Option 5 for my youngest son, aged 5. Might not have many munsnetters wanting to visit me!
Reasons for options 5? ds has always been fascinated by the armed forces - not just the gun aspect, but also the vehicles, the uniforms and all the other equipment. Army families sent children to his first nursery, so aged 3, he saw his friends being collected by their soldier dads in uniform. I don't know if this sparked off his interest.
He is very into role play and construction games - loves dressing up and making things from string, paper and sticky tape. Army toys are just one aspect of this. He likes toy cars and lego as well. I would not feel so relaxed about his guns and arm stuffy if this was all he played with.
He has a big box of toy army soldiers, tanks etc and loves quietly setting them up and making landscapes out of cushions and blankets on the floor. I took him to see the Lord Mayors show recently - lots of soldiers and tanks in the procession. He was enthralled. He tells me he wants to go to military school when he leaves primary school. Whatever it is about the army, it has really caught my son's imagination and I think it would be a little cruel of me to ban all things army from his life.
Compared to his older brother at that age, he is, IMO, good at playing nicely by himself or with other children - good at sharing, makes friends easily, doesn't get into fights that often. I can take him to a playground or party and be fairly confident he will not get into a scuffle or be spiteful. So far, he seems ok at school from the socialising point of view. His last nursery report stated he was very good at empathising with other children and was a popular member of the class. Because of the above, I feel ok about him having guns as I don't think they have made him more aggressive or affected his social skills.
As an adult, I don't like guns, but I don't think my son realises the full connotations of gun play. It is mostly a way of him using his imagination. I am happy for him to buy toy guns with his pocket money. Amongst other toys, he got army soldiers, a large tank, an army suit and a large gun (with sound effects) for christmas.
Having said that, when he has guns ( as opposed to small army toys) and is playing with someone else, the running around, shouting, leaping on furniture games can get out of hand, so I try to set a time limit. Then the boys give me the guns and I hide them. But these running around, shouting games are just as likely to get out of hand if gunes are not around - wrestling games can cause just as much havoc. So the wild behaviour is not simply a gun thing. I agree with those who say swords cause more damage. There;s more likelhood of physical contact with them IME. We have a big collection of banned swords and light sabres languishing on the top of the kitchen cupboard.
My oldest son was into toy guns for a while (along with loads of other things) but never into army toys or army role play. However he loves target shooting as a sport, along with darts and archery, and is very much looking forward to owning an air pistol.
My dh (who was in the navy) is a good, trained marksman and collects and restores old guns. He doesn't belong to a gun club - it is not a big hobby, but is it one of his interests. His job as a pest conrol officer could, in the future, involve shooting rats and pigeons (this is being debated by his bosses at the moment). My sons know all this and are very impressed.