Shoppers to sellers: Stop violent toys
Attention toy suppliers and manufacturers. My friend and I were assigned the duties of shopping for Christmas toys for a 9-year-old boy.
Be aware that we will not buy anything that gives a blatant message of violence – no video games, no guns, no swords, no tanks, nothing!
In light of the violence the world is experiencing today, we can no longer assume that children are able to distinguish the difference between toys, games, make believe and aggressive, senseless acts of violence to innocent real, live people.
Although we grew up with guns as household items, they came complete with dad’s and mom’s training and the requisite safety lessons that must be mastered before they could even be taken out of the gun rack.
We recommend you send all of your creators to “imagination school” and have them develop nonviolent, fun toys that we can buy for our young people – because, we assure you, we will not spend one more cent on any toy that blatantly promotes violence.
Sue Coggins, Fresno
This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 9:12 AM with the headline "Shoppers to sellers: Stop violent toys."