I grew up around guns, and also grew up around toy guns. We knew the difference, and knew which ones we could "play" with, and which ones we had to respect. Teaching kids about the difference between toys and tools is just as important today as it was when all of us were growing up.
Now, as an adult and a police officer, I have some additional concerns about how kids may play with toy guns these days. Toy guns often look very real these days, and therein lies the problem. I think that kids really need to understand boundaries, even when dealing with toy guns. People have been shot due to misidentification of guns, and it is becoming increasingly easy to make a real gun look like a toy, or make a toy gun look like a real gun. As such, I think some safety considerations need to be taken into account before kids play with toy guns, especially in more densely populated areas.
I don't have children in my house, but I'd probably lay down some pretty strict and simple boundaries on the use of toy guns if I did have kids here:
1) No toy guns will by used if they don't have the orange tip affixed, or something else that identifies them as a toy.
2) The toys will not be pointed at anyone who isn't involved in playing with the toys (ex: you don't point them at passing cars, neighbors, police officers, etc).
I'm employed in a rough area of town, and I've seen toy guns routinely used in the commission of crimes. The point I'm trying to make is that many toy guns are convincing enough that banks have been robbed with them, and people have threatened others with them. So, I think an important safety concern for children these days is to make sure that their toy guns aren't ever used in a manner which might allow them to be mistaken for a real gun, which could place your child in real danger.
I've fortunately not directly dealt with a 'mistaken identity' toy gun situation involving a younger child, but we have had multiple officer involved shootings in my department in which a suspect produced a fake gun in an attempt to intimidate an officer, or perhaps even in an attempt to commit suicide by cop. Suffice it to say, a reasonably realistic looking fake gun can get someone shot just as easily as a real gun.
Kids having fun with their toy guns is perfectly acceptable. But, teaching kids safe ways to play is probably worth considering!
josiewales said:
Most of the toy gun incidents that I have heard of were caused by a irresponsible LEO.
Is a LEO irresponsible for defending themselves against what they believe is a realistic threat to their safety? I had a guy try to pull a toy gun on me during a traffic stop, and he nearly paid with his life... in the split second that I saw his hand going towards the "gun" in his lap, I drew my gun, and his hands started to go up without the gun. He survived the encounter, but barely. Had he actually picked up that gun, he'd have been shot. The guy was a known gang member, who had previously been convicted of a violent felony. Why he was carrying a fake gun in his lap is still unknown to me, but I'd presume he was using it either to intimidate rival gang members (he was on the wrong side of the tracks), or to rob people. He claimed he just liked the toy (yeah, right).
All of that notwithstanding, I think you and I have the same point to make: a toy gun can get you shot if you mishandle it.
