The following article brings up the fact that some states are again attempting to ban toy guns. Now, as a boy, I played with toy guns from a very young age. It was very natural for me and my friends to have a cowboy getup, or a plastic replica of a military weapon, etc. There seemed to be no ill affects. None of my friends did anything bad with them and nothing bad happened to us while playing with the toy guns.
How do you feel about this issue?
As for me, I think it is fine if it is required to have a bright orange or red tip on a toy weapon. However, I think banning toy weapons is a ridiculous step which only adds to the hysteria of the anti-gunners.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps...80504/NATION/433552162/-1/RSS_NATION_POLITICS
How do you feel about this issue?
As for me, I think it is fine if it is required to have a bright orange or red tip on a toy weapon. However, I think banning toy weapons is a ridiculous step which only adds to the hysteria of the anti-gunners.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps...80504/NATION/433552162/-1/RSS_NATION_POLITICS
States looking to curb toy guns
Associated Press
May 4, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Concerns that realistic-looking toy weapons are confusing police and threatening safety have led 15 states to try going beyond gun control and cracking down on fake firearms.
Officer Michael Hoover knows a fair amount about guns as a sniper instructor for a Tennessee SWAT team. He recalls the night two years ago when a car pulled up beside him on a highway, and the passenger waved what looked like an Uzi.
"It scared me," he said. "If anyone is in their right mind, I don't see how it wouldn't."
Officer Hoover was off-duty and called for police help. A 20-year-old man was charged with aggravated assault after police found a black plastic Uzi submachine gun under the car's passenger seat, but he was acquitted because jurors felt the officer should have been able to tell it was only a toy.
Lawmakers across the country are coming to a different conclusion, deciding that it is so hard to differentiate the toys from the fakes that public safety demands they take action.
Among those 15 states, seven bills limiting fake guns are pending this year, and 21 have been enacted since 1990, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some states have enacted or are considering multiple measures. They range from prohibiting imitation firearms in vehicles to banning the toys from convenience stores.
Tennessee lawmakers are considering a proposal by state Rep. John Deberry, a Democrat, to make it a misdemeanor to intentionally display or expose "an imitation firearm in a public place in a threatening manner." Exceptions include justifiable self-defense, lawful hunting, and displays such as a museum collection.
Mr. Deberry said he wants to prevent incidents like the one last year in which a 12-year-old boy was killed in West Memphis, Ark. DeAunta Farrow was shot by a police officer who said he thought the boy was carrying a gun and that the youngster refused to obey orders to halt. Investigators later said DeAunta had a toy gun.