Prince George Toy Gun Outrage Twitter
courtesy foxnews.com

The land formerly known as Great Britain has done its level best for the past generation or so to outlaw and demonize virtually all firearms use by commoners. Not that the effort seems to be having much effect on the UK’s criminal class, who still manage to get their hands on guns in the island nation. Be that as it may, any depiction of weapons — ballistic or pointed — brings swift condemnation and expressions of outrage among a population of subjects conditioned to reject the very concept of armed self defense.

Prince George Toy Gun Outrage Twitter Kate Middleton
courtesy independent.co.uk

So you can imagine the hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing that ensued when photos were published yesterday showing little Prince George — third in line for the British throne — playing with a plastic toy gun while his mother looked on…smiling. 

Inexplicably, some observers were OK with it.

But that didn’t stop hordes of alarmed Brits from expressing their horror at the images.

The incendiary snaps provoked this navel-gazer — Should Children Be Allowed to Play With Toy Guns? Experts Weign-In Following Outrage Over Prince George Photographs . . .

SPOILER ALERT: Despite the torqued panties among the British populace at the sight of a happy child playing with a toy gun, the “experts” The Independent talked to were…fine with it.

“I understand why gun play worries parents, however research shows that any aggression demonstrated while engaging in ‘war play’ is not carried over into real life. ie: kids who play with guns become no more violent than those who don’t,” Sarah Ockwell-Smith, parenting expert and author of The Gentle Discipline Book told The Independent.

“Pretend play is an important way for children to make sense of the world; in an age where guns are becoming more prevalent, gun-play helps them to process what they may see on the news, or indeed be subject to in real-life in a safe way.

“That said, even if parents restrict gun-toys, it incredibly likely that children will fashion their own, from a stick for instance. For this reason, combined with the evidence, I see no issue with letting children play with guns and happily allowed my own children to do so.”

Parenting coach Bea Marshall agrees, adding: “In my experience of raising my own sons, and also working with families around the world, one thing I have learned is that many children will find a way to create a gun no matter how hard you try to keep guns out of their world. Sticks, lego, wooden spoons and more are often turned into a gun and the intention behind it is completely innocent.

“As guns are a very real aspect of the world we live in today, whether the military, online gaming, movies or sport, I encourage parents to be part of their child’s exploration of guns.

But those considered opinions did nothing to quell the social media outrage.

And the vapors at those disturbing images extended to this side of the Atlantic, too.

And so it goes.

 

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59 COMMENTS

    • “For example, see https://goo.gl/WfME5q”

      “Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, blasted for patronizing Chick-fil-A”

      Yep, another Blue-Ribbon example of the ‘Tolerant and Inclusive’ Leftist’s blatant hypocrisy…

  3. I believe the children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way.

    Prince George understands that for England to live on, he will need to shoot the African and middle eastern invaders in the face if his elders don’t repatriate the lot of them.

    #FreeTommy!

  4. Oh noes! Teaching the boys to be real men! We can’t have that in the effeminate formerly great Britain!

    J

    • Prince George is already better prepared to defend his sister from Muslim rape gangs than most British men, Scotland Yard or the politicians.

      #FreeTommy

    • I recall an old pic of Princess Di and her kids shooting .22 rifles (one was even a semi-auto). I guess the royals need gun training in case the peasants ever storm the palace.

  5. Slide bite and scope-eye at the same time. Ouch! Also, I don’t think one plays “cowboy” with a 1911/S&W style autoloader and hand cuffs.

    As a royal ‘leadership’ figure, the princess is in a good position to use this as a ‘teachable moment’ and denounce the outright paranoia of her subjects.

    • You can play “Wild Bunch” with a 1911. lol

      But those toys look like a Beretta 92 and a S&W double-action revolver.

    • “Also, I don’t think one plays “cowboy” with a 1911/S&W style autoloader and hand cuffs.”

      Well, the handcuffs are teaching the little tyke some of the ‘games’ he can play with big girls when he grows up…

      *Evil-Snicker* 😉

  6. My mother was against guns. She would throw away any toy guns I had without me knowing. She couldn’t stop me from making lego guns. She also couldn’t stop me from going to the gun range when I was old enough to do it on my own.

    • My brother and I made numerous Bilofix and Lego guns. Then there was Tinker Toys too, which made great submachine guns.

      • “My brother and I made numerous Bilofix and Lego guns.”

        I never had Legos or Tinker Toys in the 60s.

        It was Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets…

    • My father bought me an air rifle for my birthday and my mother made him take it away from me and break it in half before I even got to shoot it.

      I guess that’s why I have what the leftists would call an arsenal now (about 40 guns).

      • Right?

        I wonder how many of today’s “super-owners” are yesterday’s gun-deprived children.

        I know my Mom was, and is, vehemently anti-gun except for a few Fuddlyisms (hunting is ok, etc.).

        • My parents were, and still are, anti gun. And I now have more than a dozen firearms and a son who believes being able to legally own guns is a sign of being a good citizen.

  7. Actually, I thought yesterday’s daily digest of Wild West Britain was going to be about Prince George rather than criminals blasting away.

    On the one hand I like to see the kid getting to play with toy guns, especially because of the anger it causes, especially since everyone gushes about the royals. On the other hand, why not rub it in the face of your disarmed subjects, “we royals can do as we please, but no handguns or self defense for you.” They have their bodyguards, but if William or Harry wants to carry a gun or access one I expect they can if they please.

    We Americans rightly threw off the reign of tyranny, so that some monarch couldn’t tell us what to do from across the sea.

    Strangely in many places in the US having a toy gun (replicas firearm) like that could get you in serious trouble!

