Kids and Guns

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Children often play with toy guns, but Rabbi Shmuley says it's important to teach them that guns are not for amusement. Guns have their purpose, Rabbi Shmuley says, but that purpose is not to entertain. "They should be used to defend the innocent, uphold law and order, and for hunters," he says. "But for kids, they serve no real purpose."

Rabbi Shmuley says we should teach our children that guns are not something to be glorified and shares his rules for children and guns:

  • If you're a family of hunters, and it's how the kids bond with Dad, children still don't need toy guns. "Let them learn that guns always serve a purpose, but they are not toys, and warfare and violence are never to be glorified," he says.
  • Minimize the violence the kids watch.
  • Minimize everyday violent language.
  • Squirt guns are okay.

Today's Shmuleyism
"War and violence should not be forms of child entertainment, and therefore, our kids shouldn't have guns as toys. Children need to learn that violence, such as in the case of police stopping criminals or a just war, is always about necessity and never about fun and glory."

 

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