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In a
study published in the January 2003 issue of Pediatrics magazine,
two-thirds of the parents surveyed answered that it is “never
appropriate” for children to play with toy guns. Respondents were
selected by “convenience sample,” whatever that means. Perhaps the
usual statistical methods are too annoyingly accurate, but I don’t
doubt toy guns aren’t the standard issue ordnance for young boys
they once were.
My first
brush with the toy gun debate came long before my wife and I had
children. Though married young we did not start a family for 11
years, a delay for which my wife claims she’s grateful because I got
the chance to know her while she was sane. It was also a good
opportunity to observe friends raising their own kids.
One
particularly close couple was adamant their two sons not have toy
weapons. In truth it was my friend’s wife who was set in concrete
on the issue, but he became her deputy gun cop nonetheless,
searching birthday presents and Christmas gifts, patting down
grandparents, the boys’ buddies, and any other likely gunrunner who
might try to smuggle in contraband. It was “zero tolerance” before
the phrase was coined.
Not even
squirt guns passed muster. The boys did have cars and trucks, but
were encouraged to explore their soft sides with arts and crafts,
toy musical instruments, and yes, dolls.
It got
to the point that we hated to visit. My friend and his wife barely
spoke, at least in our presence. Their family life had become a
running firefight over toys; the boys begged, pled their case to
everyone who walked through the door, and showed little interest in
their mountain of touchy-feely playthings. They did like the dolls,
however, which they bent at the waist and used as handguns.
I think
it was the “Bang-Bang Barbie” incident that finally broke their
mother’s will. The boys were allowed one small toy gun apiece,
about the size of derringers and appearing as lethal as spit wads.
They
were overjoyed. They shot the imaginary daylights out of everything
that moved, though they were required to ask permission before
whacking people. I gladly took a bullet for family harmony and the
resumption of a valued friendship. After about a month, the guns
joined the rest of their toys in peace, and in pieces.
When our
kids arrived we quickly decided against a ban, opting instead to arm
them only if they asked. Aside from summer squirt guns, their total
arsenal consisted of one plastic pistol and a couple of rubber
knives.
The
study abstract
on Pediatrics’
website makes passing reference to toy guns’ link to “aggressive
behavior,” but cites no research. I’m sure it exists but I have no
idea how such studies could filter out the effects of television,
movies, video games, and violent popular music. Nor would I know
how to adjust the results for the decline in formal values
instruction in homes, schools, and as evidenced by waning church
attendance.
The
only way to factor out decades of cultural decay might be to peek
back at the 1950s. My best guess is that toy gun ownership among
boys between the ages of 6 and 12 was oh, say, universal. What
doesn’t pop to mind are slasher flicks, games that treat murder as
sport, blood-spurting TV shoot-‘em-ups where the bad guys win, or a
Grammy wining artist crooning odes to butchering his wife. I don’t
seem to remember campus metal detectors, schoolyard cops,
Columbines, Jonesboros, or Mafia-strength street gangs either.
Maybe one plus one doesn’t equal two and researchers can somehow pin
aggression on toy guns. But with toy guns down and youth violence
up, this is mainly an assault on common sense. |
