Schoolboy Kai Agyepong

• THE experience of the family held at gunpoint by the police after a youngster was seen with what turned out to be a toy gun sounds dreadful, (Boy, 12, arrested by armed police over toy gun, July 23).

Whatever combination of misjudgment, wrong procedures, bad training, prejudice – or anything else – that might have led to it, there must surely be lessons to learn, (Met police is accused of ‘lack of empathy’ over its response to armed arrest of boy with toy gun, July 30).

And your newspapers are to be congratulated for its detailed coverage of the story for the last two weeks; it was clearly the initial report which led to other news outlets taking up the story, thus making it more likely that concern over the incident won’t be brushed aside.

However, there’s another issue that concerns me, which I haven’t seen talked about following this incident. Namely, in a world where violence is so prevalent and often casual, is it still appropriate for children to be allowed to play with toy guns?

Weapons are – literally – deadly serious. That’s what they’re designed to be.

Youngsters growing up playing any sort of games involving war or violence – whether with physical toys or electronically – are bound to end up desensitised to the idea of the use of force.

Wouldn’t we rather they grew up instinctively shunning and abhorring such things and automatically recoiling from them rather than embracing them as something that can be playful?

ALBERT BEALE
Little Russell Street, WC1