I played with cap guns too, but here's something I mull over every time I read that a child picked up a gun and shot it, usually with tragic results.

1. Child gets play gun. Learns how it works, accepts that it's for kids to handle.

2. Child finds real gun. Picks it up, fools with it, it goes off.

By way of contrast, if an adult leaves the electric mixer around, does a child pick it up and play with it? No. Because an electric mixer has never been a toy.