Some states want to ban toy guns -- Do you agree?

[FireMax]

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

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.

 

[Dave Jay]

i can see what the problem is with toy guns.. i work in a retail sporting good stores that sell them air soft guns... little wana be gang bangers and rejects are buying them and panting that little orange cone in the front black and then the gun looks real especialy at night.. they joke and giggle how they could""Jack"" some one with one..untill one of them get shot by some one else then they mom and dad cry ther kids were never bad...
but any ways im all for limiting how the gun looks but not that they should stop selling them..
my little girl is 5 now she has had them sence she was 2 and knew at 3 not too point them ant any one even when no one was looking..
toy guns are a good start to gun safety i beleave

Dave

 

[toybox99615]

very confusing to decide which way to go

having seen a few of the really authentic looking toy guns I would believe there are times when it is easy to question is it real or not when you discover them. I imagine it would depend upon the situation whether I'd be concerned over is it real or not. I certainly can envision times when a perp with a replica could easily intimidate someone into believing it is real.

Banning seems a bit over zealous to say the least. Maybe manufacturers need to produce toys that are not so accurate that they can not easily be separated from real when presented in conflict situations. Adding to the problem are some of the newer designer firearms available in spiffy colors. Are any of us honestly going to react as if a gun in the hands of a perp is not real?

Kids and toy guns: I kept almost most any toy gun away from my children as I do believe the curiosity factor of children makes it more difficult for them to separate real from toy at young ages. At the same time I did allow my children to live fire at the range at around age six. Why I can not say this was the best way to teach my children about gun safety it worked for them.

I do know my nephue has a rack full of military rifles that are both real and models. At first glance I can not tell you which is which from ten feet away.

 

[Sigma 40 Blaster]

I posted to limit how real they look.

That being said I think the bright orange tip on most of them is plenty good enough. Some stupid teenager wants to cut it off and get in trouble or killed by brandishing it like a real gun...well they get what they've earned. If they attempt to use it in a crime they get charged just like it was a real gun...would be a plan as far as I can see.

Expecting little boys to not want to play with guns is like expecting fish to live outside of water. I think it's natural to a very large extent. I guess they want to see our little boys and young men playing exclusively with Barbies and Teletubbies.

 

[RolandMk.1]

I don't think they should be regulated or banned at all, first off there are too many laws to begin with, and its not the governments place to do anything but pave the roads IMO.

Second, the bright orange tips are pointless; I can't cite any sources, but I've heard some criminals are spray painting the tips of their real guns orange. Its better to just leave the bright tips off, and assume all guns are real until shown otherwise.

 

[raimius]

I own several airsoft rifles which look identical to the real deal, and I put some work into making them that way. I do military simulation events. Orange things creeping through the woods are fairly obvious! I'm OK with manufacturers putting orange tips on them. That makes things easier for cops dealing with little kids...and it's not that much of a pain to change, if so desired.

However, when someone is stupid enough to try to commit a crime with a replica gun, I don't have a lot of mercy. If they get shot, it was their own fault. Don't want to get shot?--Don't commit a crime!

 

[grey sky]

The ner do well in the article waveing a plastic UZI or as my dad called them the ooooozi ( to indicate the awsome fear generated ) The act is intimidation and stupid. big problem is it has long been a crime in Indiana to rob people at gun point even if it turns out to be a comb in the pocket trick same penalty as though its a real gun. I suspect there are similar laws elseware no new regulations are necacary just enforce whats on the books.
Not to cop bash but beilieve it or not there are Barney Fifes out there who will soil themselfs at the report of a firecracker. and not all "experts" are. Ever see the video of the "expert" being the only person in the room qualified who promptly shoots himself in the leg ??

 

[Derius_T]

Banning toy guns is completely retarded. Plain and simple. Steps made to make sure you can tell a toy from real have been made. My son is 7 and he knows the difference between his cap guns and dad's guns.

