Do you have any problem with kids being allowed to play with toy guns?

This was the MSN poll of the day:

Quote :

St. Louis pastor announces plan to buy back kids' toy guns

Parents are encouraged to trade in play weapons for a more "wholesome" toy.

Do you feel that toy guns are creating a culture of violence?

Common sense generally reigns through, 74% said no, that is 275,850 people saying they're just toys. But then 20%, 74,333 people said "Yes, kids shouldn't be exposed to guns".

74,333 people clearly don't have a brain in their skull, but that's just my opinion. How about everyone else's?

I see little problem with it. They're just toys. Now I think it would be beneficial if parents who gave their kids toy guns reminded them that they are just toys, that real guns aren't to be played with, and perhaps regulated the way kids behaved with these toys; but by and large, things like toy guns and so-called 'violent' video games don't really bother me as a parent. I think people make too big a deal out of them.

Chris wrote:

I see little problem with it. They're just toys. Now I think it would be beneficial if parents who gave their kids toy guns reminded them that they are just toys, that real guns aren't to be played with, and perhaps regulated the way kids behaved with these toys; but by and large, things like toy guns and so-called 'violent' video games don't really bother me as a parent. I think people make too big a deal out of them.

I have my questions about the video game aspect. There's a big difference in when my uncle was a kid and the most violent toys were popguns that went bang bang or rather click click, compared to today you have a virtual blood and guts free for all. Now, some of these games, I guess like the military sniper games or something, it's been said that they are made to be as close as possible to real military virtual training, so if there's any truth to this, you take the technology used to train recruits to kill, I don't like the idea of that being in a game that kids are playing.

And these games ARE marketed at older kids, and if people would abide by the ratings it would be fine, but a lot of the kids playing these T and M rated games are 5 years old and up, and the parents either don't care or aren't there to pay attention. I'm sorry but at 5 years old you're still learning a large deal about what's real and what's fake and the difference in the two, if there isn't anybody there to point out the difference, and in a lot of homes there aren't, then I do think that could pose a problem. Ultimately it does come back to the parents but also I do believe there are some things kids will benefit from not being exposed to at a very early age. I say when they're little let them play cops and robbers, when they get older AND they have the money to buy the games themselves, THEN they can play army sniper assassin or whatever.

i think the video games are desensitizing. The military is using them for target practice. However "creating a society of violence" is a little dramatic. when has any society NOT been violent?

all of history has seen violence... so i believe it is just human nature. maybe it is better for kids to get that aggression out with gun play rather than in real life... like shale said, i think kids have too much pent up energy now from NOT going outside and playing.

Supernova wrote:

Do you have any problem with kids being allowed to play with toy guns?

No

wants2laugh wrote:

like shale said, i think kids have too much pent up energy now from NOT going outside and playing.

On this we agree. It doesn't make any sense, and there's no short way around it. Schools want kids to spend more time sitting down and studying to get the correct answers on standardized tests regardless of if they're actually learning anything REAL or not; so to do this they cut back on recess, some schools do away with it completely, because they believe if kids get to go out and play, they won't pay attention when they come back to class, what the hell? Why give employees coffee breaks then? By that logic they won't want to work when they come back from getting up and shaking the cobwebs. So, kids spend more time sitting down and shutting up, and they're not made for that, they need to be up and playing, but they're not, so because they DO have energy and are wiry, then they must have ADHD and need drugs, essentially cocaine I think, to make them calm down, because apparently letting them run around for half an hour is absolutely out of the question.

Toy guns don't breed violence. lack of morals breeds violence.

I played with guns as well as other implements of destruction as a lad. No big deal but I can think of better toys for kids.

Alan Smithee wrote:

I played with guns as well as other implements of destruction as a lad. No big deal but I can think of better toys for kids.

Those cap guns and the Super Soaker were the shit though.