Tango down

[khaosworks]

Nerf has a sniper rifle now.

Let me say that again.

A FREAKING SNIPER RIFLE.

3 feet long, range 35 feet. 12 darts in two quick reload clips. And a detachable scope. Can also break down into two smaller submachine gun-types, one with a fold-down bipod.

And they have a Nerf pistol with a LASER FINDER.

All part of the N-Strike range. For more N-Strike insanity, see here.

God, I want. Why didn't they have toys this cool when I was a kid?

*sob*

Comments

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I can appreciate your resentment at not having had stuff like this as a child. However, I am personally not made terribly comfortable knowing that there is one more set of toy guns out there teaching our kids that conflicts can/should be resolved by whoever has the biggest caliber weapon. Many parents specifically forbid their kids toy guns, and in this gun-crazy culture I can see why (especially so soon after the Amish school shootings).

[batyatoon]

Toy guns don't teach kids that conflicts are resolved by having bigger weaponry any more than Barbie teaches kids that conflicts are resolved by changing clothes. Or any more than watching football teaches kids that conflicts are resolved by leaping upon other people and wrestling them to the ground.

Any healthy kid over the age of six knows the difference between rules of life and rules of a game. That's one of the appealing things about games.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Don't even get me started on what *Barbie* teaches kids... Generations of little girls may well have developed body/self-image issues from this doll's unrealistic figure, and a consumerist "die with the most toys and clothes" ethos from all the various outfits and accessories Mattel peddles with her. Dolls with actual-woman proportions have been developed and marketed specifically as a counteractive social force to Barbie.

And I still don't like kids getting the idea that guns are something to play with. I was brought up in a hunting culture and taught to respect the dangers of firearms from a very young age. Just the other day at a flea market, I caught a boy practice-aiming a BB gun indiscriminately and had to tell him to watch where he pointed it.

[batyatoon]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I kinda despise Barbie. But she's a toy. She's the prop, not the story. So's a toy gun.

And if kids want to play out violent stories -- and they pretty much always do -- not having toy guns won't stop them. My local nephews don't own any toy guns, or toy weapons of any kind. So they build them out of tinkertoys.

And of course you have to teach kids to be careful with real guns, or anything that can shoot like a real gun. You also have to teach kids to be careful with real babies. That's no reason not to buy them baby dolls.

[plaid-dragon.livejournal.com]

I was never allowed toy guns, so my brother and I used to use bent sticks or resort to the good old crooked finger and "ptchoo ptchoo" noises to shoot each other. I'm not sure that I would want my (hypothetical) kids to have cap guns but I would probably not mind them having luridly coloured Nerf stuff, if only so I could swipe it!

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

As left liberal as I am, it may surprise some people to know that — if my support for it counted for anything — I am a supporter of the 2nd Amendment.

Of course, I advocate some degree of gun control (well-regulated, after all), but I also advocate the responsible use of guns.

Eliminating toy guns sort of misses the point. The problem is not that they're learning that the bigger weapon is better. The problem is whether or not they are taught that violence is the correct answer to any conflict. Whether it's fisticuffs, or knives, or baseball bats, or IEDs, guns are just a tool. The removal of them doesn't get rid of violence; it just removes a means of doing so. The fundamental mis-lesson is more important.

In any case, Nerf weapons, despite their shape, do not resemble real world guns to any significant degree. I don't think you'll see a Glock being painted in bright orange, purple and green anytime soon, so I don't think the chance of confusing one with the other is all that high.

So, no, I wouldn't forbid children the use of toy guns. Because they're toys. I would teach them however, the qualitative difference between toys and the real thing. Kids are smart. They'll get the difference.

[batyatoon]

I've always kinda wondered why we don't ever see real weapons painted in bright day-glo colors.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Well, aside from the obvious tactical disadvantage of using a day-glo painted gun in the field, it just looks gay.

[batyatoon]

Oh, you wouldn't use it in the field, you'd use it in the city. Camouflaged as a toy!

...It's possible this goes in the category of Things I Shouldn't Say Out Loud On The Internets.

[filkergem.livejournal.com]

I've actually wondered about that myself from time to time for several years. Never actually come up with an answer - perhaps it has been done and everyone involved has been convinced that spreading the news about it would be a Bad Idea? I don't really believe that, so we'll just have to wonder.

[etherial.livejournal.com]

These guns have been out since at least labor day. I know, we use them as props in the end-of-the-world game we play. More generally, though, did you parents let you play with army soldiers, toy cars, roughhouse, etc. How is it any different for kids to entertain themselves by shooting one another than by wrestling each other? How does one encourage kids to be violent and not the other?