National Carry AcademyAre Childhood Toy Guns Related to Gun Violence in Adults?
April 30, 2016
The link between childhood toy guns and gun violence is one of the most controversial topics these days for anti-gun and gun supporters. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of toy guns among children and the views of the professionals regarding the relationship between children playing with toy guns and the tendency towards gun violence once they become adults.
For this article, let us define “playing with toy guns” as playing as an imaginary policeman, military member, robber and other similar roles among children. Do toy guns badly influence the minds of young children? Do children who play with guns have a strong tendency to become aggressive and violent once they become adults? Should children be disallowed from playing with toy guns? What are the opinions of the clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers and medical professionals regarding this topic? What are the roles of the parents and the whole society with this matter? How should toy guns be dealt with? Is there really a need for strict laws prohibiting these toys among states? Is there really a need for schools to ban toy guns from their students?
What will follow are facts, views of the experts, and conclusions to help you decide on where you should stand on this issue. Because this is a bit of an emotional issue, we should all try to keep calm.
Most kids age 6 to 10 enjoy playing with toy guns. There are different types of toy guns like water pistols, guns that resembles the real ones and many more. Children would love to act like bad guys, good guys and superheroes they see in the movies. Let us take a look at this list of ridiculous events related to toy guns:
1. A 7-year-old boy in Florida took his toy gun to school inside his bag. The boy did not take the gun out of his bag, but because of the no-tolerance policy of the school for guns, he was suspended and then expelled from the school for one year.
2. In Rhode Island, 9-year-old Joey got a 3-day suspension after 2-inch gun key chain fell out of his bag during class.
3. In Maryland, 6-year-old Josh got a 2-day suspension for unintentionally making a gun shape on a strawberry tart he was eating and trying to turn to a mountain.
4. In North Carolina, a school suspended a 5-year-old boy when he made a gun shape with his hand while he was on the playground.
5. In Massachusetts, a 6-year-old boy was suspended by the school for bringing a toy plastic gun on his school bus. A report from TownHall.com said that the boy had written a letter of apology for causing a “disturbance”.
6. In New York, a boy talked to two students about going to the house of their classmate with a water gun. The school authorities had to call the police. The father’s license to carry was revoked.
7. In Pennsylvania, a 5-year-old girl got a 10-day suspension when she threatened another student that she will shoot her using a pink Hello Kitty bubble gun. The girl did not have the gun on her possession that time, as Associated Press reported.
8. In Louisiana, a student under 11 was expelled from school after bringing a pocket knife with a 2-inch blade.
9. In Washington, the students were permitted by the teachers to bring their toy NERF guns to school for their class experiment. The school officials suspended the students who brought their toy guns as well as those who were present, and the teachers did not receive any punishment.
10. In Maryland, a Grade 6 student got a 10-day suspension from school after saying the word “gun’ while talking to his friend and the father was visited by the law enforcement with a search warrant.
Many would agree that the situations mentioned above are beyond normal. The officials and the police officers seemed to over react on such instances. Why should they suspend/expel the young students for doing such minor mistakes (if they are at all counted as mistakes)? Why not just deal with the student personally or talk about the behavior with the parents of the child?
Rules concerning guns these days are becoming more and more tight. Children before did not even experience the potential suspension or the fear of using a hand as gun or making a gun out of clay at school. Do kids who are doing such things will eventually become criminals when they grow up? This is a ridiculous belief!
As most of us know it, politicians who are anti-gun and pro-gun are engaged now on a more heated battle regarding the increase in gun control. This resulted to schools enforcing no-tolerance gun policies and punishment for children. First of all, do toy guns kill or injure people? Can they be used to commit crimes? And wait, can these young kids do something violent with toy guns?
We must all recognize that children are imaginative, creative and naturally aggressive, and the focus should not be given to them if the goal is to reduce the possibility of gun violence. The gun itself cannot kill or injure people. It takes one person with an evil intention for a crime to happen.
