AIBU to think you can’t shoot someone in the face by accident?

[IcyBob]

Last week at the park, 10yo DS was shot in the eye with a nerf gun by a boy of about the same age from another school. His eye was sore and red and watery, and his vision was blurred for a moment but recovered.

Two days later at the same park, the boy was there again with the gun. He approached DS again and DS told him he didn’t want to play with him and not to shoot him again. The boy did shoot at him, so DS picked up the nerf bullet and put it in the bin (not an ideal reaction, I know…) The boy’s mum came over to complain and the situation was resolved. What irked me was that she kept insisting that her boy shot DS “by accident”. According to DS and his friends, he pointed the gun deliberately at DS’s face and pulled the trigger. Surely even a very small child would understand what would happen and why it was a bad idea? And if for whatever reason they couldn’t understand, they shouldn’t be wandering around unsupervised with a nerf gun?

Am I being a uptight killjoy?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41307816

I don't think these should be sold -period -if they can cause injuries - particularly to children
if anybody wants to learn to shoot they should do it at a club -not in a flipping park
I would be charging down there to have a real word with his mother or reporting it to the police

I have just looked up nerf guns and they can cause serious eye injuries.

Poor Marvin in pulp fiction

I know someone who shot themself in the face by accident with a nerf gun. I had to fill out an accident report for them.

I'll add that they're in their 40s. 🤣

I've known a grown man shoot himself in the foot and in the ear accidentally with a shotgun, so yes you can. I've also know of a spaniel who shot his owner, so anything is possible.

But whether it WAS an accident or not, that's a different question.

Your son sounds very calm & responsible.

Good on your son. It wasn’t an accident he shot your son, although may not have been aiming for his eye. But that’s beside the point.

Yes, it's absolutely possible to accidentally shoot them as the triggers are quite sensitive, but this wasn't an accident. If your son told the other boy not to shoot him but he did it anyway, then I don't blame your son for binning the bullet. The other boy's mother should have been disciplining her child instead of having a go at yours.

@itsgettingwierd

Imo nerf guns are for playing in private gardens and spaces.

I'd never allow ds to play in a public park or space with his.

However there have been incidents of being hit in the face which happens when there's a few kids all pelting each other with nerf bullets. But in ds and our neighbours kids case they were all playing with shared consent and an understanding you didn't deliberately shoot towards someone's face.

We have lots of Nerf guns here and have full family 'nerf wars' where it's a bit of a free for all but no one ever shoots a nerf gun unless they, and the person they're shooting at, is wearing safety glasses!

We only have a few rules - safety glasses at all times (no excuses), if someone puts down their gun and says they're done then no-one can shoot them anymore, and no-one is to shoot at or near the cats (they usually depart fairly rapidly to outside the room to look at us disapprovingly anyway).

Well Dick Cheney did it

My DS shot my sister in the face with Nerf gun once. He's either an incredibly good actor or it was an accident, judging by the look of abject horror on his face.

He didn't shoot her accidentally, but he didn't mean to get her in the face. He was younger than 10 though.