That said, any idiot who wants to modify a toy to look more real, or use a toy to commit any type of crime, deserves whatever they get. Charged with a gun related charge and appropriate sentence, or shot, whichever. Stupid Hurts sometimes.

But overall banning obviously toy guns is just plain blissninny hysteria.....

 

[FireMax]

An excuse used to progress the banning of toy guns is that officers sometimes cannot tell if they are real or not and there have been people killed by LEO while holding a toy gun.

There is a problem with that argument. LEO have also killed people who they thought were holding a gun when in fact they had nothing at all that even resembled a gun. Also, LEO have fired upon and killed people holding various items that the LEO thought was a gun. So, this issue is not just a problem with toy guns.

 

[bushidomosquito]

Roland

"It's not the governments place to do anything but pave the roads."

That's awesome! You might think about making that your signature line 'cause if not I may have to steal it from you.

 

[BillCA]

Here's where I stand on this -- for 99.9% of kids playing with toy guns will not be shot by cops. As pointed out above, cops have shot people holding radios, cell phones, beer cans and nothing at all.

Instead of banning toy guns in a fit of hoplophobic hysteria perhaps a bucket of cold water should be applied. Remind people that if you attempt to commit a crime using a toy gun, expect that it will be treated as a real gun and you will be prosecuted or you could be shot. This includes brandishing the gun at someone.

Unfortunately, our too-literal minded liberal bureaucrats will probably try to apply that to a five or six year-old child playing cops & robbers with his neighbor's kid.

Let's also remember there is a huge difference between an eight year old playing cops & robbers with other kids and an adolescent branishing a replica gun at other drivers on the highway at night.

 

[saltydog452]

I did not answer the poll. Mostly because I think it is a parental decision, not one the belongs to the 'state'.

When my sons were growing up, I/we did not allow playing at 'war' or 'killing'. Didn't allow fireworks either.

As a child of the 50s and the double fearure Saturday Morning Matinee, I had play guns and a Daisy Red Ryder BB rifle, a Hopalong Cassidy bycycle, etc.

Bought my first center fire pistol in '63. My step dad was abusing my Mom.

Active duty 63-67.

1st son born 70. Four or so years later, he, now they, wanted to play with toy guns. I refused to allow it.

Took them to the range on occasion and let them shoot the 'real thing'. SA Colt, Clark 1911. Still no firecrackers allowed. Emphasis on reality and safety, not make-beleve or pretend.


Around 10 years or so, bought and modified A Rossi .22rf pump. External hammer, no safety. Practiced prone, sitting, and standing. Oldest Grand-Kiddo has it now. I 'spect her Dad is teaching her well. Hopefully, the Rossi and the thoughts behind its use will be passed on to others.

After 68, I never intentionally took the life of any critter unless it was a pest, a threat, or meat (fishing bait excluded).

Again, its personal.

I understand that the intent of the original poster had little to do with parential responsibility and more to do with public safety of the law enforcement officers. Somehow though, what we do as parents falls back onto the streets and into the concern of public safety.

We just gotta do our job as parents.

Now, I carefully climb down off my soap-box.

salty.

 

[shortwave]

excellent replies so far, may i add something about raising our kids today as this isn`t the fifties anymore. try teaching kids from young age that pointing anything at somebody is dangerous today. there`s a huge trendy thing going on right know with kids ages young teens to college. its like cops and robbers and in the colleges there might be 100-200 players. all running around ,day and night, all over campus shooting each other with fake pistols, squirt guns, paint-ball guns etc. fun for the kids but its tradgety waiting to happen. big concern for campus police. has already been enough issues that this game and its dangers made news here in Ohio.

 

[FireMax]

...this game and its dangers made news here in Ohio.

If you think about it, just about every little thing makes the news these days. I am 40ish and when I was a kid, we didn't have cable news channels. Since cable news, they can't seem to get enough real news to put on the air so they put small things on and treat it as a FOX NEWS ALERT type deal.