How do frum kids know about guns?

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  • #1377677
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    How do the majority of FFB kids, who B”H have never seen or been exposed to guns in real life, learn about guns and other weapons?

    I’m guessing that I learned about guns on tv.

    Actually, maybe not. My neighbor used to go hunting with his dad, so I could have learned about guns from them (I don’t know what came first, and even in 1st grade, my class (or was it Girl Scout troop?) visited a police station and met a police officer.)

    Also… recently I saw a Jewish calendar, featuring an advertisement for a gun range. If I had kida, then I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable hanging it up. It seemed out of place, but that’s not my call.

    In summary, where do many frum kids learn about guns?

    Thank you ☺

    #1377723
    Joseph
    Participant

    The extent of most frum kids gun knowledge is water guns and Purim toy guns.

    #1377727
    CTLAWYER
    Participant

    Lightbrite
    I learned about guns in summer camp
    We had a head counselor who spent WWII in the Polish woods fighting with the partisans against the Germans. He felt it was important that all Jews know how to defend themselves.

    I haven’t touched a gun in almost 50 years and that’s fine with me.

    My eldest sisters in-laws grew up in the Yishuv during the 1930s. They both were in the Haganah and taught their sons how to shoot and care for guns.

    #1377728
    WinnieThePooh
    Participant

    My kids have seen more real guns in real life on security guards, policemen, soldiers. On the other hand, they don’t watch TV.
    Even though I discouraged guns as toys, somehow, boys will be boys and they will play “cops N robber” and improvise a gun. And they gravitate to the Playmobil police sets, guns and all. Oh well. At least they think of guns as something to protect you, not hurt you.

    #1377737
    Curiosity
    Participant

    As someone who has been around guns for his entire adult life, I can’t understand the “in-town” frum crowd’s phobia of guns. Perhaps it’s a result of growing up in the hyper-liberal, anti-gun New York. Wouldn’t you rather your kids learn to have a healthy respect for guns and learn how to treat them responsibly & safely from someone truly knowledgeable, as opposed to learning about them from Hollywood and pop culture, which frequently glorify violence and spread lots of potentially dangerous myths and false information about firearms? I’m not saying frum families MUST own firearms, but it’s ignorant to stick your head in the sand and assume that a child who encounters one in a an unfortunate scenario when an adult isn’t present will know how to react safely. You (hopefully) teach your children how to react to strangers, how to cross the street, and what to do if they find a sharp object, don’t you? What is the taboo with firearms that makes many frum people hush hush about the topic around their kids? It’s almost as if recognizing the existence of guns will turn children intro murderous thugs… It won’t.

    #1377740
    ubiquitin
    Participant

    Idont really understand the question

    As a Kid I didn’t know much about guns. I knew they existed, Police officers dont exactly hide them. My PArsha coloring book had Eisav, Paroh etc carrying guns.

    As far as I was concerned they werent for yidden, I wasnt allowed to even play with water gun or cap guns on Purim, but I knew they existed.

    “It seemed out of place, but that’s not my call.”

    It is 100% your call what to hang up in your home

    #1377754
    GAON
    Participant

    The Talmud in mesechet Shabbos discusses if wearing a sword is considered carrying, as many were wearing it as a tachshit and is rather part of dressing. The Gemara concludes that the Navi says לא ישא גוי אל גוי חרב.. so a weapon is not for a Jew to wear or glorify and is thus considered as carrying.
    On the other hand, if you live or even go anywhere in Israel, you can’t miss chayalim with their guns..

    #1377853
    Gadolhadorah
    Participant

    Unless you’ve kept your kids hidden and locked away in the basement for 15 years (and you are guilty of child abuse) any normal frum kid would see guns on the street every day while walking to and from school (police, security guards etc.), on the media, in play guns they are given and in school while studying history or any subject in which modern warfare is addressed. Otherwise, its a great question.

    #1377927
    Curiosity
    Participant

    “Gaon” there is a big difference between wearing a dagger/sword for ornament as many Arabian citizens still do, and carrying a tool for self defense.

    #1377958
    akuperma
    Participant

    Frum kids tend to know little about actual firearms, at least in the United States. Most goyim learn about guns by learning to hunt, but of course we never do since that would treff the animal. There are only a handful of frum Boy Scout troops, which is another place to learn about guns. Few frum Jews serve in the military outside of Israel which reduces interest in firearms. Target shooting is not a popular sport in urban areas. Obviously frum Jews frequently see guns in the USA since the police routinely carry firearms.