  9. And white mothers have to raise their sons to be: gay, feminine, anarchist snowflakes because in today’s America its a crime to be a white male!

    • Statist/Marxist/Fascist snowflakes, not anarchists

      True anarchists are kinda extreme libertarians, working toward a society of highly responsible people where government isn’t necessary.

      I think it a bit naive and utopian, but do appreciate the sentiment.

      • “I am an adherent of the radical anarchist idea that aims at destroying the present system through terrorism”. — Gavrilo Princip.

        Yaaaaa…… that anarchy crap rarely ever works out the way anarchists intend.

        • I’m an extreme libertarian. The state is at best a monopoly on certain desirable services that at various points in history have been provided by the market. At worst, the state exists to force individuals to pay for things that do not benefit the overwhelming majority of them, like protecting entrenched businesses from competition, subsidizing otherwise unprofitable businesses, fighting endless wars of aggression, .etc.

          In simpler terms, the state is inefficient at best and highly immoral at worst.

      • i am extreme libertarian. personally while i see some govt is needed i feel all govt at all levels should be limited to the point where they have to ask permission of the people to shit their pants let alone use the john

  10. This is completely normal. This family is part of the elite. The ruling class may be armed however and whenever they see fit. Tax cows may only be armed when serving at the Empire’s leisure. So, stateside a mundane of say, New York, may be armed while protecting Gov Cuomo or while killing brown people for the monied men in Iraq. Mundanes must not be allowed to enjoy guns are their leisure, and they certainly may not protect themselves by force of arms.

    • Exactly. I was listing to a net streamed British all in show and half the callers said it was bad for most kids, but ok for a prince.

      The Europeans and especially the Brits are absolute FEUDAL in their acceptance of who should have monopoly of force.

    • And of course, in GB hunting has long been the hobby of the ruling class (even when the average limey had some degree of freedom and the will to appreciate it) due to the economic realities of land of on their island

  11. Oh geez daddy was a military pilot,uncle Harry is a genuine war hero and little George’s whole background reeks of militarism. Good for mom not being a shrieking sheila…I doubt Meghan Markle Sax-Coburg would be so reasonable.

  12. Those kids are lucky. If they were attending a US public school, they’d be suspended by now.

  13. At this point I’m convinced that you could liberate all of Britain from the monarchy with six dudes from Tennessee.

  15. We had toy arsenalsas kids. Without orange tips too. Then bb guns galore.
    Ah the good old days.

    • I always enjoyed cap guns and squirt guns as a kid.
      My parents were mildly anti-gun, but didn’t mind toy ones. No BB guns though.

      We did make swords, bows, and toy fighting staffs out of wood though. Maybe my brother and I were more sword kids. Even a wooden sword seemed more legit than a toy gun.

      Anybody remember water weenies from the 80s? Surgical tubing filled with water for water fights. Way better than squirt guns. I made some for my nephews and nieces last summer. Still fun

      • can relate. my parents were also mildly anti gun. even as a kid i was heavily pro gun. all my pocket money as a kid went to getting all the latest gun magazines from the US. not the hunting ones, but the ones with good solid information in them including some of the law enforcement type gun mags with articles from Masad Ayoob, Jeff Cooper and other similar writers. was not so much into swords or toy guns but i made several over the years pieces of polly pipe about 3 feet long with a rock jammed in one end. i would drop a couple smaller stones down the open end and use that to fling the smaller rocks as far and accurately as possible. could get them to go about 100 meters and with reasonable accuracy as well. dad had firearms but simply considered them a necessary “tool” for the farm. they never did until recently understand my stance on firearms. not sure why the change in their attitude towards them as i have not had a whole lot to do with them in the last 20+ years since i left home.
        yep i am the black sheep of the family

      • I remember playing war with sticks as bows and arrows, but only because I was a (relative) stickler for realism and it was easier to find a curved stick and a straight one than a stick with a proper stock, barrel, magazine, etc (yes, I had quite an active imagination, and seeing as I’m only 23 now, I came of age during the era of the AR)

  16. Well what did they expect? One week you’re marrying an American into the family, the next week the kids are playing cowboys and packing (pretend) six-shooters. It was inevitable.

  17. Guess I need to catch up on England. I don’t know who them people is. Queen Fat Bottom Girls is still the president right?

    • I found out one of them got married recently, when I saw a TTAG headline “guns of the royal wedding”, or some such nonsense. I’m not sure which inbred, parasitic waste of oxygen was getting married.
      I love you Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8.

  20. When I was a kid, my friends and I mowed lawns to save up for Sten gun parts kits. Then my uncle, a professional welder, assembled them for us into non-firing replicas. Best toy guns ever!

  21. I imagine that having a Veteran father is probably part of it… No problem there.

    Now my dad never wanted us to have toy guns – “they’re not toys”. A true statement, but one which didn’t prevent, but rather encouraged innovation. Anyone remember Construx? I distinctly recall being ambushed by one older brother on a daily basis with his improvised crossbow using those toys (3 and up!). Those things broke the skin. Many epic battles ensued; spears were sharpened, slings were made ready. I am sure my parents disliked the associated medical bills, but eventually we stopped telling them and learned to suck it up. And yet we’re all, somehow, successful guys without addictions to painkillers or the desire to shoot up supermarkets. Hmm…..

    My only objections to these pictures are a) why does anyone care what a”royal” family without power does, and b) if they cared about their people they’d stand up for their rights publicly. I hope they will someday soon.
    I won’t hold my breath.

    • The Royal kids playing with toy guns, just like ordinary kids do. Will London Bridges Fall?

  22. I would bet certain Officials and their familes are allowed access to guns. Elite haves commoners have nots.

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