The Professionals’ Opinions
Dr. Joshua Weiner, a psychiatrist from Arlington, Virginia, whose specialization is on children and adults, said that “all one needs to do is to look around to see that a connection exists. This connection is likely – like most things – a combination of genetics and environment.” According to him, you cannot avoid exposure of a child from “expressions of violence” as they can be seen in television shows, video games, their friends, their older siblings’ friends and the people in their environment. “Boys are likely predisposed to respond and probably have some yet-unknown gene which contributes to this behavior. Think about men being the hunter/gatherer and needing to kill for food and to protect their family,” he added.
For Dr. Jay Mechling of the University of California, a researcher, studies do not support the assumption that playing with toy guns can result to violence in adulthood. For children, shooting during playing is just imaginary. Allowing them to play such can help develop their social behavior. Mechling can see that children interpret playing with guns as a fun play rather than violence.
According to the child psychologist Dr. Michael Thompson, “Everyone has an informal causation theory that playing with guns leads to the use of guns in adulthood, yet most adult men who did engage in gun play as children do not commit violent crimes.”
Dr. Daniel Stauber of Community Psychological Consultants in Indiana believed that there is no single research that proves the direct relationship of playing with guns and gun violence in adults. He stated that, “It all depends on the child. There is nothing inherently good or bad about kids playing with toy guns.” If children are taught the right values at their early age, then toy guns would remain toys as they grow. Besides, there are other issues that adults need to address today instead this one, like drug abuse, enforcement of the current laws and gun control.
According to psychiatrists, a person who is violent would show warning signs like being rude to animals, isolation and withdrawal from other people, and the feeling of being misunderstood. They also believe that letting kids play with toy guns along with other children would bring the opposite as it is a social and cooperative activity. Parents, on the other hand, are responsible in helping the children cope with their emotions and deal with their problems. They must let the children explore the real world, let them know which one is real and not, good and bad.
Meanwhile, clinical psychologist Dr, Lucy Daniels said that mental health dictates how a child would develop
Are Childhood Toy Guns Related to Gun Violence in Adults?
April 30, 2016
The link between childhood toy guns and gun violence is one of the most controversial topics these days for anti-gun and gun supporters. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of toy guns among children and the views of the professionals regarding the relationship between children playing with toy guns and the tendency towards gun violence once they become adults.
For this article, let us define “playing with toy guns” as playing as an imaginary policeman, military member, robber and other similar roles among children. Do toy guns badly influence the minds of young children? Do children who play with guns have a strong tendency to become aggressive and violent once they become adults? Should children be disallowed from playing with toy guns? What are the opinions of the clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers and medical professionals regarding this topic? What are the roles of the parents and the whole society with this matter? How should toy guns be dealt with? Is there really a need for strict laws prohibiting these toys among states? Is there really a need for schools to ban toy guns from their students?
What will follow are facts, views of the experts, and conclusions to help you decide on where you should stand on this issue. Because this is a bit of an emotional issue, we should all try to keep calm.
Most kids age 6 to 10 enjoy playing with toy guns. There are different types of toy guns like water pistols, guns that resembles the real ones and many more. Children would love to act like bad guys, good guys and superheroes they see in the movies. Let us take a look at this list of ridiculous events related to toy guns:
1. A 7-year-old boy in Florida took his toy gun to school inside his bag. The boy did not take the gun out of his bag, but because of the no-tolerance policy of the school for guns, he was suspended and then expelled from the school for one year.
2. In Rhode Island, 9-year-old Joey got a 3-day suspension after 2-inch gun key chain fell out of his bag during class.
3. In Maryland, 6-year-old Josh got a 2-day suspension for unintentionally making a gun shape on a strawberry tart he was eating and trying to turn to a mountain.
4. In North Carolina, a school suspended a 5-year-old boy when he made a gun shape with his hand while he was on the playground.
5. In Massachusetts, a 6-year-old boy was suspended by the school for bringing a toy plastic gun on his school bus. A report from TownHall.com said that the boy had written a letter of apology for causing a “disturbance”.
