Should kids be playing with toy weapons?

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Should kids be playing with toy weapons? Yeah, I played with some myself when I was a kid, but sometimes I wonder if kids should really be playing with these things.

Raptor doesn't seem to be around, so I'll take the obvious bait and fill in for him with the obvious answer, just for fun.

No, kids shouldn't be playing with toy weapons, they should be taught to how use real ones in a safe and responsible way.

children should be taught that guns are to be respected as the dangerous items they are. so that they are not "forbidden fruit," the parent needs to demonstrate the full destructive capabilities of guns, so the kids will know they are not to be trifled with. I would do this in a large outdoor area such as a gravel pit or such, and the kid would stand at a distance of at least 100 feet, s/he would wear eye protection but s/he would NOT wear hearing protection [hence the large area so the sound is not quite deafening]. the purpose of this [lack of noise muffling], is to make the guns seem as unattractive and obnoxious as they can be, within the bounds of safety. nothing like blowing up a red-colored block of ice with a picture of a face on it, to demonstrate that these weapons are just that, NOT TOYS. and NO TOY WEAPONS! not even any pretend weapon play, or anything suggestive of violence.

I played with water guns when I was a kid, and I turned out fine. My dad even taught me how to build a slingshot when I was a little girl. I turned all kinds of things into pretend weapons. A simple stick could be a sword, bo staff, or a gun depending on length, weight, and balance. Add a string, and it's a set of nunchucks. I had some sort of jumping thing that involved some sort of light plastic pole and string. I turned that into nunchucks pretty quick (after playing with it as a bo staff).

I don't think kids should be given realistic looking toy guns to play with though.

I grew up with guns and turned out okay... Had BB and paintball guns when I was little. The first real gun I shot was an Bushmaster AR-15. But guns are a passion for me and fortunately, I had someone to teach me about them.

I have a small collection, still have another lower built that needs an upper.





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I build them also, you can say it's my special interest.

EDIT:
This is the lower I finished a while back. Waiting on the $200 Tax Stamp from the ATF so I can make it a short barrel.

My friends wouldn't let their boy have toy guns. He simply picked up a bent twig and said bang.

I saw some neighbor kids get punished by their parents for play-acting with just their hands going "bang bang!" - they got a stern lecture that any kind of violence was not to be taken lightly nor made an object of sport.

I think they should be allowed. I don't see any harm in it. I wish I was a kid, so I can play with toy guns.

I don't have a problem with it as long as people can quickly tell that the toy guns are not real. It's a shame when kids get shot & sometimes killed by police or gun enthusiast because they think it's a real gun.

It's a sport, I am into 3 gun competition and it doesn't discriminate on age, race, or gender.



When I was younger, I played paintball and was a good way for me to socialize with classmates.

EDIT:

if i watch the news and they show yet another report about a kid getting killed by cops because he was playing with a faux gun, i will scream.