On December 21, just days before Christmas, Manhattan philanthropist Jean Shafiroff, with help from the Hempstead Heights Civic Association and Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall, asked all children in the town of Hempstead to hand over their plastic guns in exchange for a toy that was not associated with firearms. Shafiroff said, “I wanted children to know toy guns are not good toys. … By exchanging them for a much better gift, it shows a toy gun is not worth having.”
The Hempstead Heights Civic Association’s Lamont Johnson added, “We need to get away from that culture and give children appropriate toys. Hempstead is sending a message guns are not to be played with.”However, the toy guns turned in were not the kind of toys that can be confused with real guns, the kind which have been mistaken for actual firearms and resulted in officer-involved shootings.”
The NRA-ILA observed, “Toy gun turn-ins have been around for decades and have become part of the year-round ideological attack on harmless fun. We suspect that toy gun turn-ins are about as effective in achieving their goals as the gun turn-ins that inspire them.”
On October 16, children at a Baltimore “Peace Camp” received prizes for handing over their toy guns. The camp was founded by Ralph E. Moore, Jr., and Nawal Rajeh. Moore compared taking toy guns to taking candy cigarettes on the basis that candy cigarettes were “orienting kids to smoking.” He said, “I think toy guns, in many ways, are doing the same thing. The replica guns are what are dangerous.”
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