Disarming Experience : Youngsters Respond to School’s Anti-’War Toy’ Campaign

Children at an elementary school brought at least 70 guns and knives to class Wednesday, and the LAPD and school administrators were delighted.

Responding to a campaign by the school director, who sent letters to students’ parents condemning “war toys,” the children brought in play weapons and turned them over to police officers, who confiscated them. The items will be destroyed.

Many students appeared hesitant to part with their toys, doing so reluctantly at the orders of teachers and parents.

“It’s pretty hard for them to give up the toys, no matter what age they are,” said Officer Suzy Calderon, who confiscated the “weapons” with Officer John Futrell at Kirk o’ The Valley School.

To a crowd of 300 students--ranging from preschoolers to fourth-graders--the officers recounted how they had rushed to the homes of children who had been accidentally shot because the toy gun they held was mistaken for a real one.

That brought the rowdy group to silence.

“If you go in (a home) and there is a gun lying there, don’t touch it,” Futrell told the students. “I never want to come to any of your houses because someone’s been hurt by a gun.”

To begin the toy collection, Futrell pulled a gun from his holster and was the first to turn in his weapon. It, too, was fake, to the surprise of many of the students in the audience. Having shown how easy it is to mistake a toy gun for a real one, he turned in the toy to set an example for the students.

The program was the brainchild of Gwen Foladare Weisman, the school’s director for 35 years.

“Over the past five or six years, we have noticed an increase in children’s imaginative play, which has become more aggressive and violent,” she said. “During recess time, so much of the play is subconscious, how they throw the ball. The way children choose to release their feelings is very different.”

Weisman said many television programs and popular cartoons are contributing to students’ violent behavior. “The television is literally the baby-sitter of the ‘90s,” she said. According to research she has read, a child sees 200,000 acts of violence on TV and in movies by the age of 18, she said.

She sent a series of three letters to parents, encouraging them to get rid of toys that can be used to mimic violent actions. Parents were told that children should bring play guns, knives or similar toys to school Wednesday, or bring a note stating that they did not have such toys and do not watch violent TV shows.

The program was not mandatory and parents also had the choice of not having their child participate, Weisman said.

In response, the 300 children produced about 70 “weapons” and 20 notes.

As some children turned in toys, others turned in notes.

In return for their toys, children received packages from the Police Department that included anti-drug information, free coupons from various fast-food chains and “junior police officer” badges.

Just before 8-year-old Jason Shorr let go of his bright orange water pistol, he said he didn’t mind giving up the toy.

“I don’t like violence,” the third-grader said. “The only thing I like that sort of has violence is the Power Rangers.”