YFF: Belizeans Want Toy Guns Banned


In August of last year, Youth for the Future launched a campaign to ban the sale of toy guns. They've held high school debates, toy gun drives, and consultations and now the report is in. Today Youth for the Future released the findings of its national anti-imitation gun survey. Four hundred people, a majority of them youths were polled, and, no surprise here, YFF's Director Linsford Castillo says that by a landslide, Belizeans want toy guns banned.

Linsford Castillo, Director - YFF
"The consensus is that the Belizean public feels that we should ban the importation of toy guns in the country. In fact percentage wise, from the sample size that we interviewed as mentioned earlier, almost 88% of those that we interviewed are saying we should ban the sale of toy guns. Most interestingly too, from what we found out, is that out of the amount of respondents interviewed, we came up with a direct linkage between persons who are exposed to toy guns and those who eventually ended up owning a real gun or possess or come in contact with a real gun. So all that is given in detail in the report and that is basically what we wanted to make public today."

Keith Swift,
So what now?

Linsford Castillo,
"The next step for us and what we did this morning is that we invited the Attorney General's office specifically to present the findings to them so that the next step forward is that some sort of legislation would be enacted where at the end of the day it would be basically illegal to import toy guns into the country through our various ports."

Technical assistance for the survey was provided by the University of Belize.

Have any children with toy guns been shot or killed in Belize.

I know of several that have been killed in Northern Island.

I support the no toy gun ideal. We get toy guns put in our Christmas donations here and always remove them. Strangely a Christian group sent down alot of toys for the kids here and also alot of toy guns, what were they thinking!!!!!

This 'toy' debate has gone on for years and will continue to go on for more. Personally imo, a ban on any kind of toys is really dumb. Kids will be kids. They will pick up sticks, point fingers etc. and say "bang bang". What are you going to do then? Cut off their fingers?

Owning a gun/weapon is not a bad thing, it's the person that uses it wrong that is dangerous, not the weapon. Responsible people don't abuse them....... TEACH children that they are a dangerous weapon.......EDUCATE.

I was raised with a whole closet full of weapons in our house. My family deer, elk, bird hunted so we had many different weapons. I also was taught that my ass would be beat to a bloody pulp if i EVERY went into that room without supervision and the weapons were NEVER to be touched without an adult.

I respect them to this day. And yes, I do own weapons and would not hesitate to use them should the need arise. The more you restrict something the more something is wanted.

I too had guns everywhere when I lived in Montana no big deal. A child will play with a soccer ball if he has one, or a gun if he has one. I think a ban on toy guns in the stores is a bit unrealistic, but as adults the wiser decision is the soccer ball!!

I am not against guns or toy guns it is not the gun that kills.

I played with toy guns and was trained by the best with real guns.

I think the point is there are more real guns on the street now and you can not tell if the one they have is real or a toy, so you shoot first and some one could die.

Can you not bring 100 footballs so we can teach them to play together and not shoot each other.

Quite a few kids have been shot dead by police when they were brandishing replica guns (calling them "toy" can be severely misleading) and the police couldn't tell the difference, and this will continue to happen.

I have mixed feelings over the American tradition of private ownership of firearms (fundamentally I'm agin it) but I don't see how any rational adult can want to encourage kids to take up guns. Perhaps this is the same logic as used by the shop that supplied the recent campus gunman, who said "they wished they had supplied more guns to the other kids so they could have defended themselves". Do the KVarners of this world really want a bloodbath round every street corner? What is his view on knives, now used to commit more than half of the murders in the UK?

Like Inplub I have used many guns in my time and for a while had a personal pistol, but at best I regard them as a necessary evil.

I was brought up around guns, taught at an early age to shoot accurately, to break a gun down, clean it, inspect it, and put it back together. I HATE GUNS. Dad was an American Indian, who only hunted for food, asked forgiveness of everything before he shot it, the family ate every possible part of the slain animal, and I still HATE GUNS. People like KVarner use guns as extensions to their penises, thinking he's not a man without a huge one. Give me a man who can be gentle, loving of every creature, who would rather discuss at length rather than shoot to solve problems, and I'm turned on to the max. Show me a guy who thinks guns are the answer to the problems, and I'm outraged. This is my opinion, and we are all entitled on one, so if you don't agree, tough. I allowed my son to have toy guns as a kid, and now he has his favorite pieces, but they aren't hand guns, they aren't assault weapons. They are shotguns used just for hunting. Please don't send guns to San Pedro. Nothing good will come out of it. Those kids are just as happy playing ball, and they don't need the exposure to things that have the potential of changing the island way of life.

my dad & males in the family hunted a lot and i with him. i was a very small kid and the guns hurt my arm (shotguns) and shoulder so i never shot. they scare the heck out of me. very powerful. subject to accident. bestows godlike powers on anyone who holds em in a threatening fashion. shudder.

above my pay grade to say who gets em. but whichever tribe had em as the white man took over controlled the land and all the people on it, til the white man took it himself. strong medicine.

