OK, I don't normally do this, and I will probably regret getting up on this soap-box, but.........

Many years ago, I made a substantial part of my living by finding, researching, and restoring antique and historical firearms. I was not much of a “gun nut”, but one thng just led to another, and after a few years, I had a quite large shop selling antique and modern firearms, three shooting ranges, skeet range, etc, etc. My boys were young then, and I realized it was a problem having guns of every description around all the time. One thing I did was to have a firm rule - NO toy guns. My kids grew up knowing what a gun was and what it did, and they had no confusion over the fact that they were not toys.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I had toy guns when I was a kid, and I have never (yet) shot anybody I didn’t mean to. But things they are a-changing. Nowadays, kids shoot kids in school rooms and on street corners.

So, at the risk of sounding like the old fuddy-duddy I am, I’d ask you please, don’t add to your kid’s confusion about guns. No matter how you feel about firearms, take your kids (girls as well as boys) to a supervised range, and let them shoot a gun. Don’t think for a minute, that you can spare them from guns and gun-violence; our (American) society is saturated with them. Any kid over three knows what guns are, but few of them understand what they really do.

Let them hold a gun and work the mechanism. Let them shoot and see what it does and how it does it. If possible ask the range manager to let tthem shoot something like wet clay or a gallon jug of water. Let your kids understand the damage a single bullet can do, and make them understand that there is no calling it back, once the trigger is pulled. It can be a very graphic demonstration of immediate results of one’s actions.

When my sons got bigger, I made sure there was never any mystique or romance about our guns. I made a deal with them - they could see and handle (or show to friends) any gun we had. All they had to do was ask, and I would stop ANYTHING I was doing at ANYTIME. I might add, that my sons are now grown (mostly) and care nothing about firearms.

Please don’t think I am trying to chastise any of you for your choices. I would never have spoken if I didn’t care for you and your families. I’ll turn the pulpit over to someone else now. Just don’t get me started on blood-and-guts video games!

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), December 21, 2000

Answers

Lon,

That is an excellent position you have taken. I also am against toy guns, and in favor of real ones. No gory video games, and no paintball games. (Boy, are out of touch with our society!) Does it take a rocket scientist to figure out that developing a taste for violence is not a good thing, even if it is simulated? As one thinks in his heart, so is he. (Someone Else said that first)

When my dad got me my first bb gun I had to agree to relinquish all the toy guns I had, and no more playing like we were shooting at each other. It was a good rule, and even as a kid I understood the reasoning behind it.

Dad never had trigger locks or gun safes. He just had rules. And that worked just fine, as it had for generations before him. But, then, civilization wasn't as advanced either.

Merry Christmas, everybody

Gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), December 21, 2000.

Merry Christmas, Lon and Gene!

We supervise our kids while they shoot real guns. They have one or two toy guns someone gave them for Christmas a few years ago. The only action these toys have seen were in school plays as props for pilgrims.

We take the child's coat and put it on a gallon-sized milk jug to demonstrate that the jug is the same size as his own torso. The coat is put back on the child and the milk jug is filled with red Kool-Aid. The child is asked to stand behind and slightly to the side of the shooter. The child is ordered to watch very carefully what happens when the jug is shot. The back splash is red, and it usually splashes on the child from a distance of several feet. This makes an impression. Then we have the child look at and handle the shredded remains of the milk jug and ask questions about how the child thinks that would have felt on a human body. It sounds gruesome, I guess it IS, but no child has ever forgotten. They don't seem to be traumatized because we set things up slowly and continue talking about it until the kids are through. So far, not one has ever pointed even a toy gun at anyone.

We have friends who won't allow guns in their homes whether real or toys. They expound on what awful things guns are to their children and forbid the children to even talk about guns. Without fail, every one of their children grabbed our toy guns and played exclusively with them for the entire time they were here, sometimes for many hours. They pointed the toy guns at other people repeatedly and constantly shouted things like "I'm gonna blow yer head off!" I finally hid the toys. They won't come out again except as a prop for a play.

This experience has convinced me that toy guns are dangerous to children who are never taught the incredible damage a real gun can do. These kids would most likely pick up a real gun and "play" with it. The result of that sort of thing makes headlines too often.

