Probably once a day at the store I hear a parent-usually mom-scornfully reproaching her child for asking for a toy gun. Yes, our store has toy guns. In fact, it is the Gander Mountain of toy guns. We have just about every style shape and size you can imagine. I find it amazing that a parent might think they are going to prevent their child from becoming a serial killer by not allowing their son or daughter to possess a toy gun.
We have many "Zero Tolerance" parents that Jonathan Turley talks about in his Washington Post Article "My Boys Like Shootouts. What's Wrong With That?" You can view Dr. Turley's article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022301749.html.
10 years ago it was all could do not to scream every time a child walked into our gift shop and bypassed the guns and swords for our section of Beanie Babies. I certainly am glad that that little fad is over. The same America that complains about how obese our children have become is the one supplying our children with stuffed bears and video games. What happened to the days of endless chasing other kids around trying to shoot them with your pretend gun. It didn't even matter if we possessed a toy gun when we were kids, we still chased each other around spraying pretend bullets from the end our index finger.
I have 5 children. I am teaching them to hunt and how to appreciate wild game. I also have taught them that its ok to play with toy guns but it is never ok to touch daddies guns unless I'm standing right beside them. My children understand the difference. You would not believe how many children walk into our store and think the toy guns we sell are real. I find that disturbing. Shouldn't we all educate our children on how to differentiate between right and wrong rather than spend the few precious years we have with them censoring what is wrong.
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