I'm as anti-gun as the Brady Bunch when it comes to toy guns. My kids are not allowed to play with toy guns, not even allowed to touch them. [Real guns are a different story - my kids are allowed to shoot for real any time they want to, although they need my permission and supervision each time they shoot. The penalty for a safety violation? A one year "time out" from all shooting, to wait for them to mature enough that they can handle firearms safely.]
I don't think the harm itself comes from playing with toy guns, I think that it comes from doing so in an innapropriate place (ie somewhere other than the backyard).
That’s my feeling too. Goofing around with toy guns can’t help but translate into unsafe handling of real guns. Years of running around with finger on trigger, “shooting” at friends and everything else that moves or doesn’t move, is hardly good preparation for a child to responsibly exercise his/her critically important Second Amendment rights. Start kids very young with real guns (or for the preschool set, realistic air guns used just like real guns in the same settings where a real one would be used), and they’ll learn that both the right and the skill to use guns properly is an important “grown up” thing. There was a FReeper who had her 3 year son practicing at a range with an air gun (while his two older siblings practiced with real guns), and he had to recite the basic rules of gun safety before each shot.
Always wondered why the MSM didn't get all over the paintball and airsoft crowds. Their "playing" actually encourages pointing guns at people and desensetizes people to it. Maybe if they found out that those projectiles were powered by the dreaded carbon dioxide...
Do you let them play with water guns?