    #1377993
    mentsch1
    Participant

    There are several nice gun ranges in Lakewood, NJ
    There are always frum yidden there, of every stripe
    It’s not unusual for me to see white shirted fathers with lange beards with long skirted daughters on a chol hamoed trip

    #1378027
    DWKL1
    Participant

    How do the majority of FFB kids, who B”H have never seen or been exposed to guns in real life, learn about guns and other weapons?
    same way your on the internet though your frum . why do you wonder and question others ?start at home!!

    #1378112
    Gadolhadorah
    Participant

    Also, many shuls sadly now have armed security (typically off-duty police officers from a local jurisdictions). I’ve discovered that having these police stationed at shuls offers an opportunity for close (one on one) informal interaction with the daveners and their kids which typically does not arise in normal street situations.

    #1378121
    NOYB
    Participant

    In my OOT community, many frum people own guns. I is really not uncommon. There is even a jewish gun club. Also, from the ads I have seen in recent years it seems that it is becoming a common thing for people in the tri state area to go to shooting ranges for chol hamoed trips or during vacation.

    #1378129

    My Parsha coloring book had Eisav, Paroh etc carrying guns.

    You’ve got to wonder who comes up with that sort of thing.

    #1378175
    GAON
    Participant

    Curiosity,
    No one is doubting carrying arms as in “self defense”, the issue at hand is if Jewish kids should be wearing it as for being ‘cool’.
    From the Gemarah it seems that arms is not something to wear as an ornament.

    #1378263
    NOYB
    Participant

    I see frum people at the range all the time

    #1378304
    Curiosity
    Participant

    Gaon, who in their right mind was advocating for kids to pack heat as a fashion accessory?! Where in the conversation did this become “the issue at hand”?

    #1378349
    The little I know
    Participant

    Guns? You’re worried that they know about guns? There’s a lot of information that is so inappropriate for frum kids to know, or have been exposed to. This is the least of the battles, now that we are well into the information age. Our children are not confined to cocoons, and there is more than enough that is challenging that is endemic to our homes and communities. One does not need a smartphone to know about a whole lot of stuff.

    I find this question comical and primitive.

    In reality, we cannot successfully shield our kids from everything without actually suffocating them. Our responsibility, once we have done our best to fulfill the mitzvah of והי’ מחניך קדוש, is to build our children’s cheshek to want the derech of Torah and Yir’as Shomayim. Sadly, this is not very popular. Even the מחנה stuff is not faring well either. But we are at least obsessed with it.

    #1378351
    Sadigurarebbe
    Participant

    From seeing the police officers and then holding the guns when we went to EY and took pictures with the tziyoni soldiers.

    #1378382
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    I was just wondering if and how frum children learn about guns.

    Now that I’ve read more posts, I realize that I meant “American frum kids,” because I forgot that, at least for frum kids living in Israel, some children see guns on their nation’s soldiers on a regular basis.

    It’s okay to ask questions! You’re funny *The Little That I Know* – you can learn more, if you’re open to asking more questions… even if some criticize you for it; and you’ll see that when they do, it’s not about you! 🙂

    Thanks again everyone 🙂

    #1378387
    Gadolhadorah
    Participant

    To I Know Little

    You say there is lots of other stuff worse than guns than kids should know about. Perhaps you have a different philosophy but some of us believe its better to empower our kids with age appropriate information on subjects we wish they never would encounter but know they will . As you correctly note, kids today cannot be kept locked away in some “safe room” with no exposure to all sorts of pritzus and painful images. Do you think its worse for them to see fundraising pashkavelim with pictures of starving children or elderly begging for tzadakah outside of the shul or beis medrash than girls dressed in less than tziniusdik outfits on 13th avenue on a warm Shabbos afternoon or a gay couple holding hands on Eastern Parkway? Giving them the information how daas torah deals with these “inappropriate” issues and visuals is much better than keeping than in the dark and forcing them to confront these issues with no understanding or prior discussion.

    #1378406
    mw13
    Participant

    How do frum kids know about guns?

    Internet & Israel

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