as a former little boy, I can attest to the fact that boys love guns. Any kind. cap guns, beeping guns, rattling guns, guns that blow bubbles. Hell, even a stick you can point and say “Pschewww!” with will do.
so what, pray tell, did we little morons do for fun before the advent of the gun?
We probably whacked the shit out of each other with sticks.
Perhaps poked at each other with pointy sticks?
Sometimes, you threw hedgehogs at one another. Or big blobs of mud.
Well, in 16th-century England, football was popular with young boys (actually, with all age groups really). This football wasn’t like your organised soccer today, but more like a cross between a kickabout in the park and a riot. In other words, exactly like an Old Firm derby.
::sees ruadh coming, ducks and runs::
Patrick Collinson in The Birthpangs of Protestant England (1988) has a great story, dating from the 1580’s, about a group of kids playing football in a churchyard during a service. Their game was abruptly halted when the parish priest, angered by the noise they were making, confiscated their ball and carried it into the church, keeping it behind the pulpit until the end of the service. Kids will be kids…
I suspect little boys played with swords before guns became their weapon of choice. And before swords they probably played with whatever the current tool of power and death happened to be at the time. Spears, clubs, a brontosaurus leg bone, something.
As a mother of two boys, I can confidently say that little boys will play war with any available weaponry. When my 11 year old was born (yes, I was insane apparently) I tried to discourage this by not giving him guns. It had always bothered me that little boys many times get a gun to play with before they can hardly crawl. So, my son played war by shooting the cat with paper towel tubes, or an umbrella, or a stick from the yard. LOL, it just goes to show that they don’t need all the fancy trappings of war to wage their battles - its just more fun that way. 
From Boxing, an Illustrated History", by Harry Carpenter:
“The city fathers of Tuscanny encourage (boxing) in the Thirteenth century as a safety valve for young Italians, who much prefer killing other Italians.”
Three pages later in the book, there’s a copy of a painting (by Andreas Moller, ca. 1750) of teenagers/young men in a street fight. More or less, they’re in the right stance, and they’re using their fists.
They used to throw rocks at each other, then break out into a brawl.
“I shoulda remembered the stones…”
“Aye, ye shoulda”
Let’s not forget bows and arrows, either. They have a definite advantage over guns, in fact, in that your typical five-year old can make a bow that (sort of) works, and according to the same principles as the real thing. With toy guns, of course, either “weapon does not actually shoot”, or it does so using little springs or the like, rather than gunpowder.
I think that they just play with imitations of whatever happens to be the weapon of choice at the time, and for our age, that happens to be guns.
but where’s the fun in using a fake bow and arrow? making the “FSSSSssssssss- thdddwwwahhh” sound? that is nothing compared to “Pssschouw!”.
and don’t get me started on fencing…
jb
I remember a period when my mother did buy any toy guns for me or my many brothers. Similar to MC’s and Ms. 3 Bunny’s experiences, we fabricated/imagined something that was an instrument of destruction. And to think now that I sleep over a mini arsenal. Didn’t work, Mom,
I used to play with slingshots and I’ll tell you they are way more dangerous than any toy gun. You can do a lot of damage with a slingshot.
jb, you slay me.
A colleague of mine had the theory that all technology was about throwing rocks. The neanderthal who could throw a rock well surviced. Guns: throwing little lead rocks. Space Program: chunking a rock up to that big rock in the sky. Gourmet cooking: eating the stuff you killed by throwing a rock. Computers: used to design better rocks and rock launching systems. Internet: getting your rocks off. 
I can’t explain it but it’s the same as little boys and trucks.
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exactly. that was my main line of thinking when I thought up the OP. What is it about trucks and guns that boys find so great? I still like cap guns, but that’s about it firearm-wise. And my truck fetish has long since passed.
But from the looks of boys, all men would be modern mad-max cowboys, driving their big rigs and bulldozers down the nations highways, shooting up everything in their path.
The fact that a lot of these fascinations are grown out of really makes me question whether it’s societal pressures turning little males into the stereotypical ‘boys’. If these pressures are so persuasive, one would assume they would have ingrained themselves into our psyche by now (note- I realize there are many aspects of masculinity which are shaped by such pressures- I’m not contesting society’s shaping of psychology, but the specific of shaping gun-and-truck loving).
The big problem with the above paragraph, though (besides too long sentences) is the general consensus that boys weren’t making guns out of toilet paper rolls and their hands before guns were invented. This is a recent sociopsychological trend.
So why the great mesh between developing male psyches and guns and trucks? Power? That seems too freudian. Loud noises? Maybe. The fact remains that any explanation you can come up with has to be valid for males only. Girls crave power just as much as boys, and I’ve known as many boys who don’t like loud noises as I have girls who do.
So what the fuck, people? Is this a “how many licks does it take” question? Perhaps the world will never know…
jello biafra
Advanced technology isn’t often invented on the playground of a grammar school. Popular culture has a lot to do with it but I’m sure little boys were making wooden swords for thousands of years before firarms became commonplace.
What is it about trucks and guns that boys find so great?
Let’s not forget fireworks! It’s great fun being the responsibly irresponsible parent of an 11 year old boy. Finally, a family member who appreciates the art and beauty that is “Terminator.” “Sorry, dear, no more chick flicks for us!”
Moreover, it is often overlooked when charting societal progress, that as soon as we dropped out of the trees, little boys’ upper extremities were free to make armpit farts. And I’m sure caveboys were able to belch and fart, providing endless hours of entertainment.
Maybe, but we’re talking about objects of brute force, which boys might associate with more. I think you’ve got the basics nailed–most likely guns and trucks appeal to that combination of power, strength, aggressiveness, and general masculinity. In some cases, gender stereotypes probably come into play; after all, what kind of toys do most people buy for their boys?
Too Freudian? Just because I might agree on one tiny point doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything the man ever said…
Forget guns, you haven’t experience the ultimate in little-boy regression until you’ve fired a trebuchet. Virtually every guy who saw ours (there’s a pic at http://www.gsmbristol.org/photos/pages/treb2.htm )went ‘whoa, cool’, and had a big dumb grin on their face when it went off.