Thursday, March 15, 2012

Toy Guns in Easter Baskets


The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the latest efforts of Rev. Michael Pfleger.

“As a Christian I’m insulted that Kmart or any store would use this celebration of life to have images of guns in Easter baskets, encouraging parents to buy them for their children. But equally important is that any psychiatrist will tell you a child who gets comfortable playing with toy guns and pointing them at people as a child becomes comfortable picking them up as an adult. In a nation that’s plagued with gun violence, neither Kmart nor any other store should be selling guns in Easter baskets to our kids.”

It's an old argument which doesn't really have anything to do with Easter. Does playing with guns damage kids developmentally. I say yes. Pfleger explains it well.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

25 comments:

  1. Snuffy Pfleger is insulted. I wonder if he will advocate murdering Kmart store managers now.

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  2. Hey mikeb, where is your outrage towards Pfleger for threatening to kill gun store owners?

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    1. If MikeB doesn't care about hundreds of Mexicans dying by ATF enabled guns, I really don't think he'll give a shit about threats made by someone he agrees with.

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    2. Well, I might is there were real and credible threats and not just extreme language to make a point.

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    3. But when Sarah Palin puts crosshairs on a website, that's an incitement to violence? Be consistent, Mikeb.

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    4. At least he consistently does not care about Mexicans being killed by ATF enabled guns. That much is crystal clear.

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  3. I played with lots of toy guns as a kid, but I have never felt the need to own or even fire a real gun as an adult. I have never thought about pointing a real gun at another person and shooting them either.

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  4. Boys make guns out of anything available--bananas, their hands, sticks--when they're denied toy guns. Human beings aren't naturally pacifists, nor should we be.

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    1. Right--I'd forgotten about that one.

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    2. Yeah, the pizza gun, that was some story.

      The problem is that most boys who play with guns as kids have no problem, they grow up. But not all. It always gets down to the percentages. With the advances in realism of the toy guns since I was a kid and the tremendous exposure kids have of violence both on TV and in their neighborhoods, what was no problem a generation or two ago, may very well be a big problem today.

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    3. You can't place the blame on the toy gun or any gun for that matter. Human beings have been killing each other since neanderthals lived in caves. Our entire species is intent on competition - rather it be for food, space, or stupid pride - we always have and always will kill each other. Your entire argument is that guns shouldn't be in Easter baskets, but isn't Easter about how Jesus was killed and resurected? I'll bet you he wan't killed with a gun. Guns are nothing more than another method of taking life (human or animal). If every gun on this whold planet were destroyed, people would still find a way to kill each other. Statistics show that in countries and states where strict gun laws are in place gun crime did go down but the number of deaths by stabbing and strangulation went up. I'll say again. YOU CAN'T BLAME THE GUN. If you want to place blame start with society as a whole always wanting to place blame on anything that takes responsibility away from them when they have done wrong.

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    4. I'm not blaming the gun, where do you get that idea from? I blame the society, and folks like you, who preach how acceptable and necessary guns are.

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    5. Wow! Where do I even begin with a comment like that? First you did blame the gun.
      “But equally important is that any psychiatrist will tell you a child who gets comfortable playing with toy guns and pointing them at people as a child becomes comfortable picking them up as an adult. In a nation that’s plagued with gun violence, neither Kmart nor any other store should be selling guns in Easter baskets to our kids.”
      That statement implies that because a child plays with a toy gun they are more likely to commit violent act with a gun. As I said before guns are nothing more than another means of taking life. But more importantly than that is that guns are another means of protecting life. If a criminal knows you have a gun the criminal is far less likely to commit a violent act against you therefore saving your life and theirs. It’s called deterrence. That’s what the Cold war was all about. We have nuclear weapons not because we want to use them but because we didn’t want them used on us. For every psychiatrist that believes that, there is another that doesn’t. Besides, it is not customary for a psychiatrist to study society as a whole. That would be the sociologists and most of them disagree with that statement citing that there is no real statistical or scientific evidence to support such a claim.
      Second, millions of kids play with toy guns everyday but millions of people don’t die from guns every day. More people die from dysentery in one day than what are killed using guns in a month and maybe more. The only thing need to cure that problem is clean water. In fact, more people die from dysentary every day than the number of people killed by cancer in the US each year.
      Violence is violence. People are going to kill each other rather they have a gun or not. People will find ways to end the life of another regardless of what kind of toys they played with as a child.

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  5. Education people, education. If you dont teach your kids from right and wrong, how to deal with life in general and everything that can be thrown at them. That includes anything that they will, not may, encounter, like guns, cars, sex, and so on and ignore them instead then you have to accept what your kids will become. What they will become will be a large refection on the parent.

    Accept the responsibility of education of your kids or dont have kids.

    Dr. Spock and other clowns that fit that catagory dont teach anything in my view, you do!

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    1. Sure, I suppose severe education combined with an excessive program of discipline for infractions might, I say MIGHT help kids to avoid trouble. Otherwise, curiosity, rebelliousness, experimentation, peer pressure will beat you every time.

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    2. That's why we have to lobby for gun safety classes in school, starting in kindergarten with finals in high school.

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    3. Mike, I have to disagree, severe is what it is called now, teaching is how it was done when I was growing up. Peer pressure, that was something others told you NOT to do when you were about to screw up. Now its a bunch of uneducated that applies the pressure now and nobody is taught to be responsible for their own actions. "Its not your fault that you screwed up, its soceity fault" Bull hockey! Thats why this country is in trouble, too few taught correctly because of this bull crap political correctness. At an early age to adulthood, you get a SEVERE red ass if you screw up. If more of this is taught, responsible people will prevail.

      Education, the right kind, not political correctness, is what is badly needed.

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    4. "That's why we have to lobby for gun safety classes in school, starting in kindergarten with finals in high school."

      Exactly...I've been pushing this idea for a few years now. If kids are taught about guns and proper safety and handling, they will tend not to be scared of them or want to use them in an unintended manner.

      Mike G.

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    5. And you know what, Texas Colt Carry, all the education in the world without proper parental supervision is a guaranteed failure.

      My opinion is this type of education is the parent's job, not the school's.

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    6. "And you know what, Texas Colt Carry, all the education in the world without proper parental supervision is a guaranteed failure.

      My opinion is this type of education is the parent's job, not the school's"

      And that is exactly my point. Parents leave too much to the schools. But it wont hurt for the schools re-enforce the same needed education. Parental supervision is a part of proper teaching, those kids wont teach themselves. And that goes with anything you put in front of them, not just guns.

      They play with toy cars, and then eventually drive, for example. A little teaching as they grow and understand with the toy cars helps them be prepared as they get closer to driving age. And the list is endless.

      So if they are to grow up in a household with firearms, teaching is a must. Mike, your statement is absolutely correct. Now, tell us how we may start to educate people to understand what we agree on. I know how I do it. How do we get the rest of the population informed?

      This is the type of discussions that both side could greatly benefit from!

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  6. Reverend? Did the Church finally kick Snuffy out? Fucking loser he is.

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  7. So when did death become a 500 year old invention that coincided with the development of the firearm? Stupid people will do stupid things irregardless of the tools at hand. Toy guns are as dangerous as toy cars. As an adult I have never tried the stuff I did with my hotwheels in my SUV.

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    1. Wrong, toy guns are more dangerous than toy cars because cops often mistake toy guns for the real thing. They rarely do that with other items.

      Your ideas about death and killing have nothing to do with responsible living in the 21st century. Guns, both real and replica, should be restricted in such a way that they are misused a little as possible.

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