# Russian Roulette for kids!! It's fun! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823 "2004-04-19T14:08:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/21 "2004-04-20T02:05:58Z")
So you would be happy if this was wholly un-gun like? It is the fact that he may get confused and actually point a real gun at his head and pull the trigger mimicking this toy? I’m sorry but this seems bizarre to me. Surely a child old enough to play with the Russian roulette toy (I’m sure it has a recommended age limit) would be old enough to grasp the difference between this toy and the real thing just as much as he would a play sword and a kitchen knife. Maybe its because I’m from Britain and guns are not commonplace that leads to me not understanding the need to point out to kids that they shouldn’t point real guns at their heads but even if guns were commonplace shouldn’t they be out of reach of kids that young anyway? All in all the only danger I can see would be with irresponsible adults leaving weapons lying around for kids to get hold of. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/22 "2004-04-20T10:04:32Z")
Here in the United States it _is_ a very real problem, or have you missed the school shootings the last few years here? it’s not hard for kids to get a hold of guns, _especially_ here in Texas! I saw plenty lying around easily accessible in alot of my friend’s parent’s houses growing up, too. It’s not _my_ house I worry about, it’s when they go to their friends houses, that you can’t always be sure someone is practicing gun safety,a nd it only takes once to be wrong. If he’s raised with the knowledge that pointing _any_ gun at his or someone else’s head, even it’s a toy, even if it’s for fun is a no-no, it makes it that much clearer to him that it’s likewise not ever acceptable for someone to point a gun at _his_ head…even if he thinks it’s a toy, even if he thinks it’s a game. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/23 "2004-04-20T10:22:35Z")
Er, sorry, I got off on a bit of a tangent and forgot to answer your questions, my apologies. > [@WILLASS](#): > > So you would be happy if this was wholly un-gun like? It is the fact that he may get confused and actually point a real gun at his head and pull the trigger mimicking this toy? I’d actually be perfectly fine with it if it was a not-overly-realistic, but enough so to satisfy a kid’s imagination gun in some bright color, and came with targets to shoot at. When he gets older, his dad will take him hunting, and teach him to be safe around _real_ guns. He will take him and have him kill something. He firmly believes, having grown up in a hunting family, that you do not ever truly appreciate or respect what a gun is, and how it has the power to kill, unless you have watched something die from one. They’ll go bag some game, and they’ll bring it home, clean it, and we’ll eat it, because the other part of that hunting lesson, is you have respect for what you kill. Aiming at targets is good gun safety education for a child, while aiming at people, even with a toy, in jest, imo, is bad gun safety education for a child. > [@](#): > > I’m sorry but this seems bizarre to me. Surely a child old enough to play with the Russian roulette toy (I’m sure it has a recommended age limit) would be old enough to grasp the difference between this toy and the real thing just as much as he would a play sword and a kitchen knife. You never did completely stupid shit you’re to this _day_ amazed you survived as a child? This is Texas, darlin, they raise em rough and tough down here. 😉 Many a Saturday night in teen’s lives in this part of the country (or any other part of the country, for that matter) has the potential of beginning with “Hey, Billy Jo, watch this!”, and end in the emergency room. What’s so wrong with wanting my stepson-to-be _not_ pointing play guns at his head? Will he growed up scarred if I don’t let him? This is Texas, we have guns, and we have our fair share of idiots. You teach your child good gun safety, and you teach him well. It only takes once to regret not teaching your child something so simple. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/24 "2004-04-20T13:20:09Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > And the pirate game: > [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/glance/-/kids/B00000JICB/202-3947671-4581424](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/glance/-/kids/B00000JICB/202-3947671-4581424) > where players push swords into a barrel until one of them causes the pirate to jump out. One of my coworkers sustained a nasty-looking scratch to the forehead shortly after inventing “Extreme Pirate”, in which the players put their faces right over the barrel as they push in the swords. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/25 "2004-04-21T04:36:55Z")
**Lamia** , I guess that proves that some people are just going to play Russian Roulette no matter what toys we give them. Did you witness the injury being sustained, or did they actually confess afterwards how they got it? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/26 "2004-04-21T04:49:59Z")
Let’s not forget that this was being marketed in Japan, a country with one of the lowest rate of private gun ownership in the world. The chances of a kid finding a loaded pistol in his dad’s sock drawer and blowing his brains out in Japan are even less than the already extremely low chances of it happening in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823/27 "2004-04-21T15:03:55Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > **Lamia** , I guess that proves that some people are just going to play Russian Roulette no matter what toys we give them. > > Did you witness the injury being sustained, or did they actually confess afterwards how they got it? Neither, actually. I heard about it from the rest of the office, many of whom _were_ eyewitnesses. This is the problem with going out drinking with your coworkers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-roulette-for-kids-its-fun/240823.md?page=1)