What does this photo say to you?

EDITORIAL: What does this photo say to you? How does it make you feel? I’ve been holding onto it for some time now, unsure what to say, but knowing that it’s just wrong. Now I feel it’s time to say something.

I was driving my 4-year-old son and his mom back from some kid’s birthday party at McDonald’s this summer when he reached into the goodie bag he got and pulled out a small green water pistol.

His mom turned and tried to tell him to put it back in the bag.

Then he pointed it at the base of her skull and said, “Get out. No girls allowed in this car.”

The explosion of emotion in my head nearly burst into a Denis Leary “Rescue Me” eruption: “Where’d you see THAT???!”

Jerry DeMarco Publisher/Editor

But I watched his mom. And despite the horror spread across her face, she quietly but firmly explained that people do not do that. Only policemen carry guns. They’re the only ones allowed to.

“But I saw people with guns on TV.”

Yes, we don’t drop safes on people walking down the street. And we don’t tie a rope from an anvil to our ankle and toss it over a cliff.

But the “third wall” seems to have turned to tissue paper. The lines between fact and "Charlie's Angels"-type fiction are blurred (thank you, “reality” TV).

Sure, we can’t control what they hear or see 24/7. But when they’re with us, we can at least display the kind of behavior we would hope they’d emulate.

If mami is throwing gang signs, or posting Facebook pics of the kids in gun-holding poses, do the kids see it as a matter of degree? Do they catch the irony, the nuance?

If we have to explain that it’s just adults mocking a lifestyle they’ll never approach, goofing on themselves in their comfortable homes -- with their leafy green trees, quiet streets and swimming pools -- aren’t we building a complicated structure instead of providing simple guidance?

Am I overreacting? Do kids today play soldier, or James Bond, or “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” (I know: dating myself), the way we did, understanding that the plastic bullets and the rubber knives are toys designed to be played with, while the real thing should be avoided -- unless properly supervised, and at an age of understanding, for hunting or target shooting?

In the end, shouldn’t we be the best role models we can be? Shouldn’t we consider our words and deeds, especially in a world where no image sent into cyberspace ever truly disappears?

Someday, these kids -- and others -- will look at this photo. Will all of them continue through life unaffected, as if they‘d just seen a "goof" on an old TV series? Or, just maybe, could a subtle subconscious seed be planted, one that someday leads to terrible heartbreak?

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Gina Gaffney said:

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I've been torn about this kind of stuff lately. I understand that kids, particularly boys, will pretend to be cops, soldiers, and even bad guys; however, I don't know if they really GET it. My son, about to turn 8 this weekend, understands that guns kill but does he truly understand that there is no coming back from death? He drew a picture the other day of two guys (probably Star Wars or some other movie characters). One of them was saying "Be scared" and was holding a sword (maybe a light saber?). The other one had his hands at his sides and the center of his chest was colored red (to indicate blood, I suppose). Of course, we talked about the pic. Of course, his response to me was basically "Yeah, duh." I know that we saw plenty of violent movies/TV as kids, but I'm not convinced it's the same these days.