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Original poster

Toy guns <head in hands emoticon>

59 replies

FrannyandZooey · 08/09/2006 12:29

Oh god. Where to begin? I am probably just going to light the blue touch paper and retire on this one. But I really, really, really cannot bear them and I don't understand why anyone in their right mind, would ever buy one, ever.

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lilibet · 08/09/2006 12:33

I'm with you but it really is very difficult to decide where to draw the line. Water pistols for example? My youngest never quite grasped that if a gun shot water it was fine, if it didn't, it wasn't.

IdrisTheDragon · 08/09/2006 12:34

I am fine with water pistols.

But not with any other ones.

Seashells · 08/09/2006 12:35

I agree with you. I throw them away if people buy them for ds, even little ones you get with playmobil, action figures etc.
Think guns are the worst invention ever and don't want ds to think of them as a 'toy' or something fun to play with, they are dangerous weapons.
Water guns I don't mind though.

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beckybrastraps · 08/09/2006 12:35

How do you feel about swords?

Sophiev73 · 08/09/2006 12:36

What if they create a pretend gun out of a stick?

nailpolish · 08/09/2006 12:36

i really dont mind them

me and my brother played cowboys and indians a lot for some reason, it was great fun

i have to say though i dont see them in the shops anymore

Jimjams2 · 08/09/2006 12:37

If you don't buy them boys turn other things into guns anyway (once they reach a certain age). My friend banned them so her son decided to blast her with his toy hoover hose instead.

DS2 isn't that into then yet (he's 4) but now he's started school I'm sure it'll kick in (so ds3 will be into them sooon after).

tortoisesdonotwearshoes · 08/09/2006 12:39

Ive just bought DS1 9 his 1st gun for a fancy dress party.I think it will disappear after it!
I used to love playing with my cap gun.
But I don't want my dc playing guns.
They have water pistols though.

WideWebWitch · 08/09/2006 12:40

ha ha ha haha, well, of course we've had this row before. I'm with you because:

Guns are only for killing. Can't imagine why anyone would think a replica of something only for killing is ok

Boys will make guns out of anything but so what, they're still NOT actually guns, not a good argument for buying them imo

Could be mistaken for real thing and this has actually happened. Child surrounded by armed police blah blah. When people say 'it's the only toy I won't allow out of the house' (for the above reason one presumes) then why do you allow it in the house?

My money, I will decide what is and is not an appropriate toy. I don't think a gun is.

Just because they want one isn't a good enough reason to buy one imo. Why do they want one?

Ds once said witheringly to me 'but it's a TOY mum' and I still said no.

SoupDragon · 08/09/2006 12:41

I don't buy DSs "real" looking guns but am OK with, say, laser guns. They still build them out of lego, boxes etc etc - you can't stop them.

We have toy swords too which are arguable more dangerous as it's probably easier to find a real knife/blade weapon than a real gun. Again, they'd just improvise if they didn't have the toy and DS2 has a nasty scar in one eyebrow from a plastic ruler "sword fight" with DS1. He wouldn't have been injured with a toy sword...

Chill out. Personally I think Barbie is more evil than a toy weapon

magicfarawaytree · 08/09/2006 12:42

I love toy guns (never had a brother so finally a chance to play cowboys and indians - if only children know what cowboys and indians were!!)with sound have just bought three a pirate pistol, a rifle and a machine gun from the £ shop. DD and ds were using everything as gun from the minute they started preschool - sticks, soap, toy animals even balloons!!! even dd2 almost two had a stick going 'die die die' figure like with most things the novely will wear off.

magicfarawaytree · 08/09/2006 12:43

yes soup dragon death to barbie - the tramp!.

SoupDragon · 08/09/2006 12:43

Guns aren't just for killing though, they're for shooting targets in sport too. Of course, none of the toy guns are target weapons though.

coppertop · 08/09/2006 12:44

I don't have a problem with toy guns, swords etc. Sometimes things become more attractive to children when banned.

