Firing Back: Toy Guns Remain Popular in Other Parts of the World

Currently I’m on a working vacation that is taking me to some interesting parts of the world, and recently I was in Cairo, Egypt and Kusadasi, Turkey. In addition to the usual tourist sights, I was taken back by visions of boys (and a couple of girls) playing with very realistic toy guns. While even replica firearms have come under fire in the United States there seems to be no such fear of these toys, which is odd considering that real threat of violence.

The reason I bring this up is that it shows that toy guns shouldn’t really be feared. Yes, there have been some tragic examples where the toys were mistaken for the real thing. But we have become so fearful of guns in the United States that it has made the sight of obvious toys items that need to be feared. This in turn means that boys (and girls) don’t experience this play – and while some would cheer this fact – it also means that a part of childhood is stolen. Yes, guns used by soldiers in war are a horrible thing, but for most of recorded history children have played these games.

As with fighting monsters and battling evil, playing cowboys or cops & robbers is just play. It is something that is part of childhood. The irony also is that Turkey is a nation that has had a military history that is colorful, yet for the last several hundred years one without a successful military tradition. The United States by contrast is a nation that has had a long and successful military history, and yet the liberal element continues to fear guns. Let’s just hope we don’t go the way of the Ottoman Empire, and become a second rate power.