baby who had a gun pointed at its face that I thought had plastic pellets that could injure or even blind my child I would react in a similarly automatic way. I don’t think I’d slap the child but I could see myself grabbing the gun off them or hitting it away from my child’s face. Not a chance I’d allow them to hurt my child. Of course it’s wrong to assault a child and in the poster’s case I would most likely end up losing my livelihood working in education if I did that. But I can completely understand how such a think can happen as an instinct.

And that is all the more reason that children should not be allowed to play with toy weapons in public spaces and why they should be taught never to point them at people’s faces. The parents of these children need to accept the possibility that their own child could end up hurt if they use these toys in a way that causes another person to feel threatened or scared. People do often react in irrational ways when they perceive themselves to be in danger.

As I mentioned up thread, I’ve worked with 100s of children with SEN and I can think of around 10 of them who would have caused the child in the OP considerable harm if they had had a toy gun pointed at them and told they were dead and dozens more who would have been utterly inconsolable as a result of that child’s behaviour.

Eleanor your example make no sense,it’s not applicable
Yes if a child within SEN had a adverse reaction and hit out, the preexisting condition would be a mitigating factor. The Stimulus of noise,fear or surprise would be acknowledged

In an atypical adult the expectation is that they don’t assault a child and in fairness most wouldn’t

Parents who give toy guns to their kiddies are the kind of morons who would be ideal candidates for the Jeremy Kyle Show.

Now he's gone they've nothing to look forward to......

YANBU. I would have done the same. I think having a play gun in public is stupid. Why? And definitely not yelling you are dead. One of the boys I know uses his hands and does the same. Boundaries are blurred.

My cousin was shot by a friend who was playing with what they thought was a play gun. 2 friend committed suicide. I know this is a child with a gun, but my heart goes in my throat even when in jest. I have said something to children. It gives them a different perspective.

To those ,who think it is not a big deal, how would you feel if it was a fake knife and the child started stabbing yelling die die. Or is it that it is just a child and no big deal? If do, why?

how would you feel if it was a fake knife and the child started stabbing yelling die die. Or is it that it is just a child and no big deal? If do, why?

Wouldn’t bother me. It’s not real. It’s a game. That’s why.