Town Causes Outrage By Offering Kids New Presents If They Swap Out Their Toy Guns

The Village of Hempstead is offering to replace any toy guns kids received this Christmas with a different, non-gun toy. Kids can swap their water pistols, replica guns and other imitation weapons for sporting goods or educational toys.

The Mayor explained the need for the program:

"Saying no to guns is important - even toy guns."

Former NYPD officer Sean Acosta started the program and bought the toys for the swap.

Though they may just seem like fun toys, Lieutenant Derek Warner with the Hempstead Village Police Department warns that parents could put their kids lives at risk with the toys:

"Toy guns can be a dangerous item to give your children."

He says that it's easy for police to mistake toy guns as real guns at night or in poorly lit areas.

Facebook user Kelly Muldoon says that the program is training kids to give up their rights. She was far from alone in thinking this was not a positive program. Others chimed in suggesting parents should use the toy guns to teach proper gun safety.

Some argued that toy guns were essential to teaching gun safety. If they learn about then at a young age, they'll apparently be better equipped to handle them as adults.

Facebook user Aurora Rigdon took a more hilarious route to "criticize" the program: "You can pry my nerf gun out of my cold dead hands."

This commenter argues that toy guns can be dangerous because they do not teach kids to respect firearms. Instead, they toys can teach kids that shooting things is a fun game. Seems reasonable.

While some argued that the toys were essential to proper gun safety, others were adamant that to play with toy guns would lead to a lack of respect for life.

One user argued that children just aren't emotionally or mentally equipped to handle guns, even toy ones. Pointing them at people's faces is the first impulse, and that's not one that you want to foster.

Many people agreed with Karie Green, who argued that she wasn't anti-gun. She just didn't believe that putting toy guns in the hands of impressionable kids was the best way to get the "correct message across."