6. In New York, a boy talked to two students about going to the house of their classmate with a water gun. The school authorities had to call the police. The father’s license to carry was revoked.
7. In Pennsylvania, a 5-year-old girl got a 10-day suspension when she threatened another student that she will shoot her using a pink Hello Kitty bubble gun. The girl did not have the gun on her possession that time, as Associated Press reported.
8. In Louisiana, a student under 11 was expelled from school after bringing a pocket knife with a 2-inch blade.
9. In Washington, the students were permitted by the teachers to bring their toy NERF guns to school for their class experiment. The school officials suspended the students who brought their toy guns as well as those who were present, and the teachers did not receive any punishment.
10. In Maryland, a Grade 6 student got a 10-day suspension from school after saying the word “gun’ while talking to his friend and the father was visited by the law enforcement with a search warrant.
Many would agree that the situations mentioned above are beyond normal. The officials and the police officers seemed to over react on such instances. Why should they suspend/expel the young students for doing such minor mistakes (if they are at all counted as mistakes)? Why not just deal with the student personally or talk about the behavior with the parents of the child?
Rules concerning guns these days are becoming more and more tight. Children before did not even experience the potential suspension or the fear of using a hand as gun or making a gun out of clay at school. Do kids who are doing such things will eventually become criminals when they grow up? This is a ridiculous belief!
As most of us know it, politicians who are anti-gun and pro-gun are engaged now on a more heated battle regarding the increase in gun control. This resulted to schools enforcing no-tolerance gun policies and punishment for children. First of all, do toy guns kill or injure people? Can they be used to commit crimes? And wait, can these young kids do something violent with toy guns?
We must all recognize that children are imaginative, creative and naturally aggressive, and the focus should not be given to them if the goal is to reduce the possibility of gun violence. The gun itself cannot kill or injure people. It takes one person with an evil intention for a crime to happen.
The Professionals’ Opinions
Dr. Joshua Weiner, a psychiatrist from Arlington, Virginia, whose specialization is on children and adults, said that “all one needs to do is to look around to see that a connection exists. This connection is likely – like most things – a combination of genetics and environment.” According to him, you cannot avoid exposure of a child from “expressions of violence” as they can be seen in television shows, video games, their friends, their older siblings’ friends and the people in their environment. “Boys are likely predisposed to respond and probably have some yet-unknown gene which contributes to this behavior. Think about men being the hunter/gatherer and needing to kill for food and to protect their family,” he added.
For Dr. Jay Mechling of the University of California, a researcher, studies do not support the assumption that playing with toy guns can result to violence in adulthood. For children, shooting during playing is just imaginary. Allowing them to play such can help develop their social behavior. Mechling can see that children interpret playing with guns as a fun play rather than violence.
According to the child psychologist Dr. Michael Thompson, “Everyone has an informal causation theory that playing with guns leads to the use of guns in adulthood, yet most adult men who did engage in gun play as children do not commit violent crimes.”
Dr. Daniel Stauber of Community Psychological Consultants in Indiana believed that there is no single research that proves the direct relationship of playing with guns and gun violence in adults. He stated that, “It all depends on the child. There is nothing inherently good or bad about kids playing with toy guns.” If children are taught the right values at their early age, then toy guns would remain toys as they grow. Besides, there are other issues that adults need to address today instead this one, like drug abuse, enforcement of the current laws and gun control.
According to psychiatrists, a person who is violent would show warning signs like being rude to animals, isolation and withdrawal from other people, and the feeling of being misunderstood. They also believe that letting kids play with toy guns along with other children would bring the opposite as it is a social and cooperative activity. Parents, on the other hand, are responsible in helping the children cope with their emotions and deal with their problems. They must let the children explore the real world, let them know which one is real and not, good and bad.
Meanwhile, clinical psychologist Dr, Lucy Daniels said that mental health dictates how a child would develop