Kids and Guns

"I'm at C's house," one little boy pretends to talk on a walky-talky to another, "should I shoot C. or her house?"

"Shoot!" comes the reply.

"C. or the house?" he asks again, then fires an imaginary rifle.

C. is my daughter. She is five and still so small she needs to sit in a car seat, even on the school bus. She doesn't hear. I don't think.

I know they're just pretending. I do not fear for my daughter's, or my home's, safety.

STILL.

I don't think I'm hyper-sensitive about these things. I don't worry about water guns or that Wii game where they shoot the cans. I even confess that it makes me giggle that our one year old is an amazing shot with the Nerf gun.

But I will not permit my children to pretend to shoot and kill each other. And it made me upset to hear this little boy suggest such a thing.

I admit it- I told the bus driver and got him in trouble.

What are your thoughts? Where do you stand on letting kids play with guns or pretend to shoot? Am I too uptight? Too permissive? Where do you fall on the spectrum?

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