Toy gun buy back; the natural “progression” of things

Am I the only one that clicked the link to make sure that this didn’t come from the Onion?

I was a strange little girl; I never liked dolls. What I liked were horses and guns. I had water pistols. And my dad had a .38. And the reason I’m alive to tell you this is because I listened to my dad’s warning that if I ever touched that .38 without his permission…if the gun didn’t get me, he would.

I grew up knowing the difference. The water pistol was a toy, and that .38 wasn’t, just like my little plastic tea set was a toy, and my mother’s good china wasn’t. Kids aren’t stupid — you’re supposed to TEACH THEM. That’s what my parents did, and what we are sadly lacking in parents today. PARENTING.

My sisters, who resided in Tucson for a while, constantly told me about the idiotic limousine liberal plans these fools hatched — such as “voluntarily” placing homeless bums in people’s houses.

Pinto, the problem is that we have raised a generation of parents who are pussys(sorry for the language but nothing else fits quite so well).

Instead of parenting their child they would rather be their friend and let schools, TV, and outside influences teach and raise their children. I had my first gun when I was 11, I was taught to respect it and not to do stupid stuff with it. I plan on doing the same with my daughter, when you make something taboo to a child the first thing they want to do is find out why they shouldnt touch, drink, smoke, read, or watch said taboo object. If you educate your child and take the time to explain the do’s and don’ts then you take away the mistique. Too bad the whole touchy feely your a special snowflake crowd feels this is a good idea.

What a hoot!“So what makes that kid not pick up a real gun thinking its also a toy?” True. That’s the same reason that so many 7-year olds are behind the wheels of cars and trucks on the highways, isn’t it? The kids can’t tell the difference bewteen their toys and the real cars and trucks. Perfect.

Dammit. I almost singlehandedly won WW II in the early 60s. We would have lost that war if I had been denied ny guns–a rifle and a six shooter that also served as a whistle.

@ 1, me too! My first thought was Duffle Blog.

For real though, if I lived in Tuscon I would go to their little buy back and try to sell them a half eaten pop tart. The look on their faces would be worth more than gold.

“It probably leads to kids wanting real guns at a younger age,” said one man. “It probably leads to more violent behaviors.”

lol bold faced lie.

There are decades of statistics which show the exact opposite with violent crime being the lowest it’s ever been. That is even with Chicago’s war zone status! This is the same nonsense being used by the same fascists that were saying how music was the cause of violence and now video games which there is absolutely no correlation. All of the studies have shown the exact opposite premise of the freedom hating libtards.

I’m so tired of these scumbags. I wish they’d 8th dimension out of here to go live in their fantasy world so society isn’t polluted by their false narratives proven by nothing but their own fears because freedom is too scary for them.

For shitbag police to be under this delusion means they are literally unfit for the job. They participate in the FBI’s UCR and should know what 1st year criminal justice students do regarding crime statistics, how to easily find them, and with the most basic of literacy abilities formulate a conclusion based in reality.

I’m going to admit a painful truth to you guys my friends right now. (sniff) I use to be one of these idiot parents who felt this way about guns. I’m so sorry!! (gasp) It wasn’t the way I was raised, in fact both my parents were cops and I was raised with guns everywhere in my home. (sniffle) The eye opening moment for me came when my dad bought my 2 year old son a toy gun and I promptly threw it away. My Dad said ok fine, and left my home, only to return a few hours later with a Real gun for my son who he gave to him before I knew he was back. He then reminded me that even though my brothers and I was raised with guns all around us none of us had shot ourselves or anyone else. He taught my son and me to respect guns and to learn everything we could about them. And then he told me if I ever pulled some shit like that again with HIS Grandbabies he’d kick my ass. Then the rainbows came out and we all had chicken for dinner. The End! (clap)

I wish they’d run shit like this like a needle exchange at a methadone clinic. You know, turn in a shot out old gun and get a new one free of charge, along with gun safety literature and new trigger locks.

@21 Valkyrie, you missed your calling, I think.

So I told my, get this, seven year old son Dylan about the toy gun buy back. He looked at me perplexed and took his time, then citing the “astronaut from the ape movie” he said of his Red Ryder, Super Soaker Artic Shock and armory of Nerf Guns, “from my cold dead hands they are not getting my toys”.

This is a no shitter … This kid saw Heston’s NRA speech on You Tube one night with me and put this together in his own mind.

One for Dad … Two of Dylan!