ScummyMummy · 08/09/2006 12:45

My first thread on mumsnet about this (Age of my children = 3)

My last contribution to a thread on mumsnet about this (Age of my children = 6)

I have changed so much on this one. Can't get worked up about it at all any more. Have fun those that can and do, though.

emmatom · 08/09/2006 12:46

My son has had toy guns from the time he started playing action man and batman and the other hero villain type stuff.

He's only ever played with them in the house and garden (so no danger of strangers thinking they were real and the repercussions that go with that).

When he got over the phase he never bothered with them again and is the most sensitive sweet natured boy you could meet.

beckybrastraps · 08/09/2006 12:46

We have toy swords. Last year, knights were ds's absolute favourite thing. He too has a duelling scar!

The time has not yet come for guns, but it will. And I will hate it, but I'm pretty sure he will "play guns" anyway with whatever he can find, because that's what boys do. Do you honestly think it does any lasting psychological harm to an otherwise well-adjusted child?

My brother had a space gun, and my mum told him it was permanently set to "stun" .

ggglimpopo · 08/09/2006 12:47

Message withdrawn

alligator · 08/09/2006 12:49

Lots of kids will play with them anyway. Dss made guns out of everything and all his lego creations had rocket blasters etc on them despite the fact we never bougth him guns when he was little.

Atm dd has a rocket launcher from one of his lego models (some army tank thing he bought himself) in her buggy and is calling it her shimmy shaker. So I guess imagination works both ways really.

I too remember having great fun playing cowboys and indians and other games like that.

alligator · 08/09/2006 12:54

And can I jsut say taht neither dp nor I have grown out of playing with toy axes and swords either so really cant judge the kids for doing it .

Original poster

FrannyandZooey · 08/09/2006 13:00

I think pretend play with guns that have been made out of a stick / lego / piece of toast is imaginative play, and while I don't like it, I don't presume to set limits on a child's imaginative play just because I find it distasteful. There is also research which shows that pretend play with weapons is a lot more creative and problem-solving than play with replica weapons which mostly involves shouting and hurting or pretending to hurt.

I don't like swords. I wouldn't buy one. But they don't have the same resonance for me as guns. We all know people get killed with guns every day and I know several people who have been injured / killed by guns. I don't personally know anyone who has been injured by a sword.

OP posts:

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 08/09/2006 13:12

I know it's irrelevant here really as we're talking about toy guns, but my dd lost one of her best friends during the school holidays in an accident with an air rifle.

Boy's will play with guns. I preferred mine to make them out of lego or similar than buy anything that looks remotely real. People worry about the consequences of toy guns looking like the real thing but what about vice-versa - kids thinking the real thing isn't lethal because they've got a toybox full of similar looking items? I'm so angry at the parent who didn't lock the thing away . Sorry.....bit emotional about it all.

FillyjonktheFluffy · 08/09/2006 13:16

yes, i cannot decide on this one either

My gut instinct says no. Playing with guns is horrible. Why should kids want to pretend to kill people? And why the feck must guns be so realistic?

But then, the purpose of play IMO is partly to work through ideas and scenarios and come to terms with them. Guns are how kids see people being killed on tv. They know people die and they know people are killed so they need to work through this. And killing people, for kids, serves two purposes IMO. First it allows them to think about death. Second it lets them think about power. I know a child who will "shoot" at things he doesn't like, I think he's trying to get rid of them in his head.

Something I really do NOT like about guns is that I feel that games are often not really consenual. At the many festivals I was at over the summer I often saw kids "shooting" guns to intimidate. Yet adults won't intervene and help them interact better because they are "playing".

I think swords are just as bad though. Just more middle class .

southeastastra · 08/09/2006 13:16

that's so sad saggarmakersbk.

unfortunately we have an arsenal of guns, light sabres, swords etc, they just love them.

alligator · 08/09/2006 13:18

If we look at it logiacally tho swords are used exclusively for fighting other people. They have no other use at all, not for hunting or anything. But I do understnd why they dont raise so much emotion as they are much more to do withthe past whereas guns are in the here and now.

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