Just fill the catapult with one or more cupids, pull the trigger, and aim at the person of your dreams!

February 4, 2005 8:47 PM

Just fill the catapult with one or more cupids, pull the trigger, and aim at the person of your dreams! This "love gun" alarms me, but maybe I overreact as a parent about my kid's exposure to violence. Is this just a harmless novelty, or a disturbing example of how desensitized we are to guns? At least it's for kids over 3.
posted by margarita (23 comments total)

I don't think exposing children to pretend violence and weapons is harmful, as long as they are taught about the reality. Me and my friends spent at least half our childhoods playing as soldiers, ninjas, warriors, etc., with toy guns and imaginary guns and other 'weapons' (and most of the other half playing violent video games.) We didn't end up violent or desensitized to real weapons or human suffering because our parents taught us to differentiate between imagination and reality.

Also, it's important to remember that violence and weaponry is a unfortunate but real part of life, and being too sensitive could compromise your reactions and chance of survival in a combat situation.

From my experiences, the people who end up violent are the ones who are exposed to real violence (either at home or away) and the ones who have parents who advocate real violence.
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:05 PM on February 4, 2005

I vote for "Harmless Novelty". This comes in other versions- a "Chicken Chucker", with little rubber-chicken-looking ammunition, and a "Cat-a-pult", with lil' cats. It's on par with a rubber band gun, IMHO. Part of the reason I say this is the color- It's quite clearly not "Gun-looking", what with the yellow and red, and the action is more of a flipping motion.
Desensitization to violence is an issue one should be concerned with as a parent, and also as a citizen- but this is cute. Toy guns that look like this might be a little different, though it's more of an issue that relates to potential harm coming from looking realistic; police make mistakes.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:09 PM on February 4, 2005

Cupid has a bow. And arrows.

But then again, apparently Cherubim aren't cute little babies with wings, either.
posted by loquacious at 10:06 PM on February 4, 2005

It's a harmless novelty.
posted by bingo at 10:47 PM on February 4, 2005

Great link, thanks...
posted by Onanist at 10:56 PM on February 4, 2005

This gun's bullets will only pierce the flesh of your true love!
posted by buriednexttoyou at 11:10 PM on February 4, 2005

Alas, I had opened this thread intending to post a surprisingly relevant comic, but it seems that I have missed my opportunity.

Well played, buriednexttoyou, well played.
posted by Fourmyle at 11:41 PM on February 4, 2005

I gave my dad one of these for christmas, except it was a pig catapult, and had a supply of little plastic pigs.

You could seriously scratch a retna with one of those!!

But I've given him a real gun before, so I doubt he'll use the pig catapult to hold up a liquor store..

(Marlin Pappoose .22 breakdown for backpacking..)
posted by Balisong at 11:41 PM on February 4, 2005

Is this just a harmless novelty, or a disturbing example of how desensitized we are to guns? At least it's for kids over 3.

I guess we could just teach the kiddies to throw the cherubs at us for love...
posted by Balisong at 11:44 PM on February 4, 2005

I'm gonna pop a cap in your sweet, sweet heart-shaped ass.
posted by sourwookie at 11:48 PM on February 4, 2005

Sourwookie,

Suppose your parents took the cupid gun away...

I'm gonna pop a cap in your sweet, sweet heart-shaped ass.

With what, SPITWADS? :)
posted by bugmuncher at 12:53 AM on February 5, 2005

Didn't KISS write a song about this thing? Or did I miss the metaphor?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:24 AM on February 5, 2005

This is awesome. My fiance saw the "Pig Launcher" version in a store on a Trip and went totally bonkers over it! She thought it was so absurd and funny she got one as a gift for her best friend.
posted by zwemer at 5:50 AM on February 5, 2005

I just heard on the news that a woman was arrested for burning her child with an iron. Should we view a kid's toy iron as a disturbing example of how desensitized we are to irons?

I grew up getting new cowboy cap pistols and army gear for Christmas every year. My friends and I spent hundreds of summer vacations chasing each other around shooting one another. Fifty years later, none of us have turned into serial murderers.

But we were taught that there was a difference between real and pretend, that violence was only used by the good guys as a last resort in self defense, and there was a difference between right and wrong.

Somehow it seems those things have gotten lost along the way.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 6:36 AM on February 5, 2005

How long have water pistols been around? At least since I was a kid, and I'm an old bastard.
posted by psmealey at 6:53 AM on February 5, 2005

I notice the weapon is hot pink and mauve, which is alarming--another example of how desensitized we've become to hot pink and mauve.
posted by jfuller at 6:56 AM on February 5, 2005

Smedlyman: Were you perhaps thinking of Spinal Tap?


My love gun's loaded and she's in my sights
Big game is waiting there inside her tights
posted by sourwookie at 7:09 AM on February 5, 2005

My friends and I used to hunt each other with bb guns in the woods by my house. I was in Melee & SCA (where you hit your friends with padded or rattan swords). I was even on the football team for a year. Now, as an adult, I wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose without serious just cause (self defense). I don't think that exposure to play violence is the cause of real world violence (although I'm lucky I never lost an eye).
posted by password at 7:09 AM on February 5, 2005

I got one of these for Christmas, but it shoots tiny pigs.

Thank God for ebay.
posted by IndigoJones at 9:41 AM on February 5, 2005

> I got one of these for Christmas, but it shoots tiny pigs.

Don't use this on Valentine's day, who knows what you might bring home.
posted by jfuller at 1:38 PM on February 5, 2005

jfuller-

Sound advice, thank you. Fortunately, I'm married.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:16 PM on February 5, 2005

Oh sure, one kid will shoot a same sex friend with one of these and the FRC will have a hissy fit.
posted by ElvisJesus at 8:10 PM on February 5, 2005

No, Smedlyman's got it right - it was the title track off their 6th or 7th album.
posted by davelog at 7:56 AM on February 6, 2005