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January 24, 2007

Beaverton Replica Toy Gun Ban a Good Idea

It looks like Beaverton is getting closer to banning toy guns that look real. I am very much a gun rights person. Our family has a lifetime NRA membership and we give to the Oregon Firearms Federation every year. We have a membership at a rifle range. Both our boys have been taught how to respect and handle a gun properly from a very young age. But I don't have any problem with Beaverton's proposal. I have always thought it was a bad idea for kids to be carrying real-looking toy guns around in populated areas.

The only concern I have with it is based on the comments of the Beaverton Police Department spokesman, Sgt. Paul Wandell, regarding the question of whether the proposed law goes far enough: "It's a start," he said.

My kids have airsoft guns, both the handgun variety and the automatic rifle variety. Since the only real damage the guns can do is sting your skin or put out an eye, they wear protective glasses whenever they use them, as do all their friends, and they have to promise not to be a baby when they get hit. The latter is usually no problem, as both are having too much fun to worry about it. We have always stressed gun safety with our kids, whether they are playing with water guns, potato pellet guns, paintball guns, pop guns, nerf guns, or real guns – all of which they own and enjoy. They are naturals at proper gun handling and know never to touch a real gun when they are not under our direct supervision. I do not believe my children are in any danger from guns and our family has a lot of fun with guns. So I don't want to see a law banning toy guns go any further than banning the ones that look real from public spaces. Anything more would be paranoid, intrusive overkill.

A strong case can be made for banning the real-looking toy guns:

Online retailers brag about the authenticity of the reproductions. Many are so close to the real thing that police agencies use them for training. And criminals use them in robberies.

The fakes are often mistaken for real weapons by police responding to calls from worried residents.

And there have been numerous cases in which police have shot people because they mistook their toy guns for real ones. In Beaverton, police have received several calls from concerned citizens about young people carrying weapons near schools, only to find the weapons were realistic-looking toys. There is simply no reason for parents to put their kids in a situation where a mistaken report of an armed youngster results in that youngster being shot by a cop.

Funky multi-colored or clear toy guns work every bit as well as real-looking guns and prevent tragic mistakes. I see no reason why this reasonable law shouldn't be passed – so long as it isn't carried to the next level down the line with a banning of all toy guns in public.

Posted by Becky at January 24, 2007 12:44 PM