During the Christmas of 1914[1], some French, British, and German soldiers along World War I’s Western Front informally ceased hostilities in order to celebrate the holiday. The truce offered the combatants a brief moment to celebrate their shared humanity amidst the otherwise ghastly conflict.
No such luck for Americans weary of the United States’ all-consuming[2] culture war. For anti-gun zealots, the Christmas season offers fresh opportunities to mold the next generation of obedient statists.
On December 13, the Village of Hempstead, N.Y. hosted the Long Island Toy Gun Exchange Program[3], modelled after so-called gun “buybacks”[4] that target real firearms. According to a report from local newspaper Newsday, each child received one politically correct toy in exchange “for whatever water pistols, Nerf guns and other toy guns they turn[ed] in.”
The toys for the turn-in were supplied by local businessman Sean Acosta, who made clear that the program is intended to influence impressionable children against firearm ownership at a young age, with the goal of shifting American public opinion against guns. As reported in the Newsday article,
“It has to start at a young age,” Acosta says of changing gun culture. “If we can get them to say, ‘It’s not cool to carry these toy guns,’ then maybe when they get older, they won’t ever carry a real gun.”
The Newsday report does not indicate that Acosta made any distinction between lawful gun ownership and the criminal misuse of firearms.
This was not the first year[5] Hempstead has hosted this yuletide propaganda effort. In 2015[6] and 2016[7], a series of toy gun grabs were organized by Manhattan socialite Jean Shafiroff[8]. At the 2016 iteration, Shafiroff
