by Barbara Kasey Smith

Created on: February 17, 2009

Should we allow our children to play with toy weapons? I can remember as a young child watching my brothers play cops and robbers with toy guns and I didn't like it back then, and the same applies to how I feel today. When my brothers would shoot someone and the child shot would fall down and lay out like they were dead, I would actually get shivers up my spine. I would definitely have to say a big "no." I feel children playing with guns could very well play a role in training their young minds that it is okay to use a gun for the wrong reasons.

I'm totally against children being allowed to play any sort of video games displaying the use of a firearms or any sort of lethal weapons, and I'm also against them watching violent television shows. I've always had the feeling if children's minds get so use to shooting victims in a video game, they'll become so use to it they will feel it is okay for them to use a handgun to shoot another person.

I do believe all of the violence children, and especially teens, see on television and in the playing of violent video games has caused much of the violence in our country today. Years ago we didn't see the violence of killing, robbing, murdering, as we do today. We should give this some thought and realize allowing our children to be exposed to the evils in television and violent video games could be the reason for their outbursts of using weapons to kill at an early age.

I believe many children have become immune to killings through the sources of watching it on television and playing violent video games. We don't know what kind of side effects all of this killing they are playing and seeing is going to effect our young children. but I do think there needs to be some studies conducted on this to determine if it does have any effects on children.

It is my opinion, children are in a learning mode when they are young and who knows what they are learning and retaining about this sort of violence they are seeing and playing out in their minds. It's like children who are in an environment where drugs and alcohol are prevalent, they are more apt to become a user than children who are not exposed to these vices. Let's look at children who have parents who smoke cigarettes, I'll bet ninety percent of the children end up being smokers themselves. It also like children who live in poverty and see all sorts of violence in their daily life, they are more than likely to repeat this same type of life.

I'll say this, young minds retain more than we know and we do not know how they are going to use what they've capture from these long hours of playing violent video games or watching it on television. As for me, I would not buy a child of mine any sort of item that could be used in a make believe violent nature.

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