Should I let my children play with toy guns?

[mumzylou]

Hi everyone, my husband and I recently discussed buying a toy gun (nerf) for our 4 year old boy. My husband thinks that it is a bad idea and toy guns give children the wrong impression about guns and violence, I wanted to get other peoples opinions on this, are toy guns bad for children? Did you notice any changes in your child when or after playing with toy guns?

Thanks everyone, Louise

I must also say I'm a huge Call of Duty player myself. I absolutely love the team games and shooting other players. It's a great wind down after a long day at school and very therapeutic. Mowing down real people never, ever crosses my mind! I also knit, and don't imagine stabbing people with my needles unless they disturb me when I'm counting stitches

No .... same with PC games ... no no no no!

Yes, dubious. They were in a little round box. You didn't need a gun to make them bang; just put the strip on the pavement and bash each cap with a stone. We made our own fun in the pre-digital age!!

My DB and I both had cap guns and potato guns as did my entire family as children. Not one of us have actually ever fired a real gun and we are certainly not violent!

And yes you can still buy cap guns and the caps! Amazon has them.

I forgot about spud guns! I loved mine, and my peashooter.

We also used to make peg guns from a bit of wood, nails, the metal spring bit of a peg, elastic bands and the actual peg bits. They bloody hurt if they caught you, but it was my Dad who taught us how to make them. I must ask him to show DS.

Our 3yr old has a water type gun but is well aware she is NOT allowed to take it outside the back garden and if she does it's gone - it's that obvious it's a water gun it's unreal.

My BIL still had a realistic looking firearm that is like a Sig sauer- it's a BB gun but he totally forgot about it and when doing an attic clean he found it and handed it in for destruction that day.

Cap guns are still available if you hunt for them and the paper rolls are defo available along with the balls you bounce on the ground and they do same thing (can't remember what they are called lol)

As someone who is trained in firearms and also trained in EFA for wounds inflicted = I'm a big nono for kids playing with weapons that look real in anyway.

Nerf guns can be fun, but safety warnings need to be enforced etc.

I am 35 and our childhoods were different and a lot less H&S based so your choice is your right.

To the people that disagree with children playing with toy guns it would be great if you could go into a bit more depth as to why not :)

You're not allowed a replica weapon in public though, whether you're a child or an adult. My best friend is an airsofter and he has to be licenced with UKARA to carry a replica weapon, even though it's a BB gun. The BB guns that are allowed to be seen in public legally have to have bright orange or green colours on them so it's obvious they aren't real guns. When my friend is putting them in his car even, he has to have them concealed in a bag.

Mumzy, I just don’t like what they represent. I don’t want to see my 4yo running around “shooting people”. There are a gazillion toys for imaginary play that I’m happy to purchase. Just not toy weapons.
I’m not suggesting that kids who play with weapons grow up violent.. I just don’t want to see my kid with a replica gun. It’s a personal choice I think

My take is the same as Oly5's. I don't care if they have a positive effect or not: guns as fun is something that makes me deeply uncomfortable and I don't have to have something that makes me deeply uncomfortable in my own home.

Never tried to police what they do outside the home but this is what we do in our home.

You won't ever keep your young ones away from guns..they will use sticks, fingers, lego or anything else they can find to make a gun with. It's just how they are.
When they are teens they will play gun based computer games and you won't be able to stop that either..(mum of teens here)..
It does not mean they will turn into gun crazed lunatics in real life! You need to relax.

@anxious2017 there is an issue with a lot of underage children playing games not suitable, for example I have seen kids as young as 6yrs playing Grand Theft Auto, but I guess thats a whole different matter.

So would the school allow toys such as army themed dolls with model guns? Where do they draw the line? Im not questioning your ethics just genuinely interested.

Yes, there are massive issues with children playing underage games. Not because they'll turn into gun wielding psychopaths but because of language and sexual/violent content.

If my topic was perhaps WWII, then yes I'd probably have toy soldiers, tanks etc but we don't do that topic until KS2 where the classroom is no longer play based. I know the nursery class has a huge box of Barbies and Action Man dolls. In fact, I think they actually do have those little green plastic soldiers in one of the outdoor tuff trays, with mud, grass etc.

I don't like nerf guns and won't buy them. We do have some swords and a lightsaber but to me they are different. I don't stop DS from pretending he has a gun and making them out of various things but I do remind him what guns do and why I don't like them. I don't think having one will make DS grow up and use a gun but I don't like him shooting people for fun. Even in a video game when he's older I wouldn't mind so much.

At a friend's house, her DS fired at me several times with a huge nerf gun and it only reconfirmed to me why I won't have them.

I know a lot of people who played with toy guns, and video games containing guns as children or teens. Very few people I know would be able to say they've seen or handled a real gun.

I think knives and vehicles cause more damage and deaths than guns in the UK tbh.

I think we should be more worried about alcohol in the UK.

Yes, anxious2017 hadn't thought about that. Or substance abuse.

A lot more to worry about than a child playing with a toy gun really.

Absolutely no change in my son when he's playing with guns. Hes always had them.
His friends who aren't allowed guns, always seem to run straight to his though, and get extremely wound up when they grab hold of them.

Really? My ds knows I don’t like toy guns and he’s happy with the explanation. He certainly doesn’t go crazy when he sees them at friends’ houses. He’s totally unfussed.. would much rather get stuck into their Lego!

Same experience here, Oly. Just didn't seem to be a thing with mine. Interesting how many posters seem to struggle with the idea that it is possible not to have toy guns at home for any other reason than because you believe they will turn your child into a serial killer.

My greatgrandmother banned toy guns in the 1930s. She didn't believe in the serial killer trope either, she just didn't like the guns-as-fun idea. My grandparents (either side) didn't have them in the house either and my parents didn't. Nobody in my large extended family has grown up excessively interested in guns for the last 3 generations.

When we first had DC we were living somewhere very near to an area with (relatively bad) gun crime. Reading newspaper reports of police seizures of guns or seeing appeals for more information on the train station platform on my way to work really brings home that guns are not all fun.