Very true, Marty. Guns beget misplaced power, and usually, no good comes out of them. We are still reeling from the horrific VATECH shootings, in our back yard, and the thought of guns in the hands of the ignorant scares the bejeezies out of me.

Belize City and Montana are a bit different. Can we agree on that? Folks don't usually hunt for food in BC. On the other hand, people are murdered on a daily basis, mainly by pistols, here in our financial capital. So a gun, here in Belize, is a killing tool. Tools used by criminals and citizens a like, criminals for crimes including murder and citizens for self-defense. I see nothing childlike about it besides promoting the use and acceptance of guns and violence in our culture. Good move YFF. These folks know a bit more about Belize than must of us on the forum. Right on!

In other news, the have banned toy rocks in Lebanon.

SIN

I really think Chris Rock had the absolute best rememedy for gun ownership. Make bullets cost $5000 a piece! Only use em' when really needed. But that wouldn't make the gun and ammunition companies any money and then where would all that lobby and compaign money come from?

A very sad article, SIN. I know several people who belong to the NRA, and now, after this tragedy, continue to support the second amendment. They seem to think that if the students were armed, this guy would have been taken down long before he completed his rampage. But, there is also the chance of "What do you mean I got a D on this test?"...BOOM. It really saddens me, these people who think they need a gun to function. I so hate guns, even though my hubby is retired law enforcement, and we have his police issue gun in the house, there are NO bullets. We do have a shotgun, it's an antique, and I doubt it would shoot. I pray for those who lost their loved ones, and I hope this NEVER happens again, anywhere. I also pray that no one brings guns, toy or otherwise, to San Pedro, and tarnishes these beautiful childrens ideas of how you achieve power. Better with education, physical effort, than with guns.

The guns I was referring to were for hunting, I lived near Glacier Park, and I dont like to hunt, dont like to kill anything, but went on alot of hunting camping trips, made me sad. It was the way of life, the meat was always eaten. I would much rather play soccer. Guns in the city, guns kept for protection and kept loaded seem much more dangerous, at least to humans.

Hunting for food, if necessary to survive, is totally understandable. I happened upon a deer last year (I love to walk in the woods) and this poor creature had been decapitated, and the rest of his body left for the vultures. I imagine it was a regal buck, with a beautiful head, but some macho man or woman decided it would look better on their wall than on the animals neck. The least they could have done is donate the meat to the homeless shelter, who take in and feed our less fortunate. What a terrible waste. And, since there are NO game animals on AC, importing guns seems to be more to acquire power than to feed your family.
KVarner, I don't know you, I hope I'm misreading you, and the thngs you say are "tongue in cheek" humor. But, if you truly are this kind of person, I hope you stay far, far away from the children of San Pedro.

from: http://www.goambergriscaye.com/flor.html


The northern end of Ambergris Caye is also home to many other terrestrial wildlife such as peccaries, racoons and white-tailed deer. Some locals have even reported seeing jaguars!

It's wonderful that there is wildlife, four legged kind, that is, on the island. It would be a shame to have them killed off. Let's try to keep them safe as long as possible.

Just to comment on the original topic. Banning toy guns is an excellent idea. Why sensationalize guns for the kids? Don't they get enough of that from television? If they are not playing 'Shoot your best friend' when they are 5, they might actually have a healthier respect for the real thing when they are grown and see their first real gun. You wouldn't give your child a toy crack pipe would you? Of course if you ban toy guns, the next step would be to ban violent video games, and that just ain't going to happen.

I also believe that guns don't kill people, people kill people. And if you keep a gun in the house you need to teach your child how to use and respect it (that it is not a toy).

Just my 3 cents.

Being of the age I am, I would not allow my sons to play with guns when they were growing up. So, they made guns out of sticks, tinker toys and the list goes on. They were male and I had to get over it. Then the video games started, I was not crazy about them either as they had a lot of shoting in them as well. I put a time limit per day on them. They are now grown men and frankly they don't tote guns and shoot people. Looking back I think I was silly about their not having toy guns. Still think limiting the video games is a good idea.

I agree with you, Indy. Boys will by boys, and God love them. When they get to be teenagers, and still want to play with guns, but don't go hunting, I think there is something wrong. As for the video games, I do think there should be a limit on the violence that our kids are exposed to. But, in defense of these video games, most of the best "top gun" pilots grew up with the video games, and it helped manifest top knotch dexterity on the controls of the airplanes and helicopters. So, I guess it's not all bad. I also think (jmho) that a parent needs to be aware of how their child reacts to these games. Are they going for the highest score? or just killing things? People need to be involved with their kids so they will recognize troubled areas. Granted, not always possible, but sure would help matters some, I'd think.

I do not think you are silly my wife did not let are children have toy guns.

I ask my son would you like toy guns or a paint set they ask for the paint set. All my little son wanted was a train set.

Both play video game and all they want to do is get the highist score