It is something hubby and i have discussed and we made a compromise.................. if they are realistc looking then no but if they weren't then ok. This way our kids won't accidently think a real gun is a toy. We have strict gun control laws in Australia so accidently picking up a gun is very difficult (they have to be stored correctly or you face huge fines and possible jail time)

The problem is manufacturers make them look so real, even criminals can use them they are so realistic looking. But if you look at super soakers and others they look nothing like a real weapon.

Education is a part of it too. If your children know then their less likely to want a realistic looking one. Well, it's worked for us!!!!!

thanks for writing this certainly a subject worth talking about.

Raven

Interesting, I never actually though about this subject before at all :/

Well actually i have t hought the oppisite lol, looking through the toyshop and seeing the toy guns thinking in a couple of yrs the kids will be playing coyboys n indians, or cops and robbers lol.

I have great memories of gun games as a child ;D

THOUGH i dont think they should make toy guns in proper gun colours, they should be bright so kids CAN tell the differance between a real one and a toy on e

Though i DO have a solution to everyones water pistol/gun delema :D they have ones now that are made of foam and ARENT in the shape of a gun (and they reach way further then super soakers :P)

Are you a single mother? There are some things that are inherently boy. And beyond that some things that are inherently American. Boys are instinctively attracted to yes guns, and tools, and trucks and things that go bang and boom etc, etc. Don't try to make your boys into you. You are "Mommy Dearest" strangling the spirit of your children. If you are aftraid that they will become violent you are wrong. Teach them right from wrong, teach them make believe and reality. Put them in Kenpo Karate, or Kick Boxing or Kung Fu. It will teach them control and restraint and the respect for violence. Put them in Boy Scouts. Put them in the Junior Marines program. It used to be that boys went through a right of passage, that they were taught to be rough and tough, to be defenders of the clan. Now the Feminazi's have upset the balance and structure and spread the acceptance of divorce and single mothers. Too many boys are not becoming men in society today. Look at the crime that plagued society as a result from so many fatherless homes. etc, etc, etc. Do some research and homework.

Well, all I can say here in the US (I live in NJ but grew up in Mass.) is that there is a psychologically proven attraction to guns in children. Boys especially have this fixation and to ban chuildren outright to play with toy guns is.. at the least ignorant and at the most irresponsible. I am a Juvenile Detention Officer and do not have a duty weapon but I do have a legal handgun for self-defense and target practice. I have a 16 year old boy, a 7 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. My 16 year old was told many years ago that there are rules for gun safety and even for safely playing cops and robbers. My 7 year old once wanted to play with one of his big brother's power ranger guns (in the house) so he could shoot the bad guys on TV. I told him there were only 3 rules for toy guns. 1. Do not point them and shoot at our pets. 2. do not EVER point it at yourself. and 3. only point and shoot at inamimate objects such as toys, stufed animals and bad guys on TV. Playing outside is quite a bit different. I only let them play with the non-realistic looking guns with many bright colors when outside and never after the sun goes down.  I am not knocking those parents who do not want real guns in their homes. That's their opinion and I respect it. My kids play with all kinds of toys and are not fixated on any one kind, (although my son is going through a guitar hero phase right now). Just Keep in mind that the "Forbidden Fruit Syndrome" is a valid pathology and applies more to just guns. If your child is getting to an age where they can attend a firearms safety course designed for children (the NRAs Eddie Eagle Course for example) I highly reccomend it. This will serve 2 purposes. It will have a good chance of fending off the Forbidden Fruit Syndrome and it just may encourage your children to pass os basic common sense when it comes to gun safety. The Eddie Eagle program teaches kids that if they ever discover what appears to be a real gun they should NEVER touch it and find an adult right away and tell them. Even if your anti-gun, common sense can prevail in these potentially dangerous times.

great advice

luv emz xx

It is impossible to avoid the attraction that guns hold for boys. if denied them they make them out of anything they can, sticks, lego, wooden spoons... My family were amazed when i allowed my son a horrid 'hands up or i'll shoot nasty'. (it was a present). I still dislike it but its attraction was limited. Whereas i beleive if he had been denied access to such horrors obsession starts.

Here in the UK it is less of a gun culture but increasingly we have a problem with youth knife crime. Yet we feel that swords are more acceptable because of increased role playing activities. I have balanced all this with compulsary karate lessons for the children. I hope that this will teach them discipline, self defence, respect etc rather than a reflection of the violence in our society. The debate will continue ... but remember it is no longer nature vs nurture debate. boys are wired differently. Let them be boys for abit. Best of luck, pnp.

I know it is hard.  Being South African I too didn't want my children playing with guns, but they just used sticks they found in the garden if they didn't make them from lego!  My experience since, has taught me that to make something absolutely forbidden, is just making it very attractive, and a "must have".  My daughter is a good example of this - when we forbade contact with the young man she met on the internet, that was all she wanted, but the minute we said it was OK, it lost its appeal altogether!  Just relax, and if you have taught then the right values, I am sure they will turn out normal and not go around shooting people!  Good luck.

I too was not going to allow my sons to play with toy guns and I didnt for many  years with my first son but then i think he was given one for his  5th birthday by somebody outside of the family,i didn't encourage him to play with sticks as guns either ,but well he is a boy and they will see anything that they think looks like a gun they will pick it up and use it.My younger boys have them but i still dont like them playing with them and I hide them as much as possible lol to discourage them but if they cant find them, they find something else that they can use as  guns. There imagination is good .

So I learnt however much I tried for my older son not to have them I couldnt be with him 24/7 to see what he was playing  with while i was not around me and my mother pointed out that my older brother had them as kids and I myself can remember playing with his peg rubber band gun that he had made .And well he is now 41 and has turned out pretty darn good.

I too am very against toy guns, or anything to do with violent behavior.  I have never even put two and two together for water pistols.  But, hello...PISTOL!  It is a gun isn't it.  Only the bullets coming out are water!  OMG. 

I haven't had to make that decision for my own child but do think about those things when I buy for other peoples children.  Games and toys that encourage/sensationalize violence are not ones that I will buy. 

But what is the right thing to do?  Allowing them to play with them and teaching them that they are deadly?  Isn't that like allowing them to drink alcohol at home because it is safer?  I don't know the answer.  But this advice certainly is thought provoking.  And there probably isn't any right or wrong answer.  Just how we as parents handle the situation.