Gun buy back programs are a waste of time. Why? Very simply because the people most likely to commit crimes with guns aren’t getting them legally anyway. So, with a buy back program, effectively what you are doing is giving criminals an incentive to steal a gun and, then, turn it in for profit. Easy money for them. Why wouldn’t they just do this over and over and over? So, buy back programs simply don’t keep guns off of the street.
Unfortunately, some people simply do not understand this. For example, a gentleman in Buffalo, New York, has the idea that giving kids toy guns makes those kids want to have guns as adults. So, he has started a gun buy back program for toy guns.
No, I’m not kidding. Robert Farago writes,
“Whatever you put in a child’s hands that’s what he feels comfortable with and you put a toy gun in his hands at an early age and when he gets older he’s going to want the real thing,” said Leonard Lane, president of Buffalo F.A.T.H.E.R.S organization.
That’s why Lane is encouraging parents to give up their child’s toy gunsthis Christmas and exchange it for a different toy, as part of the annual Toy Gun Exchange at the Delavan Grider community center.
Lane says it’s an effort to help stop gun violence by teaching children at an early age that guns are nothing to play with.
While I appreciate Lane’s intentions to want to keep kids safe and to reduce gun violence, he is working off of some very flawed assumptions. First of all, boys will pretend to have weapons. They don’t need toy guns to end up pretending that they have toy guns. They are just going to do it with whatever toys are at hand (or sticks, if no toys are available).
This leads to the second flawed assumption: his assumption that enjoying playing with toy guns will lead to gun violence as an adult. The problem is not that toy guns lead to adult gun violence. The problem is that these kids have never had any experience around guns and learned to respect them and to only use them in safe ways. It is lack of knowledge about guns and a lack of value for human life that causes gun violence.
This is the kind of anti-gunner thinking that would have me laughing if these people weren’t serious. So, because their position is so absurd, as responsible gun owners, we have to keep working to educate people so that can make intelligent decisions about guns instead of foolish ones like this one.
So … who gave all the democrats the Fountain of Stupid toy when they were children?
Just more of the “usual” Knee-jerk reaction from a liberal anti-gun city dweller. I grew up with cap-guns, BB Guns, graduated to a 22 rimfire, 20 gauge shotgun, Handguns, and ON and ON. I was TAUGHT by my PARENT that took the TIME to instruct me on the safe way to handle firearms and I didn’t “turn into” a criminal like the liberal DEMOCOMMIES want you to “believe”. This is more of the same old PROPAGANDA pushed by the “left”. Perhaps there should be “instructions” and “teaching” FROM THE PARENTS.
If the PARENT can’t “handle” the task, there ARE well-qualified Firearms instructors that will take the time to TEACH responsible firearms ownership and safety, BUT LIBERAL “schools” will not ALLOW this anymore, in an attempt to push the liberal “agenda” that guns are “evil”.
thanks prepared gun owners for flagging my comment. ya,ll are so damn stupid you dont know your ass from a hole in the ground and what is the truth.
HEy apologies Dusty we get so much spam, we have to manually review now after a bad hack. Thanks for the comment!
It seems to more we mollycoddle our kids, the more insecure, confused, and acting pout occurs. Back when, we had guns, caps, holsters and those kids in the 40′ and 50’s grew up with rational thinking processes. Now, the continued inundation of liberal handwringing and idealistic and socialist policies, the kids are afraid of everything from spiders to words on a baseball cap.
I grew up with lots of toy guns, mainly cap pistols and water pistols, but also BB guns. I started shooting at age six under adult supervision and hunting at seven. I seem to have ended up just fine. No criminal activity, carried a major security clearance for may years, have multiple degrees and am active in my church. Nearly every kid I knew growing up has a similar story.
The anti-gun faction are acting out of ignorance and fear of something they don’t know anything about. They should be pitied and/or laughed at. At no time should they be allowed to have their way in limiting everyone else’s freedom. Their stance is the exact opposite of what it means to be an American. I did not serve my country in the military to enable them to stifle my freedom.
I have taught my children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren to be familiar and responsible with firearms. They are all good marksmen and safe firearm handlers, plus they shoot extremely well.
The very idea that playing with toy guns as a child leads to violence as an adult is to ridiculous for words. I, like millions of other kids, played with toy or make believe guns as a child. As an adult, I’m not quite 85 years of age, I have had real guns, shotguns, rifles, pistols and revolvers for years and years. Strange to note perhaps, but I have yet to do violence or harm to another human being with any sort of weapon. In plain English, the stock and trade of the anti gunners is obviously pure hogwash.
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