Toy Guns and Violence

Catherine Fuller, in her commentary, “Boyhood Cowboys Don’t Become Adult Killers” (Aug. 21), seems hardly aware of the nation’s daily news fare, nor the decades of TV and motion picture violence, sexuality and brutality that children have absorbed on their way to pre-adult maturity, and the very direct relationship of that entertainment violence to the lost innocence of those imaginative “boyhood cowboys” she refers to.

About 50 years ago, children playing cops and robbers were hardly a matter of concerned adult attention. Nor was it worthy of anything but bemused observation for little girls to be playing house with dolls. That was 50 years ago. But 50 years ago, statistically it was a rare occurrence for teen-agers to walk up to other teen-agers in some urban mall and blow their brains out; nor did we have the increasing incursion of fatherless juvenile offenders into the criminal justice system, as we have today; nor did we have a nation where high school administrators, touting “safe sex,” handed out free condoms to students, thereby implicitly condoning illicit sex; nor were the ghettos burgeoning with high school dropouts and teen-age, unwed mothers, creating havoc on the welfare system.

Certainly the tremendous increase in violent television programs and violent films has had a devastating impact on the imaginations of our youngsters, and it all starts with the aiding and abetting of that imaginative violence in “boyhood cowboys,” who then go on to killing peers, adults and even parents.

ANTHONY PALMA

Granada Hills

*

* Playing with toy guns doesn’t create aggressive children. Any honest parent will tell you that violence and joyous destructiveness are a natural part of childhood. The cap-pistol-toting kid cowboy doesn’t necessarily grow up to be a murderous adult, but he may grow up to be a carelessly dangerous adult who tosses his pistol into the bedside drawer as easily as he used to toss his water pistol into the toy box. Toys teach lessons.

My son was never allowed to play with toy guns, but he had supervised access to pistols and rifles from the age of 6. At 12 he was a medal-winning marksman. Today he is a hard-working law student with a well-maintained collection of firearms, which he and friends take target shooting when time permits.

The prevalence of firearms in our society demands that parents take the responsibility for teaching rigorous safety procedures to their children. This can be accomplished by a nightly ritual of locking the toy pistol in a cigar box or by teaching the child to handle real weapons--but for the child’s safety, and society’s, it must be done.

PAMELA De MAIGRET

Los Angeles

*

* For a psychologist, Fuller seems to be buying into some unfortunate stereotypes. These days boys can play with dolls, which tends to develop the nurturing abilities many children will need at least to some extent someday, and girls can play with toy weapons, which tends to develop hurtful behavior that no person ever needs.

As an early childhood educator and as a parent, I believe that 1) children will use sticks or other objects as weapons in their dramatic play no matter what, 2) it’s not a good idea to attempt to stifle their creative imaginations and 3) it’s equally inappropriate to provide them with the symbols of violence that are threatening our world.

CAROL BENSON HOLST

Glendale