Supersoaking our future

An open letter to the editor of the Lantern:

Last week when I was at the library looking for books on patchwork quilts, I saw something truly distressing: our local library is planning to hold a beach day that features squirt guns for children to play with. It is honestly appalling that a library would sanction such a dangerous and damaging activity. Now, I understand that some readers may not be educated on squirt gun violence in our country, so I will do my best to explain.

When Apple first updated its pistol emoji to a squirt gun in 2016, the effect was immediate. Cases of squirt gun violence since the change increased dramatically, resulting in the cognitive distress of toddlers and young children across the county. As older siblings and jerk neighbor kids took up arms against the younger generation, the smaller children were forced inside behind the safety of Sesame Street and Clifford the Big Red Dog. 

However, the violence outside only escalated as older children realized that their easy targets had retreated to safety. With no more defenseless five-year-olds on bikes to squirt, the children began to turn their nozzles on each other. Reports of squirt gun gang wars have been growing over the past several years, with a noticeable spike during the summer months. But the most troubling part of this is that the majority of children describe these events as fun. 

“Fun” should not be the word used to describe childhood conflict that upsets the dynamics of neighborhood friendships and results in muddy clothing and bruised knees. Furthermore, the fact that adolescents find shooting at their peers to be amusing should be worrisome at least and cause for therapy at worst.

The continued appropriation of squirt guns being a safe and fun means of activity is an epidemic in America today. Not only are they damaging in the first place, but they help further the continued cycle of gun violence in our country. I only hope that our local library would rethink the activities they have been scheduling and planning, and take more time to be educated on today’s issues before making such a drastic mistake again.

Sincerely,

Mrs.