Further up the thread Raparee wrote:

"I am currently reading "On Killing" by David Grossman (LTC, ret., ex-professor of history at West Point, and creditials both military and academic a mile long). In it he makes some DAMNED GOOD points about how we desensitize our children to violence."

A few weeks ago I saw a TV programme about British soldiers serving in Afghanistan (please note: I am not trying to make any points about the 'rights and wrongs' of that war here).

They interviewed a mother of one of the soldiers and told us, with a fond smile, about how he had always been "interested in guns" and how he had always asked for toy guns for his birthday and at Christmas and how it was inevitable that he would one day join the army (where, presumably, he could get to 'play' with 'real' guns).

This lad was subsequently killed in Kandahar province and his mother was, very naturally, distraught. I probably could not have brought myself to remind her that guns are designed solely to kill people with - particularly military weapons. Perhaps if someone had reminded her of that fact, before her son went off to war, she wouldn't now be grieving over his loss ...