Little boys playing with toy guns: Future time bomb or a myth? (neighborhood, schools)

[Steve Bagu]

Today, the last day of the year, tv news says that little boys should be discouraged from playing with toy guns. On the other side, teachers say that this would be withholding their natural development as a form of growing into maturity. I somewhat agree and then disagree with the theory. As a little boy in the 30's I played Cowboys and Indians. Problem was that nobody wanted to be the Indian. My heros (?) were Hoppilong Cassidy/Gene Autry/Tom Mix and others of the era. I killed many Indians with my toy gun but never had thoughts of doing it real life. This of course changed later on with ww11 and Korea. My 4 boys played with toy guns and turned out real well, married and with 7 grandchildren and 1 Great grandson I cannot complain. What do some on the post think? YES or NO. Stefhen

[StuckPA]

Present time bomb actually,it's already happening. What happened with you was a previous generation,things were different.

[Rickers]

I played with toy guns when I was a kid but I didn't get my first real rifle until I was twelve. I also was granted gun case privileges where I could borrow any of my grandfather's guns for target shooting anytime I wanted unsupervised. Same went for driving and use of the cars, Twelve years of age. I haven't killed anyone yet !

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Myth. I grew up playing with cap guns, bb guns, pellet guns and a small.22 rifle. I never killed anyone or even had the urge to (Army service excluded) as that is something that is part of being raised in a violent family or neighborhood climate. My boys did the same as will their boys. Teaching them respect for the weapons and responsibility plays a big part.

True, times are different from when I was growing up but every generation says that. There always have been and always will be sociopaths who will kill whether or not they ever grew up mimicking Tom Mix, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers or The Lone Ranger.

Today's media focuses on anything that will get them viewers, not facts like they did in a generation ago.

[j33]

Myth - my father grew up playing toy guns and became a hippie in the sixties, and then your typical suburban baby boomer thereafter and has never owned a real one. However, he had no problem with my little brother playing with toy guns either ... and well, my little brother is pretty much the same way, he confines any shooting to the occasional video game, I'm pretty sure that he's never owned a gun either.

As a kid I grew up playing cowboys and indians, star wars, and war with my buddies too, and had my pretend weapons as well (including a cap gun), and I'm a girl, and now I'm your standard run of the mill lefty commie pinko (according to some people on this messagebord).

[Dave1215]

Myth - I grew up playing with guns and playing war. My son grew up playing with guns. Most normal boys/men I knew grew up playing with them. Don't know anyone of them that has gone off and done something illegal with them. Totally normal development.

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

Taking toy guns away is another manifestation of PC and amounts to behavior and thought control to achieve some political end. Generations of boys grew up playing with toy guns including myself. I see nothing wrong with this and if I had kids they would do the same thing.

[doc1]

Myth. Focusing on toy guns is the easy, feel good way for addressing social breakdown.

[expgc]

A socialist myth. Our social problem of gun violence, now or in the future, has nothing to do with little boys playing with guns as a child. Many of us parents are responsible for having raised sissified, disrespectful little cowards that use guns to solve their problems.

[missymomof3]

I also think it is a myth.... for most kids. There are a few that are too disturbed to do so but those are few and far between. I think those kids who go shootin' up schools have alot more things behind it than just playing with fake guns.