Boys and their Toys...


I walked out my front door a few days ago, and saw the 11 year old boy across the street holding a large rifle. (It looked EXACTLY like the one in the picture) He was pointing it at the house next door to him.

He looked up and saw me looking at him and SLITHERED into his back yard. I was baffled, so I called one of my friends who has sons who are friends with this boy.

"Is that Tommy Smith (not his real name) you're talking about?" she asked, "he was just playing with an airsoft rifle! It's no bit deal."

"An airsoft rifle?" I asked, "Are those dangerous?" "Oh no," she replied, "my boys play with them in the neighborhood all the time...as long as they have their protective equipment on they're fine."

"Oh, okay", I said. "What about if someone DOESN'T have protective equipment on? Can they get hurt then?"

She sounded annoyed. "Jill, THEY'RE BOYS...it's all about guns and knives. There's nothing you can do about it. It's a good thing you have girls."

WTF? Boys are all about guns and knives? There's nothing I can do about it? It's all cool as long as we wear our protective equipment? I don't have protective equipment! Neither do my daughters, who play on the same street where this kid was standing pointing his airsoft rifle at the house next door. My cat doesn't walk around wearing safety goggles and a bullet proof vest! We don't live in the country with 2 acres of land between each lot. We live in a neighborhood of 50' x 150' lots!

Saying boys are all about guns and there's nothing you can do about it sounds pretty f-in asinine to me. I guess when her sons are 16 and they want to smoke some pot and have a few beers she can say, "teenagers are all about getting stoned and drunk, there's nothing you can do about it!!" Duh.

Go ahead lady, buy your sons airsoft guns, and then take them out to a field somewhere and let them shoot the crap out of each other...but if I see your son point his little toy at my house, or my kids, or even my frickin' cat, I'm going to grab the gun and point it at you...and you'd better be wearing your protective equipment when I do.

After all, I'm a pissed off middle aged housewife, I'm all about keeping my children safe, and there's nothing you can do about that.