"Shooting thing"

Over the past few months I have been seriously struggling with the whole gun issue. Porter is constantly using random things as guns - vacuum cleaner extensions, wrapping paper/paper towel/toilet paper rolls, kitchen utensils, Buzz LightYear....he even found a plastic hook that a pair of socks came on and he turned it into a gun. He doesn't call his weapon a gun he calls it a "shooting thing". Although he watches movies - Cars, Surf Up, Madagascar, etc. it isn't on a regular basis and he only watches less than an hour of tv a day. How in the world does a three year old turn every single inanimate object into a weapon?

Part of me worries that he is going to start catching cats and torturing them and eventually turn into a serial killer....yikes...the mother in me cannot understand why my cuddly little boy who loves to read books, listen to stories that we make up on the fly, and dance to music on the kitchen counter, would want to play with guns...the counselor in me knows that this is an innate thing, he will grow out of it, and he will actually not turn into a serial killer or shoot fifty people in Target.

For a long time I have been fighting this issue and have talked with several friends and done some searching on the internet - one person said to tell him when he shoots someone that he is using a "love gun" and that shooting them makes them love him more...no thanks. But the most prevalent suggestion was to just let him be and then in time teach him about gun safety and the proper use/non use of weapons. We have agreed that he only gets to shoot bad guys - not me, daddy, Jack, the dogs, nor his friends and our neighbors. So, as of today I am quitting my obsession with guns and am going to ignore him when he shoots me with a spatula...