The United States has always had an intense cultural connection to firearms. The country’s own constitution states that one of the fundamental rights as a person living in the United States is the right to bear arms (Vernick et al. 2011). The harm that this culture does has become increasingly scrutinised over the past few years. Unfortunately because of the rise in mass shootings events happening over the United States. The normalisation of guns in culture are elements that contribute to the rate at which mass shootings happen. And Nerf is part of the reason why that culture is so powerful.
Nerf benefits immensely from the already strong gun culture and directly contributes to it. When we give children Nerf guns, we are essentially telling them that guns are supposed to be fun. The values that toys have are powerful in influencing the cultural values of children (Goldstein, 2018). This creates a vicious cycle in which children, mainly young boys, are thought that guns are toys and not weapons. This can skew the perception of guns towards something less serious than it is already at an early age (Machin & Van Leeuwen, 2009). This is on top of a culture that tells people that guns are cool and a strong symbol of masculinity and strength. (Machin & Van Leeuwen, 2009)