Thanks to Netflix my 3 year old son is growing up on exactly the same action-adventure cartoons I did 30 years ago. My generation didn’t all grow up to be a bunch of psychotic killers so maybe there’s more to it? He has a plastic sword, shield, helmet, a couple squirt guns, and watches Disney movies. Looking at those movies again as an adult, they’re actually rather violent. He marches around the sofa with the broom on his shoulder and pretends to shoot a rifle while watching the History Channel with me. Far from being a killer in training, I’ve managed to use those opportunities to teach him to respect his toy firearms and be safe with them. He uses the park playground as his pirate ship and pretends to fire a cannon. He’s not in school yet, and the thing that worries me the most is his preschool teacher overreacting to him wanting to play the same games I played as a child.

Don’t remember any specific incidents involving toy guns or real guns when I was growing up, at least none where anyone got hurt or had an ND or anything like that. My dad raised his kids with a healthy respect for guns. He taught my older brother and I how to shoot at an early age, I think it was around 4 or 5 years old. I always knew the difference between a real gun and a toy gun. Always. I had lots of toy guns growing up. Squirt guns, cap guns, nerf guns, these little guns that shot plastic discs. I also played a lot of games when I was a kid involving my toy guns. Cops and robbers, army, just general shootouts with friends, etc. The one thing do remember is when my dad wanted to take my brother and I out to shoot his shotguns. He opened up his gun cabinet and had my brother pull out a 20 gauge pump. My brother pulled the trigger without clearing it first, we heard nothing but a click and then my dad yelling at him to never, ever do that, to never pull the trigger on a gun without clearing it first. That was a lesson neither one of us ever forgot.

Years later my brother and I are both gun enthusiasts, both in the Army (though my brother is an Officer) and we have both been carrying concealed weapons in public for many years, and wouldn’t ya know it, our guns have never magicked themselves out of our holsters to shoot someone.

Valkyrie, that is a special story. And you truly are a Special Little Snowflake.

@37
If I make a mountain out of my mashed potatoes, am I going to be considered a radical aiming at building a missile base?

No, it just means you’re about to be contacted by aliens.

HOMEMADE POTATO MASHER

INGREDIENT: Cap from can of spray paint; 8 inch length of old broom/mop handle; spray foam insulation. Paint optional.

DIRECTIONS: Insert handle into underside of cap and fill surround with foam. Paint to taste. Have fun!

When I was a kid I used to run the woods hunting Viet Cong with stick guns. If I am lucky, I can sell the storm damage in my yard to these schmucks!

One of my BB gun stories from my youth –

Some of the best times I had when I was a kid was when my dad and I, or my brother and I, would run down to the front acre and hang a target on an old shed that was out there and spend the afternoon practicing our plinking skills.

There was of course this one time that in between shots at some old soda cans on the shed fence my brother decided it would be very funny to shoot me in the a.. – er in the ‘upper thigh’ area to see how much it would hurt, and while it did sting we both got a good laugh. I got him back by returning the favor when he wasn’t expecting it. 30 years later as we all sat around the Thanksgiving table with our wives and, in my other brother’s case, children middle brother looks over at me and says “Remember when I shot you in the butt that one time?” and we started cracking up.

Mom though, who had never heard this story (Because we weren’t stupid) looks over and says “What? When did this happen?” and then proceeded to chew us both out for doing something so unsafe. I finally looked at her and said “Mom, it was over thirty years ago, you can’t ground us for it now!”

She was still a little mad.

In our defense, we DID follow the four rules of gun safety in a twisted kind of way. We did treat the weapon as if it was loaded; We did point the muzzle at what we were wanting to shoot; We did keep our fingers off the trigger until we were ready to shoot; And, we were both ABSOLUTELY sure of what we were shooting when we pulled the trigger.

I was taught at the ripe old age of 7 how to shoot with my Daisy BB Gun. I was told I was never to point it at something I didn’t want destroyed and I was told that I’d only be allowed to shoot under my dad’s supervision until I could reliably put ten shots into a target the size of a dime without missing. Seeing as how this took the better part of a year and some change, I think it was more making sure I had a goal to work for while disguising an excuse to keep an eye on me without pissing off my younger self. Always been a bit mouthy.

Fast forward some number of years later, I was teaching my younger cousin to shoot with the exact same rifle, I told him the same things my dad told me, adding if I ever found him range sweeping someone I was knocking his ass out. He’s only done that once. Found myself looking down the barrel of my own gun, reflexively pulled it out of the way and punched him. Felt kind of bad as he ran up to tell his dad until his dad came out, had him apologize to me and told him he deserved it. Kid goes shooting with me occasionally and every time he picks it up, he checks the safety, pops the mag and checks the chamber.

Still, it all comes down to parenting and supervision. The best thing you can do is teach them to shoot properly under supervison, preferably with something like an apple, toy or somesuch so they can see it breaking. A good object lesson.