In this ever-growing violent world, would you allow your child to play toy guns?

I not only allowed my sons to play with toy guns, but when they were old enough (12+) I took them to the range and taught them how to use real guns safely...the operative word here is SAFELY. They were always had constant supervision, and they never handled a real gun until they had proven to me that could "play" with a toy gun using the same safety precautions as though they were real.

They are both adults now, and guess what...neither one of them grew up to be a gang-banger or a murderer. By learning about gun safety, they have learned to respect the power and seriousness and the responsibility of having guns. A gun us just a tool...it has no danger except in the hands of someone who doesn't know or care how to be safe with it. A baseball bat can be just as deadly in the wrong hands and not being used for its intended purpose.

Although I think a child should be allowed to play with toy guns I believe things of the past are now illegal to own, like you can no longer use or own a squirtgun and can no longer wear a mask (outside of Halloween), however a child needs to be taught right from wrong. In the past a child did see that their parents owned a real gun. And these days if a policeman sees a toy gun they immediately think it's real and might shoot the person holding the toy.... I grew up in the days of the Cisco Kid, Gene Autry, Sky King, and all the other cowboy and indians and every kid on the block had toy guns, a holster, caps, a ten gallon hat and rode around on their horse (horse head attached to a stick) and it was the time just after WWII and so if the boys weren't playing cowboys and indians they were playing war and all you heard throughout the neighborhood was tat-tat-tat-tat-tat as they were shooting either with caps or with their index finger and hiding. I don't know that any of that created violence in those 1950's. Those were good years. Today everyone is geared to respond quickly and sometimes without thinking so it's dangerous to own or play with toy guns by adults or children.

If I don't allow toy guns, what will my child play? They won't be allowed monopoly either because of the vicious capitalist outlook it requires. They wouldn't be able to play a hunting game because I don't agree with cruelty to animals.

It would be strange to manipulate a child by never exposing them to stuff, and telling them that it is wrong. It's odd because however you "raise" your child, you are manipulating them into an idea you have, but some forms of manipulation seem definitely wrong. Where do I draw the line in "raising" children?

I think we should educate, rather than condition.

God bless.

We never allowed our children to play with toy guns! If they had an interest in real hunting as teen agers they attended gun training and got a license.

Yes. My son is a non violent man. He is 17.5 y/o and plays Air Soft with a very elite team. He is off to college in 9/2012 to be a Police Officer. He is very grounded and stable.

Never did. But the world is actually less violent now than it was 100 or 50 years ago. You are prejudiced by the news you watch.

yes i would, it could be just a phase or become a real hobby, it depends on my kid.

my parents hated guns, so I became a gun nut. it was the secret obsession that was hidden like some kind of horrible evil thing. now there's a huge amount of fiction between me & my parents, we're so different. i'm sure if they didn't oppose anything gun-related and allowed me to hunt & shoot the way i dreamt of I'm sure things would of come out very differently.

if you meant "toy guns" then yes I would as long as adult supervision was keeping it just play. But would stress firmly how dangerous guns are and the harm they would cause if not cared for properly.

Children manifest the basic aspects of human development. Girls and dolls are a manifestation of the "nurture" aspects of human behavior. Toy guns and domination are aspects of aggressive human behavior. It is not "bad" to be aggressive. In fact we teach aggressiveness in many aspects of human life. We want people to take on issues that confront them. Too many people avoid issues and avoid commitment to a solution. To "fix" a male child aggression would be like "fixing" a female child's manifestation of "nurture".

Read your question again

Do you see the word "Toy"?

Meditate on that word.

Yup, it's a TOY gun