This X-Mas, a farewell to arms

Delhi records a dip in the sale of toy guns after the Gurgaon shooting case recently, reports Veenu Sandhu.

This Christmas, one particular toy — the gun — will not find a place in Santa’s gift bag. After the shooting in a Gurgaon school on December 11, in which two students killed a classmate with a pistol, several parents are choosing not to buy toy guns for their kids.

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“Sales of toy guns have dipped after the Gurgaon incident. There are few takers for the gun now,” says Surinder Singh of China Bazar, a toyshop in Lajpat Nagar. “As it is, Indian parents are not happy buying guns for their children,” adds Rakesh Gupta of Gift Palace, Khan Market. Even so, some three or four guns were being bought from his shop every week — until the shocking incident took place. “For the last one week, there has been no query for the toy,” says Gupta.

Nidhi Srivastava, mother of a nine-year-old boy, is not surprised. “Children are already exposed to too much violence — in the movies, on the streets, on cartoon channels and even at home. Violent toys only make them more aggressive,” she says. The gunning down of a student at Euro International School drove this point home in a tragic way, she adds.

Parents feel that toy guns that look very real — there’s also an AK-47 model for kids — can make it easier for children to get “used to” a real weapon. “Children insist on buying such guns, but parents are now discouraging them,” says Narain Dass of Toy Kingdom in Aurobindo Place.

Satish Sundra of Ram Chander and Sons — the country’s oldest toyshop — calls this aversion to guns “a passing phase”. “It will change as people forget about the incident,” he says. He also says that while the demand for guns is down, the same cannot be said for toys associated with aggression, like the Power Angels, the Bayblades, or the GI Joe, where GI stands for General Infantry. “These are not perceived to be overtly violent like the gun,” says Sundra.

Some shopkeepers have chosen not to stock toy guns at all. “It’s a conscious decision,” says Manu Gupta of Clown Town that has outlets in Karol Bagh and Rajouri Garden. “Children,” he adds, “need to be protected from violence — even through toys.”