Nerf guns, dangerous or not?

[brittone2]

DS1 would like a nerf gun. I was strictly a no weapons kind of mom for a number of years, but really only because DS1 wasn't exposed to them and I wasn't going to go out of my way to introduce them. When we were in NC 2 different neighbors had nerf guns and DS1 loved them. He's asking for one for Christmas.

I think in the past there was a recall on them?

I'm also concerned (and have expressed this to DS1) that he will be shooting at DD. Our rule for things like that is generally that the other person has to be a willing participant (water guns come to mind).

Just wondering if anyone with school aged kids can give me feedback about whether they feel they are dangerous. I'm totally NOT wild about the idea and have already told DS1 I will look into it but my inclination is toward him not getting one.

eta: it looks like the injuries from one of the previous recalls were from a plunger type device to launch it, not really from the nerf bullets themselves.

[JBaxter]

we have had various nerf guns in the past and have had no injuries. We have a no head shot rule. The dart ones are a little gentler than the ball ones.

OH I have a not in the house rule also.

[gatorsmom]

I really discourage guns and swords here too. But, the boys begged "Santa" last year for nerf guns several times and even prayed for them during evening prayers so finally I got them some for Christmas. I have to say they play with them very, very rarely. I was sorting and organizing toys today and seriously considered putting them away for a few months to see if they'd miss them so that later I could just give them to Goodwill. They are pretty big and take up a bunch of room in the toybox. I would'nt mind that if they played with them more frequently. As it stands now, the guns seem to see little action.

Probably the reason they don't play with the guns much is because it's kind of a pitb to find all the foam bullets and load them back into the launcher clip. It's really fun to shoot but so annoying to find all those bullets to load up before shooting again. My boys don't play with the guns for more than 30 minutes before they get thrown down.

I don't think the guns are dangerous. The tips on the bullets are soft plastic and the foam is soft too. I tried pulling the foam out of the tips thinking the tips would be a choking hazard, but the tips actually seem to be sewed onto the foam . They aint comin' off.

I think if you bought one for your DS he'll of course shoot it at his sister (because it's more fun shooting a person than an inanimate object ;) )but it won't be long before it bores him.

[lmwbasye]

Hmmm...no advice since I could have written your post exactly. DS has his 6 birthday coming up and Christmas, of course, and desperately wants one. We've never allowed "weapons" here but I can feel DH and I starting to back down on this. Especially since Daddy is a soldier and Liam has watched videos of him shooting...I'm sure he's more wanting to emulate that than anything.

[niccig]

DS shot a bullet into his eye - he was trying to load it and had the gun on the couch facing him as he was trying to do something with the gun. I took him to the optometrist to check his eye out. He was fine. I did confiscate the gun for a while - he was too young to cock the gun by himself. I think he would be fine now at nearly 6. I agree with the no shooting at heads rule. A friend has a no shooting at people rule.

[ThreeofUs]

We have had no injuries with 2 nerf suction-dart guns. We have two strict rules: no shooting in the house and no shooting toward anyone, including pets. (We figured wild animals were too wary and too fast to get hit.)

Once the kids realized we were serious about these rules, and that they would be watching their brother use the gun while theirs was taken away, they policed themselves (mostly :rolleye0014:).

[kochh2]

Hey :) A. has a few-- Santa brought him two that were on the very small side last year, and the live in the outside toys box. He knows they can't be used indoors, and we purposefully bought him two to ensure that it is a two person, willing participant type of game. does he try to shoot Lil?? of course, but she laughs, and they make it like a fun game, not the shoot and die type of mindset... more like a "tag"... we keep them stored in an old gift bag, so the bullets stay contained...no injuries, but i highly prefer the small ones to the monster blaster he got from a friend for recent b-day... too hard for him to load, etc... the simpler, the better... still gets the effect without the major hassle that comes with too many moving parts!!!

[willow33]

No injuries and my boys love them! Not sure if you have a dog, but my dog LOVES to eat the darts. She's obsessed with them. We now have a rule that they can only play with them outside or in the basement when the dog is not around.

[mamicka]

We received one set as a gift. It was a target set with 2 guns - each gun had 4 "bullets". I'm not opposed to guns as toys & am very pro-gun-rights. But - I was horrified by how realistic they were. They were disposed of in short order.

We have one that shoots balls & that one doesn't bother me at all as long as its played with properly.

[Corie]

My son has quite a few of them. And we all love them. Sometimes we
have games throughout the house. We each get a gun and each team has
a flag to capture. You try to capture the other team's flag without getting
shot. It's fun!!
We do allow everyone to shoot at each other, just not the head.

[MelissaTC]

I am normally anti-gun but I have been known to make exceptions and nerf guns are one of them. No problems here and really, since it is not something that has been a part of his "playing", it is not something he normally goes for but does like to have it if that makes sense.

[brittone2]

Lots of good feedback. I really appreciate it!

He really, really wants one. I ordered some stomp rockets on amazon a few days ago (needed to get super saver shipping of course!) because I know he likes those and I suggested them as a bit of a compromise (my parents had a set over at their house for the kids to play with).

I'm reconsidering my initial thoughts on them. I know he'd really enjoy having them, although I'm not sure they'd get a ton of use. However, he'd probably be really convinced Santa brought them because surely mom would not :ROTFLMAO:

THis was the first year he had a huge supersoaker gun. I guess the nerf gun isn't that far of a stretch from there.

Lots of great points to consider. I thank you all!