Posted on 05/20/2017 9:19:17 AM PDT by PROCON
My mom was pretty relaxed during our childhood and only had a few nonnegotiable, never ever going to change, concrete rules. Her biggest: no water guns.
This water gun ban had nothing to do with water shooting toys in general (though with four kids running around it would've made sense that she didn't want the water wars) and everything to do with her firm belief that guns are not toys. We still had all of the same Summer fun, but with water squirters that didn't look like deadly weapons and never trivialized this important topic. We didn't make childhood memories with an object inspired by something that kills kids daily.
We didn't have a gun in our home, but I think my mom's passionate stance on water guns is even more important for those who do. A gun is a serious and powerful object that can permanently destroy lives. The sooner people start taking this topic seriously, the safer our children will be.
Error loading media: File could not be played Even if they're colorful and super cool, kids shouldn't be playing with water guns because it normalizes the real thing. Kids need to learn that guns aren't toys. There's nothing fun or playful about this serious topic and it doesn't matter if it's a water pistol or a semi-automatic rifle a firearm isn't a laughing matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at popsugar.com ...
ah yes, bb guns. I never had them, but lots of kids in the neighborhood did. And they didn’t grow up to be serial killers or mass shooters. To listen to the liberals today, you would swear that kids being exposed to weaponry of any kind, even the toy kind, will induce them to be criminals in their adulthood.
And then there's the old Sears catalog:
*Sigh*
Why does a stranger on Facebook know if you have a gun?
I remember carrying my boy scout knife my entire childhood.
Be prepared!
I get the impression that the opposite of being prepared is what is taught in schools. Don’t worry, the government will take care of you
He cut into a conversation I was having with someone I knew.
Frikking stupid liberal snowflakes.
That said, I vividly recall when I was four years old, my mother bought my two older brothers really REALLY cool squirt guns (this was back around 1961 I think) that looked like pump action shotguns. You basically filled up the entire gun with water and pumping the action like a real shotgun would eject a good stream.
On the way home, my mother told my brothers they could NOT play with them in the house.
Before the day was over, I recall looking out the window at my my mother smashing the guns with a baseball bat swing against the swing set in our back yard, as her hair stood on end.
My brothers simply could not resist squirting them in the house.
When I was the age of those kids, I was driving tractors, breaking colts, and shooting real guns.
I need that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.