As a child I lived on a quiet street block. Woodvale, our street, was a long block interrupted occasionally by intersecting streets. Our section of the block was interrupted by an intersecting street named Philmay Terrace and so myself, my sister, and the rest of the kids on our section were able to have an island unto ourselves. It was an island we defended furiously with our plastic guns, swords, shields, US Army issued(by way of Mattel) grenades and the rootin' tootinest six shooter and ammunition belt the Wild Wild West had ever seen. We challenged the other sections of Woodvale Avenue to games of 'War'. We fought desperadoes in ten gallon black cowboy hats. We stopped the Empire and the Death Star with our Han Solo replica BlasTech DL-44 blasters and Obi Wan's lightsaber. As children, we played, and we played hard and at times what we were playing involved weapons. While we were holding back the oncoming Indian attack against our cattle ranch with our sheriff badges affixed to our vests and popping off our six shooters neither were we aware of the violence going on around us nor did we realize any sort of impact shooting Kevin as he was howling and swinging his rubber tomahawk might have on our psyches.
We should be glad if children want to use toys. Using toys might imply a child's imagination might be stoked up and firing. In our digital world we have forgone with make believe to have someone else think of it for us. Playstations, X-Box's and whatever other gaming outlet has done to our children's imaginations what the Chris Gaines persona did for Garth Brooks. The ones making these games are the same kids who were playing and imagining and being allowed to be a kid. Today we are so fearful our kids might be using a fake ray gun, shooting suction cup arrows, or using anything Nerf makes we would rather have them perched in front of the television set slowly developing hyperopia and carpal tunnel syndrome. Well at least they didn't pretend to shoot anyone? They also gained 30 pounds over the weekend and have a diminished ability to imagine scenario's in their mind. Good thing we took those guns away!
Parents have taken all the fun out of being a kid. Being a kid involves scraped knees and a good dose of stained clothing. Being a kid involves using a magnifying glass to burn things, like ants. Being a kid means staring out a window for a few hours doing nothing but daydreaming and imagining. Being a kid means the routine trip into the fantasies swirling around the brain and implementing a variety of toys to assist them in those worlds, including a weapon if need be. A toy gun is just what it says it is, a toy. It only becomes something more when Danny's over protective slightly neurotic and completely reactionary mom and dad explain how the toy could lead Danny down the path of killing his classmates in high school and his own suicide. Billy can't play 'Ninjas' with Bobby because maybe by playing with that toy sword and throwing stars Billy's parents explain to him he is headed for a life of alcohol addiction, abuse, and potential jail time.
We see violence all over the television. We go to violent movies. We buy violent video games for our kids. Cartoons are violent. Comic books are violent. The evening news should be rated TV-MA for the amount of violence on their broadcasts. Standing by us while we are being numbed to this portrayed violence? Our kids. This is the world our kids are in. Jet Li movies and Grand Theft Auto part 12, and the 11 o'clock news yet toy guns, knives, throwing stars, or any other toy weapon are believed to be leading kids to a life of crime and incarceration. A study by Pat Robertson or some gun hating radical as kooky as his counterparts on the other side of the aisle write an article about the downfall of kids due to violent toys and parents lose their minds and kids lose their toys. If kids are resilient enough to deal with the news at 6 and the 'Punisher War Zone' then leading troops from the shores into hostile enemy territory with their Nerf repeating suction cup blaster should be okay despite what Pat says about it.
Instead of trying to foretell the potential future for their kid who happens to be enjoying shooting his rubber pelleted handgun at cans in the backyard we should be explaining reality to our kids. The reality of a toy weapon is it is a toy. Plain and simple. It won't kill anyone and it will only really do any damage to those with a strong enough imagination. We need to explain to our kids the dangers of real weapons while explaining it is okay to pretend with toy weapons.
Why don't we stop violent video games? Who is halting the stream of cartoons that depict violence? When will we finally put our foot down and end the 'Breaking News' portion of our local news? Why? Because these things are taken in context of what they are. Toy weapons need the same context. Parents are suffocating their children's imagination in a vain attempt to keep them "safe". Kids are absorbing. Everyday they are taking more things in and everyday they are losing some things in order to make room for the new stuff. Will they carry their dreams of one day conquering the West on a horse and wearing a black mask? Probably not. Just like their space wars fought with a Kenner repeating blaster cannon won't be leading them to sociopathic murder in their teens. Parents seem to forget they were once those kids and now they are denying their children the fun they had as kids.
A few weeks ago I bought three Styrofoam samurai swords. One hilt was red, the other green, the other yellow. I bought three because my six year old daughter and her three year old sister and I wanted to be ninjas. I didn't sway them to the Hello Kitty section or walk to the middle of the mall for a wheat grass smoothie. I bought the three swords and we dueled as we walked out of the mall. I explained to them to watch for head shots and crotch shots on daddy. I explained where we played with these swords(no living room or dining room) and how we stop if someone accidentally got hurt while we were playing. I also explained how Styrofoam, while making an excellent parrying weapon, certainly was not a real sword in any way. Real swords really hurt. We don't play with nor do we really hurt anyone. We didn't need the 700 Club or Mothers against whatever it is they are against. We played swords, we played ninjas. I spent a few hours rolling around the floor, making forts and laughing with my daughters as we pretended in our imaginary bases. So you ask, 'Should we allow our children to play with toy weapons?' Why don't you ask my two little ninjas what they think?