Playing Soldier

Ok, so I know I've posted quite a bit about guns lately, but it's been coming up a lot and I keep hearing circular and assumption based logic (a<b b>c therefore a=c...wait, what?) to defend disarmament/over-regulation of firearms.  For today, however, I'm not even talking about real firearms, but rather toys.  In a recent argument, I was sent a link to this webpage "proving" that toy guns are a danger to our children.


http://www.irol.com/avc/fact_sheet_about_toy_guns.html 


So, I humored myself by giving it a read.  My with nearly EVERY instance here is either A.) Parenting, in the case of children being involved, B.) Common sense when it's an adult involved or C.) Over zealousness on the part of police.  This site states that children can't tell the difference between a real gun and a fake gun, which may be true for many, but I know this was not true for me when I was a child.  If a parent let's their child play with toy guns, they should make sure to give that child the common sense necessary to NOT pick up a foreign, gun-like object and ASSUME that it's fake.  Hell, the first entry is about two kids bringing pellet guns into school and being suspended...Okay?  Where's the issue here?  Two kids got suspended for doing something wrong.  I don't see how this is even a valid argument.  It's like saying "A man yesterday was pulled over for breaking the speed limit."  Yeah, no shit.  Also, a fair number of these are instances like numbers 3 and 5, where a grown man is waving around a fake gun, in public, in a threatening fashion and, of course, he gets shot by police.  Well, again, no shit.  Police are trained to treat any gun, real or fake, like a real gun.  Anyone brandishing a fake gun in public and acting as though it is real deserves what they get.  There are also a decent number of reports of children being shot and killed by police because they had toy guns.  Now, there isn't enough detail to tell the exact circumstances, but this seems like it could have been remedied by simply talking to the kid and getting him to put the gun down instead of immediately shooting.  Let's be honest, you're average 8-12 year old isn't looking to go shoot someone, so I think it's safe to assume that the gun is either fake, or the child thinks it is and means no harm in carrying it either way.  Some of these cases, though, involve the child POINTING the gun at a police officer in a deliberate fashion.  Remember what I said about parenting and common sense earlier?  Please, make sure your kid is smart enough to not point a toy gun at a cop before getting them one.  There are also several like number 22 which make little sense in an anti-toy gun argument.  The entry tells of a kid in a school-yard being shot by a pellet gun from across the street.  So what?  Yes, the kids who did it should be held accountable, but pellet guns usually will leave about a quarter inch bruise, which is hardly a serious injury.  Hell, they could have thrown rocks and the kid would've been hurt more.  Back to the police, there are a number of cases, like 26 and 45, where the gun is not being brandished or handled, but is stored (in the first case in a child's waistband, the second stored while riding his bike).  What ever happened to "freeze!"  Both suspects were shot immediately because they had something that might be a firearm.  Do police no longer stop a subject to investigate?


Now, what is my point here?  We are increasingly becoming a nanny society where, instead of holding people accountable for their actions or teach them responsibility, we want to confiscate or outlaw anything that they could conceivably misuse to hurt themselves or others.  I spent most of my childhood playing with toy guns, playing cowboys, cops and robbers, army, spies etc.  From what I can tell, it didn't turn me into a psychopath who wants to shoot anything that moves.  I've never shot someone, I've never intentionally harmed someone if not in self defense.  Hell, I'm an actor and I can probably link that career choice back to the play-acting I did as a kid WITH my toy guns.  Toy guns and airsoft guns are not the cause of any of these events.  Irresponsible people are the cause.  So, let's instead of banning a plastic, children's play thing, reinforce the message of responsible parenting, common sense, and reason.  Putting a child in a cushioned box with little to no access to the outside world will make that child dumb and naive.  Let's not do the same to our society at large.


P.S.  If you click on the link at the bottom of the "fact-sheet," there's a quick visual quiz to see if you can tell the difference between a real or fake gun.  Despite the intentionally horrendous picture quality, it took me about 4 seconds to pick out the toy.  Your mileage may vary.