Well maybe not just yet but by gosh they're gonna try to.
The proposed legislation I agree is silly. While true, many of the toys look like the real thing but I think that's the idea. But they were not designed to be used to commit crimes.
While officers are given milliseconds to react to the sight of a gun in the hands of someone where a crime has been reported the fault lies with not the officer but with the person toting around the toy and covering up the bright orange tip at the end of the barrel... which an officer might not have time to see and especially if it's done quickly and worse in a darkened environment.
Banning them isn't going to make the problem go away.
What do you all think?
Bills seek punishment for use, display of fake weapons
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080503/ap_on_re_us/fake_gun_control
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II, Associated Press Writer Sat May 3, 2:01 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - 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 Micheal 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."
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.
The leading U.S. opponent of gun control doesn't think much of legislation that seeks to control fake guns.
National Rifle Association spokesman Ashley Varner said anti-toy gun legislation is "silly" because "it doesn't deal with issues of crime."
"It won't eradicate the human element of the crime," she said. "It doesn't target getting criminals off the street."
The proposed legislation I agree is silly. While true, many of the toys look like the real thing but I think that's the idea. But they were not designed to be used to commit crimes.
While officers are given milliseconds to react to the sight of a gun in the hands of someone where a crime has been reported the fault lies with not the officer but with the person toting around the toy and covering up the bright orange tip at the end of the barrel... which an officer might not have time to see and especially if it's done quickly and worse in a darkened environment.
Banning them isn't going to make the problem go away.
What do you all think?