It's in orbit and functional. I'm putting together instructions on how to craft it and putting online in children's forums.
Posted on 05/25/2012 5:25:29 AM PDT by marktwain
Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- Parents preoccupied with creating a conflict-free Utopia for their kids would seem to have little to fear from a Danish toy maker, an ingenious and enterprising British youth, and a small San Francisco publishing company.
Yet this trio causes much handwringing in the May 16th edition of “The Mommy Files,” ( http://tiny.cc/bfjrew ) an online parenting blog published by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The source of the anxiety is LEGO Heavy Weapons, a guide to building toy guns out of LEGOs. The author is Jack Streat, a 17-year-old resident of the United Kingdom, and the book is published by the San Francisco imprint No Starch.
For a culture of “inclusiveness” that’s nonetheless determined to exclude the Second Amendment and its advocates, the book is bad news indeed. LEGOs are everywhere, even in the homes of enlightened progressives who would never dream of letting a Nerf gun or cap pistol contaminate their children’s “cruelty-free” play spaces. The idea that the makings of gun-like objects might already exist under their own roofs must come as a shock … unless, of course, the parents have actually observed children at play. If a stick is not available to serve as a rifle, a boy will chew his grilled cheese into the shape of a pistol.
Those youthful impulses of adventure and self-determination run deep, as the book’s author vividly illustrates. Even modern Britain’s determined effort to demonize and eradicate civilian access to firearms could not suppress the creative impulses that turned a bin full of interlocking plastic bricks into a functional scale replica of a AKS-47U (the second of four models detailed in the book).
The Mommy Files does its best to provoke righteous indignation and gets some traction with a random British father, who in a rather un-English display of temper whines that “it’s just wrong, wrong, wrong.” Yet even the developmental psychologist the blog consults cannot muster much concern. “Play is play,” the doctor states, adding that research has not shown that playing with toy guns can lead to aggression. But, argues the blogger, these guns are realistic.
“They’re not realistic,” responds the doctor. “They don’t shoot. These guns are related to the impulse to create, not the impulse to kill.”
We agree, which is why at least one ILA staffer has pre-ordered a copy for his own eight-year-old LEGO fanatic. Jack Streat should be commended for the effort and intelligence evident in his creations.
The only thing “scary” about his book is how some are overreacting to it.
About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
In order to believe liberal platitudes, you have to believe in false assumptions about reality.
>>> .... creating a conflict-free Utopia for their kids
I stopped reading right there.
Those parents never argued, or had different opinions about things before? How do you even make yourself ‘conflict-free’? Hypocrites!
My kids were making guns out of Legos 25 years ago. I remember making a rifle out of an odd shaped stick 55 years ago.
Our toddler son used to fashion handguns by creative nibbling of toasted white bread.
Boys will be boys.
Ugh!
Liberals.
Can’t live with ‘em...
Can’t throw LEGO hand grenades at ‘em.
“These guns are related to the impulse to create, not the impulse to kill.”
HIDDEN PREMISE ALERT!!!
Notice that the assumption is that those who like guns have “an impulse to kill”.
Actually, the “impulse” is that of DEFENSE OF SELF AND OTHERS. This could be the two-fold root of the left’s general hatred of firearms.
I’ve come to understand that there are two “levels” of leftism. Those who want to feel good about themselves and those who want to control others. The former group probably have the assumption that “guns kill” instead of “guns defend”.
The latter group would understand the concept of “guns defend”, and don’t want you to have the ability to defend yourself FROM THEM.
But I bet the book doesn’t have the pig gun!!
With the first batch of kids, I was very young and still under the influence of liberal arts college brainwashing, so I refused to buy toy guns for the kids.
So, they made their own. One was made from the Duplo (big legos for little kids) farm set and included the pink pig lego on the end and made piggy snorting noises when fired.
I later admitted the errors of my anti-gun ways and ended up with kids who did well on the high school rifle team, but I did learn that boys will make toy guns out of anything, including the toast they have for breakfast or their lego farm set.
These brain washed idiots are probably also the same kind of idiots that do not want their kids going to church or being exposed to religion.
Aggression is in our genes. Humans are territorial animals and it is in our nature protect our territory with violence.
Some of the earliest writings are accounts of war. Some of the earliest cave paintings depict the use of weapons in hunting.
It is simply foolish to believe that you can remove the potential for a human to act in violence by not exposing a child to tools of violence.
Humans must be taught when violence is appropriate and when it is not and the historically best tool for that instruction is religion (the Bible specifically) the one tool that the Left abhors more than any other (the Koran being a tool to be avoided).
Since I had two older brothers and am the mother to two sons, I have long believed that if I could peek in on a little boy at the dawn of creation he would be making two kinds of toys. One would be a stick which he pushed along the floor of the jungle while making noises like an internal composition engine. The other would be a stick which he would point at another little boy and say “bang.” Technology then had to catch up with the mind.
Where do I get one of those books for my 4th grade son? He builds guns out of just about anything, including his brother’s Duplos and his own Legos. One of the highlights of his spring break was going out in the backyard at my parents’ and shooting (real guns) with his dad, grandpa, and big sister.
WOW
those lego guns not only are fully functional but they shoot extremely accurately!
I am stunned!
http://nostarch.com/legoheavyweapons
http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Heavy-Weapons-Replicas-Impressive/dp/1593274122
Outstanding! Thanks! (I wonder if he could get a Scout badge for building one of those, LOL)
We used to make rubber-band guns out of clothes pins and pocket knives out of popsicle sticks. Not to mention slingshots!
Fun times!!
My 8 year old Daughter wants an AR in .300 Blackout, but with the pink/white furniture.
It's in orbit and functional. I'm putting together instructions on how to craft it and putting online in children's forums.
If a stick is not available to serve as a rifle, a boy will chew his grilled cheese into the shape of a pistol.
&&
I just had to smile right there; brought back sweet memories of my sons when they were little boys.
One of them was suspended in 6th grade for bringing a “gun” to school. It was so obviously a toy — primarily blue, pretty much shaped like a cucumber, cheesy little handle. It resembled the “ray guns” I remember seeing on “Flash Gordon” or “Captain Ovaltine” in the 1950s
We used to make rubber-band guns out of clothes pins and pocket knives out of popsicle sticks.
&&&
And I’ll bet you sharpened those popsicle sticks on the sidewalk. I am a woman, and I was quite the tomboy. Although I did not have much interest in guns or knives, your post made me remember my attempts to make a bow and arrow set. Our concrete porch was the perfect place to make points on the twigs that would become arrows. Memories....
Yes we did! We also used sticks as swords and trash can lids as shields! We made bows and arrows too. I think I might take my grandsons out this weekend and show them how! At 7 and 5 they will think it’s the coolest thing ever!
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.