[TheOldLady]

The point is that children should not be taught to play with guns at all. Guns are not toys. Young children can conflate playing with toy guns and real guns, and they can then hurt or kill themselves or others.

We are not libs here and do not advocate banning anything, forcing the issue, or passing draconian laws. Please don’t leap to that conclusion. We’re just recommending what wise steps we think parents should be taking, and I completely agree with Old Student.

Carrying arguments to extremes (such as stating that since we don’t recommend children play with guns, we should ban bicycles, walking across streets, and riding in cars) is a leftist ploy. JSYK.

[TalonDJ]

Young children can conflate playing with toy guns and real guns, and they can then hurt or kill themselves or others.

No. Not if you teach them gun safety. Unless you are letting them play with high grade replicas suitable for movies then there is no way they are going to confuse the two. The kids that get in trouble are invariably ones that were not taught gun safety. Toy guns ARE toys. Any kid that can not tell the diffence should be kept away from all sharp objects, forks, kitchen knives, electical outlets and most of everything else in a normal house. Millions of us grew up with guns in the house and playing with realistic toys.