[OhMike]

There is no pigggier man than I--but I never let my son or daughter play with toy guns. Toys are toys; guns are guns. Guns are not toys. My children were taught to use and respect firearms from when they were little. They were also taught that there is no room for error when it comes to firearm safety and handling. It's never good enough to say after a tragic accident, "I'm sorry."

I was very proud of my son when we went to Disney World when he was around 10. We were in the gift shop by the OLD Pirates of the Caribbean ride (you know, when pirates still chased wenches and they still sold replica muzzleloaders as souvenirs). My son was holding a toy flintlock when a woman went walking by him. He reflexively raised the muzzle of that fake gun so the muzzle wouldn't point at the woman. He didn't even realize he'd done it, but he'd been taught never to point a gun at a person--unless you need to kill that person, of course. I'm sure if Saddam ever got within 300 yards of my son and his .270, Uday and Qusay would be reunited with their monstrous sire posthaste.

By the way, although I always encouraged my daughter to shoot and hunt, she just never took to it. OhMike

[Darksheare]

My brother and I didn't need toy guns or real ones. We made our own things that went kaboom.
We used it for campfires and for clearing small brush.
Much to the consternation of our neighbors.

Later on, when we got older, we joined the military.
We signed up for field artillery.

[BlueLancer]

"Toys are toys; guns are guns."

And they can and should be taught the difference.

On a side-note ... we never had toy guns when we were growing up because there were five of us boys and my parents couldn't afford to be buying toy guns for us. So, we used that all-purpose tool ...

The baseball bat: used at the shoulder, it's a sharpshooter rifle; used cradled in the armput, it's a submachine gun; used on top of the shoulder, it's a bazooka; sat on top of a rest (like a beach ball or concrete block), it's a 50-caliber machine gun; held loosely in both hands, it's a bayonet-tipped rifle.

Yeah, we got quite a lot of use of those bats ... and they didn't break like plastic guns either.

[Dan from Michigan]

There is no pigggier man than I--but I never let my son or daughter play with toy guns.

As a shooter myself, I understand that perfectly.