Posted on 10/14/2001 3:08:10 AM PDT by 2Trievers
Judy Emmett’s grandsons exchanged their water guns for prizes yesterday at the Toy Gun Buyback at the Manchester City Library.
The story-and-play morning drew 17 youngsters and kicked off the YWCA’s annual Week Without Violence project, which is focusing on youth violence this year.
“We don’t have any violence in our home,” said Emmett, who cares for four grandchildren in her Manchester home.
About six blocks away from the crayon coloring and read-aloud tale of Dr. Seuss’ “The Butter Battle” in the library basement, hundreds of people, mostly adults, were shopping for new and old firearms at the Expo-Gun Show at the Center of New Hampshire.
Some gun enthusiasts there said they would prefer teaching children gun safety rather than discouraging playing with toy guns.
Emmett probably would have felt at home in either place.
She doesn’t have anything against guns. In fact, Emmett has bagged two deer since she began hunting six years ago.
But she stores her rifles at a relative’s home to keep them away from the children, worried that an accident could harm, or worse kill her young charges.
When they are older she plans to take them to a firearms safety course if they decide to hunt. Emmett doesn’t allow any violent play or violent video games in their home.
“It’s time to stop the violence,” Emmett said.
Yesterday, grandsons Christopher Hutchins, 8, and Jonathan Hutchins, 7, appeared happy to turn in their toy water guns and listen, along with 15 other children, to stories about peacefully resolving conflicts.
“I shouldn’t like them because they can be dangerous,” Jonathan said of guns.
Two Manchester police officers were also on hand to demonstrate to adults how to safely store firearms, but no adult gun owners attended.
Pat DiPrete, president of DiPrete Promotions, the gun show’s promoter, said she has heard ammunition sales are up and so are overall gun sales nationally this year.
DiPrete said that although there is some speculation that sales are up because of terrorist activities, she said hunting season starts soon, a time when sales generally see a boost anyway.
DiPrete expected upward of 2,000 visitors to the gun show in Manchester, which will continue today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
As to a toy gun buy-back, she said: “I really don’t see the purpose.” DiPrete said many gun owners would probably prefer to see children educated about safe gun use.
“I don’t think they’d like sending the message to children that guns are bad,” DiPrete said.
Toy guns can be used to teach safe firearm use, she said.
DiPrete said the legal requirements to purchase firearms at the gun show are the same as if people were shopping for guns in a retail store. Telephone numbers were available to all of the dealers to make the appropriate background and domestic violence checks, DiPrete said.
John Capalario, a Manchester welder, said he didn’t have a problem with city participation in the toy gun buy-back, but he said he doubts such a program would be helpful.
“I grew up with Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and ‘Gunsmoke’ every Saturday night, all the shoot ’em up shows,” Capalario said.
It’s not the violence on television that increase youth violence; it’s the lack of supervision and responsibility, Capalario said.
Capalario’s T-shirt took the form of a Wanted Dead or Alive poster for Osama bin Laden with a target drawn on bin Laden’s forehead and the word ‘Alive’ crossed off.
Capalario bought the shirt at the Deerfield Fair.
He said he believes more people seem to be interested in buying firearms to protect their homes in light of the terrorist assault on America, but he doesn’t think they will be of much help.
“The enemy we are encountering cannot be seen. All the guns in the world won’t help,” said Capalario.
Mike Hashem, a banjo player and antiques dealer from Ossipee, displayed a Browning 1919 A4 World War II machine gun listed for $8,500 at the gun show.
Hashem sells old and new firearms, and joked with Doug Brown at their display.
“Most of the stuff I’m selling today is old,” Hashem said.
In a Live Free or Die state, most New Hampshire people already have their own new firearms, Brown said.
Geri Bundy of Tilton, a retired belt factory worker, attended the gun show with her daughter.
“I think it’s great we can still have something like this in America,” Bundy said of the gun show.
Cat Allard, assistant teen program coordinator for the YWCA, said the toy gun exchange program was sponsored by her organization and the Million Mom March Foundation of NH, as well as Manchester police and the city library.
The program materials were purchased by donations. The city’s contribution consisted of allowing the program to be held in the library and two police officers to give the safe gun storage demonstration, Allard said.
Although the turnout wasn’t huge, Allard said she believed the group reached its goal.
“Hopefully their kids will be safer,” Allard said. Five water guns were ultimately exchanged in the buy-back.
Allard said the Million Mom March group was clear from the start that it wasn’t an anti-gun program, Allard said, and they weren’t trying to make any political statement about guns, just trying to promote safety.
“For there to be political backlash just doesn’t make a lot of sense. It was all about if you do own a gun, how to be safer,” Allard said.
Beverly Bacon, president of Million Mom March Foundation of NH, said the state chapter has 40 members and a mailing list of about 200. She said she didn’t have any estimate for the number of members nationwide, but there are 225 chapters in 46 states.
“We wanted to show them a different way to play and work on conflict resolution,” Bacon said, as a group of youngsters colored in coloring books in the library basement.
The Million Mom March is a non-profit organization that lobbies to prevent gun death and injury through education and outreach, according to its fact sheet.
Its five main legislative goals are national licensing of all firearms owners, national registration of all handguns, background checks applied to all firearm purchases, consumer safety regulations and oversight applied to the gun manufacturing industry, and limiting gun purchases to no more than one per month, according to the fact sheet.
Can I bring my Daisy Red Ryder to the concert? I won't shoot my eye out, I promise.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!! Who does she think she's kidding!
I think he's lying. All normal little boys like guns...
Mighty powerful organization they have, huh?
I wonder if the NRA would be allowed to use the library, too. . .
Better take him to a tool and car buyback program when he's older. Those can be dangerous too.
Yes, as I recall from my youth, the casualty figures varied widely depending on who the source was.
And by the way, there's no threat of any foreign or domestic enemy trying to hurt any Americans, so why would an American need a gun? We're all perfectly safe at our homes and businesses and there is no violence with which we need to be concerned. I mean, for crying out loud, who would ever want to hurt us?
Well maybe, just maybe, if there was a little more `violence' in the home in terms of kids getting a spanking, or an ear cuffin', they might just learn some manners to turn them into responsible God fearin' citizens, instead of little thugs, who think they can get away with blue murder.
As for taking toy guns off little boys, what you gonna replace them with Barbie dolls? That's all this world needs, more men in touch with their `feminine' side! Mutha-o-jaysis.
Even in Manchester, this is a good sign. Only 17 kids had parents who forced them to give in their toy guns. Knowing kids, they'll either use their fingers as pretend-guns, or trade a toy to a neighboring kid to get a new one....
I don't get it. How is giving up a water gun going to turn someone around from a life of violence to a "singing Kumbaya" kind of life? It's all symbolism. This seems like very shallow thinking to me. Doesn't anyone ever look at how we boomers and people older than us grew up? As has been stated many times, we kids had water pistols, cap pistols, Hopalong Cassidy, Road Runner, etc. It didn't make robbing banks for a living and murdering people seem like an attractive lifestyle. We just had free, unfettered fun, and stayed out of our mother's hair.
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