Other children may be safe from my kids, but my kids are not safe from other children. We've stopped letting the kids visit their friends' homes unless we know how the parents secure their firearms.

-- helen passes the soap box on... (b@r.n), December 21, 2000.

We like our plastic, 1/3 size M16 we got from Tapco. Of course we don't have kids in our house, otherwise we might do things differently. We like to load that thing up and shoot the tv when folks we don't like come on. We just aren't as rich as Elvis to shoot the tv with real bullets, and he'd just buy another.

BTW, my dad was a collector, and had a few long and short items in our house. We'd all get excited if he invited us to come with him to the range to shoot, and we all learned how. Some of us were naturals on the skeet range, and we loved it. We never had toy guns. We also never "played" with the real ones.

We like our toy gun now, though, and I like shooting the tv.

-- (sis@home.zzz), December 22, 2000.

sis, you know you're gonna shoot your eye out with that thing.

I gotta admit, it would be great to shoot the TV. I used to keep a foam hammer near the computer for "percussive maintenance".

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), December 22, 2000.

Of course, since bil and hil are leaving soon, we will have less chances to fire away, but I am sure jesse will be in the news for a while yet.

-- (sis@home.zzz), December 25, 2000.

I agree 100% with the policy of removing all mystery and fascination from guns. If my kids ask, they can handle any gun I have. But they will follow the rules, and they must have a parent present. Consequently, they have no great fascination. An invitation to go the range with me may be eagerly accepted, or declined, depending on what else they have going.

I'm not sure I agree that toy guns are bad. I remember playing cops & robber, cowboys & Indians, "Army," secret agent, and various other games. I even remember the new generation of fantastic toys that supplanted the old Mattel "Fanner 50" and the Tommy gun that shot rool caps -- toys like "Johnny Seven, O.M.A. (One Man Army, with 7 different weapons) and CrimeBuster. But I can NOT ever remember a time when I couldn't tell the difference between a toy and a real gun.

Today, I hear of kids being tossed out of school and sent to counseling for disturbed youth, just because they brought a squirt gun to class. In my day, a kid who never brought a squirt gun would be the one marked "abnormal."

My mother has a pink anodized High Standard .22 revolver, with chromed cylinder, hammer & trigger and white simulated bone grips (1956 only), and I recall the brightly colored epoxy finishes offered briefly on some imported autos in the late 70's or early 80's. So I suppose confusion with toys is possible -- but not very, given the outlandish appearance of today's toy guns.

For me it was a different attitude and behavior. As little children we knew there were guns around -- could often see a loaded long gun over the kitchen door -- but we knew real guns were not to be pointed at people or handled without permission. Toys were for playing.

My older son, now 26, was able to spot a real revolver and call it to my attention when he four or five. But I won't rail against the "no toys" policy, so long as you teach the kids to shoot at an early age and always obey the Four Rules.

"You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

Robert Heinlein, "If This Goes On," 1939

-- Hamilton Felix (madison_6@hotmail.com), December 26, 2000.

this isnt really an answer i am 13 i really like gun and i play games all the time that have guns it them i dont want to harm are anything i dont even want to hunt would that be bad??

-- chris gilkey (chrsgilkey@aol.com), November 10, 2002.

When my sons got bigger, I made sure there was never any mystique or romance about our guns. I made a deal with them - they could see and handle (or show to friends) any gun we had. All they had to do was ask, and I would stop ANYTHING I was doing at ANYTIME. I might add, that my sons are now grown (mostly) and care nothing about firearms.

i did the very same thing with my kids a girl 11 and a bow 9 now but i trained them the very same way i thought i was doing the right thing thanks for reasuring me i have had no mishap in any way so far thank you Rob Gainey

-- Rob Gainey (robby@cetlink.net), July 28, 2003.

Gun control begins with responsibility -

First, with the gun user.

And most important, with the morality of the potential user.

Never with the supposed morality of the state - or the attacker.

-- Robert & Jean Cook (RobertCook@GA.herewith Lon), July 31, 2003.