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MIL has Nerf dart guns, I don't love it but it's not worth fighting over so I let it slide

Yes we do - nerf and water guns. He even makes his own guns out of stuff. I am fine with it and so is DH.
There are rules :
*you never look down a barrel of a gun
*you never point the gun at someone, only at targets
* If you get mad and tell me "I'm gonna shoot you" gun is taken away

I'd probably be okay with a water gun. A more realistic looking one... no.

We had small squirt guns in his water table last summer.

What an awesome thread ... This is something I've literally given no thought to (my LO is just 1), but I think it's important.

We will allow squirt guns and nerf guns (because, this is AMERICA!, LOL). <- Just being cheeky ... I don't judge people who don't like them.

As far as realistic toy guns, meh, I don't think I'd buy them, but also wouldn't restrict if she was playing at a friend's home. I do love the idea of a set of rules for any toy resembling a gun.

I don't want to restrict imaginary play, because I think it's so SO important for kiddos. If there's a situation where I think a line has been crossed, I would offer a conversation about safety, etc. Every kid loves that, right?

@littlejoy: This is pretty much my exact answer, so I'll just piggyback onto your comment.

I don't think any relatives or friends of ours would give a toy gun as a gift (other than Nerf or SUPERSOAKERS!), but I don't think I would be upset and return it.

I'm okay with water guns since the objective then is to get someone wet, not to pretend you killed them.

I won't allow other toy guns in the house. But if they choose to pretend a stick is a gun, that's okay. As long as they don't point it at people. They can pretend play hunting all they want.

Water guns only, and even then only the really colorful plastic-y/foamy ones that don't really look like guns.

My son is 4. He has those sqirters with a plunger for our pool. He does not have anything that resembles a real gun of any kind and I do not intend to buy him one or let him play with one.

I want him to be educated on what an actual gun is though, and what it can do, so that he knows what to do if he is faced with seeing one. How we will do that, I don't know.

I am fine with toy guns in the house. Hunting is big in DH's family, even though DH no longer hunts himself. We plan on teaching our son at some point early on how to properly handle a gun. Until that point, we will mimic what @Mamaof2 rules!

Water guns and nerf guns are okay (bright, colorful, actually resembling a toy), anything else? Nope!! We were at a friends house last month and E picked up a toy gun...I wasn't a fan. I started talking to DS about guns since he was 4.

She's 2 and has water guns, and the rule is "you don't point them at people, pets, or yourself or it is automatically taken away."

Nerf guns I'm fine with, we will never have a realistic toy gun. We learn gun safety very early in our family (avid hunters) so LO will get the rules from the get go. I grew up around guns, and I knew better than to EVER touch them without my dad present. I even got a BB Gun as a gift when I was like 10, and I knew the rules, and I was a little shit So I know it's possible to instill how dangerous guns can be when mishandled.

@looch: Also struggling with this, and how to walk that line! I really hope DS will never be in that situation, but I realize that if I raise him to be always nice and non violent, one day he might need to defend himself or someone else, and he won't be able or willing to. This is not about guns specifically, but more about being threatened with any kind of violence and how to respond...

I have very strong opinions about guns and live in a city that is unfortunately plagued by gun violence. I'm hoping that will change as they get older. Anyway, I'm in the no toy gun or toys that resemble guns (including water guns) camp.

I didn't want guns at all, but DH advocated strongly, saying first that a boy will turn any item into a gun (true), and that he enjoyed playing guns with his brother. His mom bought J a nerf gun and I guess that's fine, I don't mind water guns either.

Absolutely. I believe that children need the opportunity to play and use their imaginations however they choose, and playing with guns is a part of that. That being said, I won't keep any fake guns around my house, most likely.

Water guns? Absolutely. That's just good fun. And, I'm still scarred from being raised by the type of 70s liberals who thought that playing with guns or war or anything 'violent' was just about the worst thing a child could do.

Not right now...too little. It's hard because society is so different than when my brothers and I were kids. They had rubber band guns, cap guns, plastic guns with the orange cap on the end. It was all fun and games. I don't see an issue with it as long as there are rules in place for playing with them.

No guns of any kind around here so far, not even "water squirters" as we like to call them.

I'm fine with water guns and nerf guns provided they aren't used to shoot at anyone. I don't want my kids playing with realistic toy guns, however. My husband is a real gun owner and hunter and we think that guns need to be treated with the upmost respect and responsibility and having toy guns just lying around doesn't jive with us.