I also had toy guns as a kid & have real guns now. But some people think children having toy guns teaches them guns are toys & they might become stupid adults & be careless with real guns. Personally, I don't think that's true. A stupid adult will be stupid regardless.
Tell me what you mean by that. Yes, my parents believed I was smart enough to know a toy from an actual gun. Shocking concept, I'm sure. I also believe that my own children could tell the difference, because they aren't morons and we stressed gun safety.
There are no 100% solutions, whichever direction you approach it. If you raise a murderer, the kid is going to find a gun somewhere, whether you have one in the house or not, or s/he'll use a knife, a baseball bat, a rock, or another means. Best practices should focus on raising your children to respect life, embrace love over hatred, and look to the future, which are things that past generations of parents were better at than currently. Of course, they were aided by a surrounding society that had more respect for life and other conditions that made a more promising future realistic. Additionally, past generations included more two-parent families, and the power of government, the educational system, and the media were not weaponized against parents so much in past generations, making it easier for parents to positively influence their children, and to maintain that influence. Still, there were children who went off the deep end, as there were no guaranteed solutions. I suppose it's also fair to assume that, as firearms become more of a hot issue, children are more intrigued by them. Having my hands on a firearm wasn't such a big deal when I was a kid, and while I wasn't always responsible with them, I knew how to use a firearm, and I managed to avoid killing anyone; in fact, the only thing I've ever killed intentionally was a chickadee, and I felt terrible about that. When people look to guns to blame for mass shootings, they do so in order to avoid having to examine the roots of the problem. Past generations had both more guns and more children, yet they had far fewer gun-related homicides by children. Guns aren't the problem; people are. When children are born, they inherit certain traits, but, if homicidal tendencies are among them, I suspect this would account for a minute percentage. When it comes to moral values and ethics, children are born with a clean slate. We need to re-learn the ways of writing the right things on that slate. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. -- Proverbs 22:6 Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. -- Ephesians 6:4 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. -- Deuteronomy 4:9
In my somewhat limited understanding, the term "red-pilled" came from the movie, The Matrix. The pills represent a choice between remaining in a state of blissful ignorance (blue) or accepting a painful reality (red). Since The Matrix’s release, the red pill in particular has taken on various philosophical and social meanings, especially in alt-right circles and the so-called “manosphere” of anti-feminist online communities. I believe that many people have come up with their own definition of "red-pilled," so I was curious about the context of your comment, particularly as it applies to children and toy guns.
"I was raised with toy guns, and my children had toy guns. I'm not seeing how that makes us less trustworthy so if someone will explain...???" Someone was upset by an episode with a toy gun in her past. as the discussion progressed, it made me think of progressive arguments. It was legitimate to the person, but our thinking is a little different. We have been red pilled; we see the reality. ?
I think that unless we're talking about a five-year-old finding his parent's loaded handgun, thinking that it was a toy, it shouldn't be too hard to teach kids that real firearms are not toys. Although I made it through my childhood without confusing the loaded shotgun and rifle that were leaning up against the wall near the front door as toys, I wouldn't leave a loaded firearm around a five-year-old, but you don't need a gun safe to keep your gun away from your five-year-old. Everyone I knew as a child played with toy guns, and then BB guns, yet none of us shot anyone with a real gun, the only exception being one friend who shot his own hand off with a shotgun while in the 7th or 8th grade, but that was a matter of carelessly putting a loaded shotgun back in a case. We were soon all jealous of his hook but not so jealous that we shot our own hands off. I can understand a parent deciding that toy guns might teach a child that guns are something to play with, and I could see that this might be viewed as the utmost caution, but I'm thinking that, unless the child is kept in isolation, he'll find a way to play with toy guns at a friend's house. True, fewer parents are buying toy guns for their children these days, the biggest danger being that of being shot to death by a cop who doesn't know the difference, and most of the toy guns found in stores are less realistic in appearance. I don't know if that's a good thing or just another example of blaming the toy rather than taking the time for parental instruction. I'm glad it wasn't that way when I was a kid because toy guns and BB guns played a huge role in my playtime, and I am so pleased that I got to do that rather than playing with dolls or having tea parties, which seems to be what people want boys to do today.
Well, I got shot right above my eye with a Red Ryder BB rifle, but it was nobody's fault but my own, so I don't have any prejudices against guns. We have guns and they're loaded.....except when the Littles are over and then they're locked away.
When kids get used to pointing toy guns at other kids, it can develop a casual attitude toward real guns and it sometimes blurs the difference. Just something I have seen happen. I have seen a couple kids shoot their best friends pretending to shoot them...with real weapons they found in their houses. It was very sad and raised the idea that no one should have guns in their houses if they have children.
The son of a friend whose family wasn't particularly pro-gun as they moved here form Delaware lost his eye when his younger sister shot it with a BB gun.
Given the greater difficulty in manipulating a rifle or shotgun by a very young child, I will assume this is more likely with a handgun than with a long gun, which is probably one of the reasons why parents are unlikely to leave handguns lying around the house, and I agree with that. Fortunately, it is easier to keep a handgun out of the hands of very young children. I've also noticed that not only in the family I grew up in but pretty much everyone I've known, kids aren't allowed to shoot handguns, even as teenagers, whereas I had my own rifle by the age of twelve or thirteen. There is, of course, also the fact that handguns don't have a lot of other purposes other than harming someone, and even while a handgun could be used to kill an animal, it's not the logical choice.
I have cut myself with knives, too. Accidents happen. Look at the warnings about small parts in toys being choking hazzards.
It is almost exclusively with handguns. They are the "toys" of choice. Haven't you seen the guys and gals on TV who defeat 3 or more automatic rifles with a semiautomatic 9mm handgun?