Posted on 11/13/2007 2:21:10 PM PST by Daffynition
City Wide Youth Leadership Agency's William Mackey spends a lot of time talking about toys, but he isn't playing around.
He and other anti-violence advocates believe children playing with fake guns can potentially turn into a game of life or death, and Mackey's group is dedicated to boycotting stores who carry them.
"This is very, very important," Mackey said. "Philadelphia's streets are a bloodbath."
With the holiday season right around the corner -- and people already shopping for presents -- Mackey and his friends want stores that carry toy guns to hear their message.
He and others promise to not only boycott the stores, but also protest in front of them.
Tim Furlong Reports
"The only thing I can say is we don't need the guns, not sold as toys, as water blasters, as BB guns; we don't need any of this stuff," parent Kevin Murphy said.
Mother Maureen Norris, of North Philadelphia, said she thinks the boycott is a great idea because she doesn't buy them and she doesn't want stores to sell them.
"I never bought water guns, play guns, cap guns or nothing," Norris said.
Norris spoke to NBC 10's Tim Furlong as she and her young son headed into a city Toys 'R' Us store -- a good move for parents who want to avoid toy guns that look like the real thing. Toys 'R' Us, along with stores like Target and Wal-Mart, sell Nerf and laser-tag-type guns, but none that look like replica machine guns or Glocks.
Still, despite a September resolution from City Council asking stores to remove the guns from their shelves, some stores like KB Toys in the Franklin Mills Mall sell guns in all colors, shapes and sizes, including a realistic-looking machine gun and handgun purchased by Furlong.
William acknowledged that real guns are the real problem, but said even with the orange tip on fake guns, they are still sending the wrong message to kids in a troubled city.
These young people are brainwashed at such a young age with toy guns," Mackey said. "We must remove them.
"We will start this week boycotting stores in the city and the surrounding counties -- they must remove those toy guns off the shelves immediately," he shouted to supporters.
A super soaker loaded with doe scent would be a truly formidable tool...
LMAO!
“I guess he was too busy buying Barbie dolls”
Maybe sleeps with em too??
“My six year old shot two clay birds from the automatic thrower this past weekend with his .410 shot gun”
The spoiled brat......I didn’t have a .410 until I was 8!
No water guns? Those are the best things to have in the summer.
Water guns and water balloons,,,,,,,,,suhweeeeeeeeeeeeet!
And we all had an arsenal of gun noises to make them sound their parts!
I wonder if the kid ever noticed that the only dead and bleeding people are the “good people with no guns”.
Instead of blaming an inanimate object for violence in Philly he should pick up Dick Cosby’s books and realize that urban violence is directly connected to the spwaning of children without joint parental oversight. Kids need fathers not just to produce them biologically, but to supervise them and rear them and the widespread illegitimacy among the urban black community is directly responsible for gun violence, drug abuse, etc.
There should be some way to hold people directly responsible for producing children and then walking away from the responsibility of taking care of them.
Perhaps they should regulate penises in Philly instead of guns.
DAMN that’s a big chipmunk!
That looks like the one that got into my attic one time..... I will admit to using an electric blasting cap on a woodpecker once ! Taped that cap right under the hole he was making in ummm.....”our EOD range structure”. Waited until we heard the tap tap tap and we went BANG !
Feathers everywhere........:o)
I should charge him rent and then spend his money on Guns and Ammo.
That's the ticket!
Would you rather be good and dead or bad and alive?
You should see what a grid of underwater bangalore torpedos (MK 8 hose) does to sea life!
Then the gulls come down for the free floating feast, and there goes shot #2, right next to shot #1.....
Did that off the coast of Qatar. They used a reef there to dump their UXO. We set off a number of charges to clean it up and lordy did we have fish !
I miss those days.......reduced to small test shots at work these days and a few pop bottle rockets on the 4th (my official answer)..........:o)
Enough demo to blow channels in reefs is a LOT of demo!
Personally, I would rather be good and alive, but the antigunners don’t recognize that option.
Yes Sir !
Actually it started off as a planned 10k shot and wound up being a few 100k due sympathetic detonations......oooops !
Better recon next time. (official after action report / answer)
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