Gun-Shaped Soap

by Miriam Lacey 2

If you've got a mold and some willpower, you can make soap look like anything you want, so it follows that these pistol-shaped soaps ($4 for two) recently appeared on Etsy. Their creator definitely gets kudos for creativity, and the red and blue shades are unrealistic enough to be nonthreatening, but life-size soap that looks like an actual gun could be another thing altogether. The shop owner even asks that buyers "just use this like normal people use soap . . . don't go trying to stick up the party store with them." It's a little tongue in cheek, but if you feel compelled to issue that kind of statement (even half in jest), does it indicate a larger problem with the product?