Gun noises are noises, and I think a librarian is always on solid ground when she objects to noises. I’m not sure it’s necessary to make a big deal out of the fact that the gun noises are GUN noises, because children see guns in a fantasy context that has little to do with the way adults see guns. We adults know about gun violence in America: We’re freaked out, and we should be. But for children, the fantasy of having a gun is the fantasy of having power—particularly the kind of power that immediately eliminates danger and vulnerability. If you’re scared by an imaginary enemy (a Bad Guy) you don’t have to stay scared, because you (the Good Guy) can whip out your imaginary gun and shoot him. Problem solved! What a relief! I don’t think children imagine the pain, or the burns, or the funerals. It’s the adults who know about the funerals—and the statistics.

It seems to me that little boys are more susceptible to gun fantasies than little girls are. I don’t know whether that’s because boys are more sensitive than girls and therefore more frightened, or whether there’s an atavistic thing going on. In all societies I know of, men have been the primary wielders of weapons. Woven into the boy’s fantasy about a gun is the idea that he is a formidable masculine creature, and I think we female librarians shouldn’t play into this by acting too freaked out and solemn when a boy points his finger and makes the remarkably annoying explosive noises that little boys make. As far as I’m concerned, gun noises are noises, Playground Voice Noises. They don’t belong in a place that is sacred to reading. When children are chasing around playing gun games, I tell them to stop—but I don’t think it’s necessary to have a Solemn Talk every time a child blasts off.

I also think it’s important to remember that children have to play. And children’s play often involves dramatizing things that are dangerous or forbidden or scatological or anarchistic—ask the Opies. I believe that children know when they are playing. And I am sure that Betsy’s son is well aware that his piece of uncooked spaghetti is not loaded.

Elless, commenting on Betsy Bird’s post “Gunning for Your Children: When Picture Book Classics Pack Heat.” blogs.slj.com/afuse8production.