The guns steve the guns...

[RocketClone]

Ive always had this question when i got my first police set. Why don't the policemen have guns included with their sets?

[Jabba the Taff]

Cos they're British police. Or something like that.

Seriously, it's (or was) just a Lego policy that they didn't want to have anything to do with guns or the military.

[Obi-Wan Skywalker]

Cos they're British police. Or something like that.

Seriously, it's (or was) just a Lego policy that they didn't want to have anything to do with guns or the military.

Explain Star Wars and all the indy and andventures sets etc. that had guns or army people.

[The Brain]

They're licensed themes, and as partners with other groups, have to make accurate representations of said themes (SW blasters, Russian soldiers guns, etc.)

Even some sets like the adventurers theme had guns, but again, those are very similar to licensed themes (just ones that are made by LEGO). If you've noticed, they never had and never will have any guns in any "real"-themed sets, i.e. City or Trains.

[meeotch]

Although it would be a sweet theme: LEGO Inner City. Imagine the possibilities! LEGO Uzi! Lego El Camino! LEGO do-rags!

[liquidcross]

Although it would be a sweet theme: LEGO Inner City. Imagine the possibilities! LEGO Uzi! Lego El Camino! LEGO do-rags!

That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[legodavee123]

Explain Star Wars and all the indy and andventures sets etc. that had guns or army people.

You don't seriously expect LEGO to be 100% consistent with everything across the board, do you? LEGO City is a separate product line from LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Adventurers, LEGO Agents, LEGO Batman, etc. Each product is evaluated continually-- what LEGO City is this year is quite different from what it was in years past, and what it will be in future years. Quite obviously, the decision from the LEGO marketing department is that LEGO City police should not have guns, presumably because they want to tone down the violence within that theme. It doesn't mean that LEGO City will ALWAYS be without guns, it just means that for their current assessment of the line, guns are believed to be too violent and/or unnecessary.

For many years, LEGO was against having any weapons at all-- but that clearly changed in the late 1970's, when LEGO released a "gun" in 1976, and axes, swords, and lances in 1978. For a long time, "weapons" in space were deemed "tools", and LEGO's official stance was that they were avoiding "modern" weapons across all of their themes (despite the one anachronism in 1976 with a "gun"), until 1996, when "Wild West" introduced revolvers and rifles, which were arguably still in a historic context. Since then, the line has progressively blurred as modern weapons have "forced" their way into licensed themes, but they've also leaked into other non-licensed themes like Dino Attack and Agents.

Hence, what started as a company-wide policy that all LEGO products tried to stand behind gradually became more fuzzy. And now, each line is treated more as a distinct entity, with its own policies about how to deal with LEGO violence. And LEGO City has apparently decided NOT to include guns with its police officers. Whether this is because it's attempting to be less violent, avoid extra elements, prevent confusion with other lines, or some other reason entirely (like mimicking Britain's police system), we may not ever know.

DaveE

[meeotch]

Although it would be a sweet theme: LEGO Inner City. Imagine the possibilities! LEGO Uzi! Lego El Camino! LEGO do-rags!

That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

You're right. LEGO submachine gun! LEGO drive-by car! LEGO pantyhose-foot-to-apply-to-your-greasy-head!

[Mr.legoman123]

Although it would be a sweet theme: LEGO Inner City. Imagine the possibilities! LEGO Uzi! Lego El Camino! LEGO do-rags!

That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Even better: Lego Grand Theft Auto. I completly understand why Lego wouldn't do it, but I'm just dreaming. We would get Both cool cars and cool guns.

[Bulls_Eye]

Explain Star Wars

Maybe it was before you started collecting, but originally the Star Wars sets all had megaphones for guns.

[RocketClone]

^^ Yes it took TLG a long time to realize that i'd be hard to imaginate a LSW fight scene if all you had were megaphones.

[Jargon]

I pity your "imaginating" skills.

- Aaron

[GIR3691]

originally the Star Wars sets all had megaphones for guns.

I kinda miss that.

[The Brain]

I much prefer the new blasters, but it does sort of detract from the sort of LEGO-y part of it, ya know? Especially now that it looks funky to combine megaphone blasters and the current ones, so it's hard to amass enough to equip my older figs.

[Coret]

For many years, LEGO was against having any weapons at all-- but that clearly changed in the late 1970's, when LEGO released a "gun" in 1976, and axes, swords, and lances in 1978. For a long time, "weapons" in space were deemed "tools", and LEGO's official stance was that they were avoiding "modern" weapons across all of their themes (despite the one anachronism in 1976 with a "gun"), until 1996, when "Wild West" introduced revolvers and rifles, which were arguably still in a historic context. Since then, the line has progressively blurred as modern weapons have "forced" their way into licensed themes, but they've also leaked into other non-licensed themes like Dino Attack and Agents.

So what are those things the Pirates used back in 1989, if the Wild West introduced guns. Sorry, it was just bugging me since you seemed to just skip over them.

[legodavee123]

So what are those things the Pirates used back in 1989, if the Wild West introduced guns. Sorry, it was just bugging me since you seemed to just skip over them.

I was referring to "modern" looking weapons-- the blunderbuss and flintlock pistols in the pirates lines hardly looked very modern. Effectively, LEGO didn't want things like tanks, handguns, howitzers, etc., so they stated that they didn't want any "modern" weaponry in their sets. That's why things like the axes and spears in castle sets were allowed, as well as pirate guns and cannons, as well as futuristic laser guns that obviously showed up in space sets. Effectively, the weapons in Wild West were pretty much identical to modern guns. A revolver looks pretty similar to a modern handgun, and the rifles from the theme you'd be hard pressed to identify as being specific to the 19th century rather than the 20th or even 21st century rifles. The revolver you could make a case for being "historical" since modern handguns don't typically have the same mechanism, but it's pretty fine line. The pirate weapons, by contrast, are (IMHO) distinctly "non-modern".

DaveE

[Jargon]

LEGO's shifting position on this issue is an interesting example of the slippery slope of justification. I don't particularly have a problem with this, but it is interesting.

- Aaron

[Solo]

Except nothing in this thread is from Lego, it's all assumptions and fan rationalizations.

[ThinkingImpaired]

Even better: Lego Grand Theft Auto. I completly understand why Lego wouldn't do it, but I'm just dreaming. We would get Both cool cars and cool guns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMY9VlMIEJk