10 things the US government has banned that aren’t Ar-15’s

Sunde White illustrates her essay about banning the ar-15

So stupid

Guns have officially become the number one cause of death to kids in the United States.  Wow, USA #1!!!! Or whatever, oh my god. I couldn’t find how many of those deaths were caused by the Ar-15 but I do know that a whole lot of our mass shootings involve this weapon, look at these since 2017:

Uvalde, 21 dead plus husband dying from heart attack the next day:Ar-15

Buffalo, 10 dead:Ar-15

Boulder CO, 10 dead: Ar-15

Midland TX, 7 dead: Ar-15

Dayton OH, 9 dead: Ar-15

El Paso TX, 23 dead:Ar-15

Parkland FL, 17 dead:Ar-15

Las Vegas, NV, 58 dead: Ar-15

 

Some citizens and members of our government think it’s totally fine for 18 year olds to purchase and own automatic rifles.  But don’t worry!!! They aren’t totally reckless and unfeeling human beings, they made sure to ban the following products so everything is fine!!!  BTW, I totally agree that some of these products and weapons should be banned but it’s crazy that 19 young, sweet kids can be sliced to pieces by an automatic weapons in a couple minutes and they aren’t banned the very next day.

Ar-15 illustration

everything’s fine

 

  1. Lawn Darts

Hasbro once had a product called Lawn Darts where little kids would throw big metal spikes shaped like colorful rockets from a certain distance and try to have them land inside a circle.  Kind of like horse shoes but you could definitely lose an eye or die from them.  Actually, in 1987, a kid threw their lawn dart up in the air and it landed on their friend’s little sister and killed her.  And that was it, one beautiful child died and Lawn Darts were banned forever.

2.Kinder Surprise Eggs

In 1974 the Italian company Ferrero created a chocolate egg that, when you break it open there is a toy inside.  This treat/toy is banned by FDA which prohibits edible items with non-edible objects embedded in them. They are so popular that US citizens will smuggle them back from Europe. US Customs officers will absolutely confiscate them and fine you for it.  Don’t worry though!  A legal version has been released here that has the toy separated from the chocolate egg.  It’s called Kinder Egg and is now available in the USA!

  1. The Switchblade

This “automatic knife” also called the stiletto, has a hidden blade in the handle that pops up with the flick of your thumb.  Brought to the US by WWII GI’s and made famous in the movie Westside Story, the switchblade was banned in 1958.

4.Sky Dancers

These plastic flying fairies spin into the air willy nilly with just a pull of their cord. They ended up concussing people, scratching their corneas and breaking their teeth.  They were banned in 2000.

5.Mini Hammocks

Oh, how relaxing for the kids!  A mini hammock built just for them.  They could lay around in the yard relaxing all day.  Think of all the books they’d read in their nest built of string!  I admit that in our family we took turns winding each other up in a tight hammock cocoon and then letting ‘er rip, spinning till we spilled out of it onto the ground.  Turns out kids’ little heads could get caught in the net and 12 kids actually died this way. They were banned in 1996.

6.Brass Knuckles

This row of fused metal rings is built to punch someone’s lights out.  They are considered deadly weapons and carrying them on your person can result in a felony charge.

7.Clackers

This weird seventies toy was made up of two hard acrylic balls connected to each end of a cord. The user would swing them around and back and forth so they would make a clacking sound by bouncing off each other.  That’s fun I guess but then they would just shatter out of the blue and turn into shards of hard plastic projectiles, breaking teeth and injuring eyeballs.  They were banned in 1985.

  1. Snacktime Cabbage Patch Kids

Remember Christmas of 1983 and every kid on earth wanted a little doll that grew out of the cabbage patch? Me neither, lol.  But later on in the nineties they created an updated, ravenous version called the Snacktime Cabbage Patch Kid.  They came with their own plastic snacks and powerful automated jaws that, surprise! ended up sucking up kids hair and breaking their fingers if inserted into the creepy dolls’ choppers.  They were banned in 1997.

  1. Metal Playground Equipment

Anyone that grew up in the 80’s has the scars to show for it.  Remember two story high shiny metal slides planted in the black top or gravel of our schools and parks?   I do too!  On a hot sunny day you could see its glaring shine beckoning you to take a slide in your dolphin or OP shorts.  You realized too late that you could cook an egg on the descending aluminum surface.  Slides were only for winter time during the 80’s!  Oh, did I mention that there was an abundance of lead in these structures?  Good times.  Anyway, they are banned now and replaced with safe plastic and wood playground equipment.

  1. Aqua Dots

This 2007 toy was made up of little beads that you would arrange in a design and then spritz with water which would then fuse together permanently.  The problem was that when the beads got wet they would release the compound GHB also known as the date rape drug.  Not good.  3 kids went into comas after digesting some of the beads.  This product was banned shortly after its release.