# How foolish would I be to keep a realistic-looking toy BB gun at home to deter intruders?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-foolish-would-i-be-to-keep-a-realistic-looking-toy-bb-gun-at-home-to-deter-intruders/1028324>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 9, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-foolish-would-i-be-to-keep-a-realistic-looking-toy-bb-gun-at-home-to-deter-intruders/1028324 "2026-03-09T23:17:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 23

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2026, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-foolish-would-i-be-to-keep-a-realistic-looking-toy-bb-gun-at-home-to-deter-intruders/1028324/23 "2026-03-10T11:47:34Z")

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I’d go with the “get a dog” option. Dogs are safer than guns, are good for keeping intruders away when you aren’t home, and are _dogs._

> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> I’ll admit, of all the reasons against gun ownership that I’ve ever heard, that’s a new one. The lead in the bullets will do exactly zero harm to you or the environment while they’re just sitting in a box (or gun).

[Funny cartoon on that](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/P233aMzezN4lDiLVuD87XpAJK24J_fBHERcYtKnfvkx1dHqqzvtXPtphm_DLOj0u70BduwcYdCpe6z--ztE-WQ).

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