Do you think children should be allowed to play with toy guns?

• Yes.
• No.

This is so hard to tell.

On one side, no. Kids should not learn to aim guns at people (which is what they'll do when they have one). Handling a gun must come with a feel of responsibility and playing is not that. Using a (fake or not) gun as a toy makes one feel about using the gun as something adventurous, imagine shooting people and having fun of it.

On the other side, if there are toy guns available and a kid sees it (and other kids playing with them) and starts craving for one... it's better to let him or her because else the above mentioned undesirable phenomena will only be strengthened.