Is a Toy Gun Just a Toy?

We went to a tag sale and spent ten dollars on a Nerf sub-machine gun. After setting up a makeshift shooting range in our hallway my husband loaded the magazine with foam bullets. He shot Batman off of a wooden stool and looked at me.

"What have we done?" he asked.

"I don't know" was all I could say.

We've never talked about toy guns and how we feel about buying them for our sons. We have talked about real guns and our feelings about gun legislation. Neither one of us is against gun ownership.  We feel that guns have a place in our society for protection and hunting. We agree that people do not need to own sub-machine guns. We both reacted strongly to the recent school shootings and the tragedy at Sandy Hook broke our hearts.

So we are left with the task of trying to explain guns to our children. Our toddler does not understand what a real gun can do. Do we prevent him from playing with toy guns because of our own values and feelings? How would he explain to his friends why his parents won't let him own a Nerf gun or a water gun? How do we hold onto our values while allowing our children to explore the world and develop their own?

Something like buying a toy gun may seem straightforward but to us it is not. Maybe it shouldn't be so complicated--after all he is just a toddler shooting at Batman--but for us it is.