[coleifer]

Ehh sometimes kids like guns. My aunt was telling me how she wasn't going to let her kids have toy guns or watch violent shows. One morning she made toast, and my cousin had bitten his toast into the shape of a gun. He's now a writer for wacky kids shows.

[shoes_for_thee]

This is consistent with my experience.

Stick with right-angle found on the ground? Gun.

Inverted shoe? Gun.

Magnetic letter L? Gun.

Legos? Gun. Sometimes sword.

Sister's barbie held by arms with legs poiting at target? Gun.

Toast with bite out of it? Gun.

Weapons are basic, ancient tools. In fact, the oldest human artifacts ever found were weapons[0]. It should come as no surprise that they are popular children's toys, whether we like it or not.

To be clear -- I do not mind it, but the guns depicted here are realistic enough to potentially cause confusion for people with actual guns and should probably never be taken out of the house......

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schöningen_spears#targetText=T....

[fooker]

That's a very American view. In most places around the world, guns are so rare that nobody will mistake a realistic toy as a gun.

In India, it is somewhat common for kids to have toy guns which make a loud sound if you insert a 'cap' and pull the trigger. This is sold as a firework, and can be seen everywhere on the streets during festivals.

[jpindar]

Cap guns are, or at least were, very common in the US.

[fooker]

When is the last time you have seen a child playing with one in a public space?

[eitland]

To add to this:

My mom hid all signs of guns (ads for outdoor/hunting etc).

We didn't have a TV then.

Still we somehow realized that guns were super exciting.

My father took it from there and taught us to be safe with guns, that war was cruel and not in any way cool but sometimes sadly necessary.

I still cringe when I see inexperienced people with guns :-/

[Fnoord]

IMO the question is why do children like guns?

[analognoise]

Because if you didn't have a "pick up the spear and defend the tribe" attitude, your group was less likely to make it.

Guns, swords, chase, hunt are all major staples of boy play. It's primal, gendered, cross cultural and immediately obvious.

[runamok]

You're not wrong but this is a pretty heavy "nature" argument vs. "nurture".

No kid is being raised in isolation of their culture. I'd assume there would be strong correlation to being exposed to movies and TV with people using guns to you gun purchases/affinity.

[pvaldes]

Children love anything that is remotely a symbol of power in their cultures.

For boys is ofter guns or superheros, for girls is a doll as long as is clear that it represents an alpha female. Girls and boys earn social power by beging linked with "powerful people" and toys simbolize this association.

[platz]

Agency