School Holds Buyback For Toy Guns

[The Straight Story]

HAYWARD, CA (KPIX 5) — A different-kind of gun buyback was held in Hayward on Saturday as some school children were given the chance to trade in their toy guns for a prize.

The buyback, held at Strobridge Elementary School, offered books to kids who turned in their fake weapons. Principal Charles Hill held the buyback as a lesson for children who may see guns as part of everyday life.

“As they get older, it becomes just a natural thing,” Hill told KPIX 5. “If they have a real gun in their hand, they’ll pull the trigger just as quick. I mean, they don’t fear it.”

The gun buyback is modeled after events held by police departments, which offer items such as cash or gift cards in exchange for working guns turned in. About 75 students participated in the program, according to school officials.

Rachel Zamora, who was at the event with her son, said she never wanted her son to play with toy guns.

“But where we lived before, all the kids had toy guns and they would go out playing guns so he felt left out. So that’s kind of how I got sucked into giving him the guns,” Zamora said.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/06/10/hayward-school-holds-buyback-for-toy-guns/

[Eleanors38]

1. At a certain point in our childhood, my brothers and I were told to not point toy guns...

at each other as this was not a good practice to instill. That was 50 years ago, and I agreed with my parents. In fact, we got rid of all those old cap guns.

Of course by that time we all had our own real shotguns & handguns, and access to rifles. And knew how to use them.

[derby378]

2. My brother and I grew up with toy guns, and we also developed a healthy respect...

...for what real guns were capable of if you weren't careful.

My dad took us into the woods when we were little to practice firing a .22 squirrel rifle. It was loud as far as my prepubescent ears were concerned, and I was happy from that point on to stick with BB guns. When my brother tried shooting the rifle, his skin rested against the bolt carrier, and when it slid, it scraped his arm up something fierce. I still remember him crying as Dad drove us back to my grandmother's house to treat the abrasion.

To a certain extend, what Strobridge Elementary appears to be doing is so much PC bullshit. When it comes to teaching kids about the Bill of Rights, do the teachers simply skip over the Second Amendment and talk about how civilian gun ownership by adults is bad?