—–Original Message—–
From: Gun Owners of America <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Thursday, May 25, 2000 10:32 AM
Subject: Anti-Gun Nut-Of-The-Month

>FOR PUBLICATION
>
>
>Maryland Alderman Wants Federal Law Banning Toy Guns!
>
>by Larry Pratt
>
>
>When I first read the story in the Washington Times newspaper I
>thought it was a joke, a spoof. I double-checked the date of the
>paper. No, it was April 20th not April 1st. The headline read:
>”Buyback Of Toy, Water Pistols Sought.”
>
>The story told how Cynthia A. Carter, a Democrat alderman in the
>city of Annapolis, Maryland, wants police to buy back cap guns,
>water pistols and other toy weapons to curb violent behavior in
>children. She’s quoted as saying: “Children can’t distinguish
>between a real gun and or a play gun, nor do they understand the
>difference between life and death.”
>
>She wants people to weigh the possibilities, asking: “What good does
>a toy gun do and what harm does it do?”
>
>Still not sure that this story was for real, we contacted Alderman
>Carter, interviewed her and here’s the way it went:
>
> Q: So, what’s wrong with kids playing with toy guns, cap guns,
>water pistols?
>
> A: Well, if you follow me, when they were making toys guns which,
>first of all, should never have been, to take something that could
>be so detrimental, something so deadly, and turn it into a toy, and
>capitalize on it at the cost of children and the risk of their
>lives, and just bodily harm.
>
> So, they got away with it over the years. But, with time change,
>like with the seatbelts and the metal detectors at school and other
>precautionary measures taken to protect the children, I think we
>better look at what we have here — to do the same thing. Times have
>changed.
>
> I don’t know if you’ve ever seen some of those video games. There
>is some pretty nasty stuff on there — shooting and killing and
>destroying each other. Children need at this point in time, with
>thing being as they are, to be taught to respect, to care and to
>love.
>
> And when they get older and if they decide they want to get a gun
>and do hunting or collect them as a hobby or whatever. But the same
>laws they have restricting children from tobacco, driving and
>alcohol need to be put on any form of a gun….
>
> Q: You think police should buy back these violent video games,
>too?
>
> A: Absolutely! Absolutely! If we could get some of those things –
>these kids get together in these rooms, turn on these videos and
>freak out. I can’t stand to look at them. Can you imagine what’s
>going through these young minds? But, we had better take note and
>check ourselves.
>
> Q: Should it be illegal to make these toy guns?
>
> A: Absolutely!
>
> Q: Really?
>
> A: Absolutely! And if I had my way it would be.
>
> Q: Making toy guns should be a crime?
>
> A: Yes.
>
> Q: And what should be the punishment?
>
> A: The same as it would be if you made a real gun.
>
> Q: But, it is not illegal to manufacture most guns. What specific
>punishment would you support for those who make toy guns?
>
> A: I’m sure the Federal Government could find a fine — I guess
>the same fine that there would be if a kid was sold a real gun.
>
> Q: So, there should be a Federal law against selling toy guns?
>
> A: Absolutely. Absolutely.
>
> Q: You seem to think that all guns and all uses of guns are bad.
>
> A: Understand what I am saying. What it’s doing mentally to the
>children. What you do with a gun when you become of age — some
>fathers think it is right to take these boys out and show them how
>to kill an animal. These children cannot distinguish a difference –
>their minds absorb — and, again, and my backup on the whole thing
>is that if you train up a child in the way he should go, when he
>gets older he will not stray from it.
>
> Q: Right. That’s from the Old Testament book of Proverbs.
>
> A: Exactly, Proverbs 22:6.
>
> Q: So, if you train up a child to know the difference between a
>toy gun and a real gun then…
>
> A: You can’t.
>
> Q: Sure you can.
>
> A: No, you can’t. The idea that it is a very destructive piece of
>equipment that was made to look like, and to be played with to kill,
>is the whole direction this whole thing has gone.
>
> Q: But is all killing bad?
>
> A: Yes. If you teach a child to kill…
>
> Q: What about self-defense?
>
> A: There is a difference. A child does not have the ability, to my
>knowledge — and I’m talking about little children — to kill
>somebody to defend themselves.
>
> Q: But, I’m alluding to that Proverb you quoted. It’s true. So, if
>you trained up a child, with toy guns, to teach them to respect real
>guns, and use them for self-defense, when necessary, then –
>
> A: No.
>
> Q: Sure you could.
>
> A: You know, there’s one thing about anything that happens in this
>world. There’s no correct way of doing it. I want to initiate
>something that needs to be initiated, and that right now is to let
>children know that guns are not toys. And we start by eliminating
>them as toys.
>
> Q: But toy guns are toys.
>
> A: We’re adults and we know. But we should know better by now that
>we need to stop manufacturing them and giving them to kids and stop
>letting it be a toy.
>
> Q: But what’s wrong with training kids to know about and respect
>real guns and to know how to use them in self-defense?
>
> A: We can teach the children about a lot of things. But to teach
>them about using a firearm to kill, they have to first learn to
>respect life before they can learn the rest of it. We as parents are
>supposed to protect these children. They should not have to have a
>firearm to protect themselves or to get a meal (?).
>
> Q: No, I’m not talking about kids having real guns. I’m talking
>about training them, when they are kids, to learn to use a real gun
>later, possibly in self-defense — which, incidentally, shows a
>respect for human life!
>
> A: No. I don’t agree with that. We have other things to teach our
>kids. We need to teach them to respect life.
>
> Q: But, it’s not either/or. You can do both. You can demonstrate a
>respect for human life by using a gun to defend your life or
>somebody else’s life.
>
> A: This is something the Lord (?) has laid on my heart. I find it
>necessary, just like we need to put prayer back in school. This is
>what I want to do for my community. The kids cannot watch TV all day
>long. They cannot watch certain movies and things on there. They
>cannot do those videos. We need to put a book in their hands, or
>they should learn to ride horseback, go to the arts, dancing. This
>is what we need to do. But there are not too many parents in the
>homes taking care of kids nowadays.
>
> Q: We’re not going to disagree on that. Are you aware that
>hundreds of thousands of people in this country — some studies says
>millions — of Americans use guns in self-defense every year?
>
> A: Should a five or six-year-old kid be put to that? I’m not
>talking about someone who is 19, 20 or 21. I’m talking about the
>youth. We gotta start somewhere.
>
> Q: I’m sorry. I’m not getting my point across. I’m saying that one
>valid reason for allowing kids to have toy guns is to show them how
>to use real guns responsibly when they grow up for, among other
>things, self-defense.
>
> A: Then take them to a whorehouse and show them how to have sex!
>You might as well do the whole nine yards.
>
> Q: Really?! So, you think teaching kids how to responsibly use
>firearms is like teaching them to fornicate?!
>
> A: No, baby. Self-defense didn’t mainly start in the home. That is
>where most children are harmed where they are molested by those who
>are supposed to love and care for them. We gotta teach these kids
>that that is not the thing to play with.
>
> Q: I’m not talking about teaching kids to play with real guns!
>
> A: Not every child can distinguish between a real and a toy. Their
>minds are not developed that way. We are the parents, the
>care-takers. And we must direct these children the right way.
>
>Amazing, no? — and truly lunatic — which is why Cynthia A. Carter
>is our “Anti-Gun Nut-Of-The-Month.”
>
>
>– 30 –
>
>Larry Pratt is Executive Director of Gun Owners of America located
>at 8001 Forbes Place, Springfield, VA 22151 and at
>http://www.gunowners.org on the web.