Youngsters Turn in Toy Weapons at Anti-Gun Event

About 220 children gathered Friday to exchange toy guns for dolls and toy cars at a local park, as part of a community effort to remove violence-related toys and to highlight recent gun control legislation.

Elementary and middle school children packed the basketball courts in Pecan Park, where state Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) explained how even toys can contribute to a culture of violence.

Polanco, author of a bill, SB 15, to require pistols and revolvers to pass certain consumer safety tests before they are made, asked the children to make a “pledge not to engage in violence against any person.”

The event was organized by Polanco’s office and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, a nonprofit organization represented by Joe Diaz, who grew up in the Boyle Heights area.

“This [event] is not so much about taking a kid’s toy gun away. It’s about taking away that way of thinking in the future,” Diaz said.

As the senator and other community leaders spoke, a handful of children played with their water guns.

Later, students from Utah Street Elementary School, Hollenbeck Middle School and Pecan Sports Club exchanged toy guns, drawings and essays on guns for toys donated for the event.

Parent Tony Morano found the toy exchange important because he sees children playing not as cops and robbers but as members of opposing gangs.

“I think it’s important to recognize that ages in violent crimes are getting younger and younger,” said Morano. “This is probably the best way to show them . . . that toy guns are still guns, and it is best not to start playing violently.”

But such messages fail to affect children if they are not repeated, said Utah Street Elementary teacher Martha Avitia.

“I don’t think [the kids] got it into their heads that guns are bad,” she said. “They need to have more events like this.”