Thread: Could toting a toy gun be more dangerous than we think?

Originally Posted by systolic

From the Stuff.co.nz website this morning:

Originally Posted by systolic

The reasons for doing so seemed pretty solid - kids are going to pretend play with guns anyway, so why not put some rules around it. Don't point them at people's faces, that kind of thing. Makes sense.
But there is a difference between a few kindergartens drawing up homemade gun licences and guiding play with some common-sense rules, and a large corporate chain developing a set of resources that initiate kids into gun use.

A difference? Erh...no!

Originally Posted by systolic

Of course banning kids from playing with pretend guns won't work. Even just trying to get my toddler to eat something he's decided he doesn't like is to encourage full-scale rebellion.
But proactively teaching kids about gun safety at daycare marks a cultural shift. Early childhood educators and this programme's supporters are kidding themselves if they think, as relayed to the NZ Herald, that it does not promote gun use. Actively discussing guns and their use as a regimented part of early childcare can only serve to normalise these weapons.
- Stuff

I've heard similar arguments used against sex education, or teaching about drugs and alcohol. And such arguments get widely ignored primarily because they emanate from a cloud cuckoo land divorced from the realities of life.