I would blame the media, Hollywood and video games for the popularity of toy guns though I am not saying this is a real problem since here in Europe there are no guns anyway and there is no evidence that movies or games have effects on children or adults, I never seen one and I don't know people that have guns.
I know the guns topic is a sensitive one and I am not having here an opinion about that topic, just mentioning that the gun culture is exported around the world with the US media.
I am referring to guns, not about defending the tribe, so maybe you can make your point clear, are you from Europe and as a child you seen guns outside movies and video games?
I could be wrong, I can't perform an experiment where I remove games and movies with guns and then measure if children will play more with cars and airplanes then guns.
I grew up in Norway without TV and with no guns in the house. Was still interested in guns. Don't know how I became interested, it happened before I can remember.
(and no, I'm no gun nut but I was very interested in guns as a kid - as many other kids.)
Thank you for your perspective, it is interesting, can you recall maybe stories involving guns? In my case I was told stories involving swords and bows and as children we were creating swords and bows, we were also making guns but I think we saw those in american police movies that were very popular at that time.
I guess I might have picked up the idea from other kids somehow - but
- I don't have older siblings
- I didn't go to kindergarten
- and I generally can't recall playing much with other kids except for my younger brothers before I started in school
There must be an explanation - I don't think this was a miracle and I also think guns hasn't existed mong enough to make an impression on our genes - but I don't know it.
If you remove guns, children (boys) will use sticks as swords and hit each other with them.
If they have no knowledge of swords, they'll hit each other with sticks. Can't get much more primitive than a stick.
What would that relative measurement tell you? Nothing. The mixture is different for each kid. But I can tell you the play fight, with whatever tools they think are appropriate, is 100% universal.
In fact if a boy didn't do that at all, I'd honestly have him tested for a developmental delay.
I have a picture of me at age 4 on the wall behind my computer, out camping. I've got a stick. To this day, when walking through the woods, I see a stick and think, "Hmm, that's a pretty good one, might pick that up."
I have always just assumed, once being boys, that other men understood that the allure of a weapon, even just a stick, is so instinctive that we all understood it intrinsically.
Whenever we go hiking the kids pick up tons of sticks (both boys and girls). Not just one or two, but so many that their pockets and hands are stuffed and they are trying to get me to carry some for them. They insist on taking them home, but fortunately quickly lose interest in them once we are home so we can quietly get rid of them.
it is true, and I was not trying to blame anyone , if you try to re-read again where my comments started, I was trying(and probably failing) to explain why some gun related images will be shocking for someone is Europe where for someone in US is natural and I was trying to explain how are guns so popular even if there are no guns that you can actually see(again there is no blame since I don't think there is something bad that someone plays with a toy gun or with a gun in a video game).
Other example of shocking image/video for someone like me , a father sending his 10(or younger son in the house to bring his shotgun outside, or a different father training his 10 years old daughter to shoot a shotgun (or maybe are rifles I don't know exactly what the guns were)
You’re absolutely right, it’s cultural. I’m a youth firearms instructor and it’s been interesting to learn the parents’ reasons for encouraging their children.
China isn’t that influenced by Hollywood. There are plenty of kids in China that have never seen a Hollywood film before. Chinese media on the other hand has no problem exposing kids to guns even if guns are completely illegal in the PRC.
I know the guns topic is a sensitive one and I am not having here an opinion about that topic, just mentioning that the gun culture is exported around the world with the US media.