POLL: Do you think Massachusetts should ban realistic-looking toy guns?

Ratsnest said:
I for one think they should be banned, I rolled up on a 16 yr old, sporting what looked like a chromed 45 in his waste band while on duty just recently and they look just like the real thing so they are treated as such..

I would hate to see any one shot over a toy essecially a kid
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While I don't condone the shooting of children, if they brandish a toy gun as if it were real, especially at a cop, then they deserve whatever they get. Kids need to learn that pointing even a fake weapon at someone else is grounds for the most extreme punishment; death.

Banning toys is not the way to educate proper behavior. All banning something does is make for a stupider, less free society. There are billions of people in this world, if a few people/kids die every year because of doing something stupid, punishing the other 99.999999% of the population for it is absolutely ridiculous.

I had tons of realistic looking toy guns when I was a kid, and I carried them everywhere. I never once had an issue with them because I never pointed them at anyone whom I wasn't 'playing army' with, let alone a freaking cop.
 
Half Cocked said:
No argument there, but unfortunately many of these knuckleheads are over 18 who are running around with these.
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Then they should know better! [thinking] If you're stupid enough to run around with a fake gun, waving it at people then you got to be prepared for the eventuality that someday you will be shot. We don't need another ban. We need common sense.
 
Chris said:
What we really could use is a court system that will look at people who do this and tell them that they are lucky to be alive and maybe a criminal record for a weapon offense might remind them to not be so dumb next time. In my opinion, if you use the object as a weapon, it is no difference than using the actual weapon and all charges should be prosecuted as such.
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I am pretty sure there's already a law on the books along those same lines. If you commit armed robbery with a fake weapon, hell, even if you use your finger, under a towel to simulate a gun then you will be charged as if you had a real gun.

I'm sure everyone's favourite lawyer will be along shortly to correct me... [wink]
 
From GOAL website:

http://goal.org/news/Legislative/NewBedford.htm

GOAL Files Deceptive Device Bill in Response to New Bedford Incident

In response to the shooting incident in New Bedford involving a police officer and a drug addict, Gun Owners Action League has taken a proactive step to assist law enforcement. On January 10, 2007 State Representative John Quinn (9th Bristol) filed, on behalf of GOAL, a bill that would punish criminals who commit crimes with devices that intend to convey the presence of a firearm.

The bill, "An Act Relative to Deceptive Weapon Devices" would provide law enforcement and the courts a tool that would punish those who are committing crimes with fake or look alike guns by allowing the courts to convict them as if they are armed.

"This bill is a proactive measure that will hopefully discourage criminals from pretending to have firearms in an attempt to intimidate victims and cause problems for police in emergency situations." said Jim Wallace GOAL Executive Director, "No police officer should have to make the split second decision as to whether a criminal is holding a real gun or a fake gun. Secondly, no criminal should get away without being charged and convicted as being armed when they certainly intended everyone to believe they were."

As a further note to this case, GOAL understands that the officer involved in the shooting was cleared of any wrong doing.



Bill Language:

SECTION 1. Section 121 of Chapter 140 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting the following definition:-

“Deceptive Weapon Device” Any device or item used in the commission of a crime that is intended to convey the presence of a weapon, as defined in this section, to a potential victim or law enforcement officer. Such devices or items shall include, but not be limited to, common air guns, toy guns, or substances carved or fashioned to resemble a weapon.

SECTION 2. Chapter 265 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting a new section:-

Section 45. Crimes committed with a deceptive weapon device

Any person who is in possession of a deceptive weapon device as defined in Section 121 of Chapter 140 of the General Laws, during the commission of a violent crime as defined in Section 121 of Chapter 140 of the General Laws shall be deemed to be armed and shall be punishable by penalties set forth in this Chapter.
 
the only part of this that i remotely agree with is
no criminal should get away without being charged and convicted as being armed when they certainly intended everyone to believe they were.
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other then that... banning things to protect idiots from themselves is just plain, well... (for lack of a better word) stupid.
 
I'm sorry but I believe that a toy will alway be a toy, regardless of what color it's painted.

It's when it is used in a crime, or to make other believe it is real where it becomes a deceptive weapon. I was taught to never point my fake guns at cops, because we all knew the risk. End of the line! Don't be dumb. You can't force people to not be stupid, you just have to let Darwin take care of that one.
 
I don't see what the problem is. If you point a gun at someone, real or not, you risk your own life.

Anyone who can't figure out why making furtive gestures towards a cop is bad idea, isn't going to last long anyways.

Good for GOAL, people get busted for selling fake dope, why not for committing crimes with fake guns?
 
wahsben said:
The Worcester Telegram & Gazzette has a poll in todays paper asking should realistic toy guns be banned?

Let us voice our opinions at telegram.com
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I say no. This is one of the cases where they are trying to make a crime because of one or two isolated incidents. There are criminal charges that can be brought to bear for any assault against a person as it stands, now.

Isn't this way past anyone's rationale mode of thought?

bill
 
This is simply a start because after this it will be:
Realistic looking toys
Realistic looking Airsoft
Realistic looking Pellet Guns

If a cop is chasing a bad guy and the bad guy points a gun or something that looks like a gun too bad Mr bad guy, stupid move!

If a 7 year old has a toy gun and the cop shoots him because it looks like a gun, too bad my occifer, your a weenie that should not be a cop because you are paranoid.

Common sense, I read the stories and listened to the stupid comments about how real the guns looked. My answer is simply don't point a weapon that looks real at the cops or anyone else or face the consequences.

Is this really worth imposing laws on the masses like we always seem to want to do because a few dumb asses are stupid and use bad judgement? Personally I don't have any but I can see this as one more step by the liberal gun grabbing mind set. Yea make things that look like guns unlawfull!
 
Thought question for those advocating that toy guns be painted different colors: Do you also advocate that firearms not be painted different colors?

In other words, do you think Duracoat should be banned?

Because, IMHO, it's a VERY short stretch from "Toy guns should be painted day-glo orange so that the police know they're toys" to "Real guns can't be colored anything other than black or chrome so the police won't think they're toys"...
 
It's like any other problem we have in this state/country, just enforce the laws we already have in place.... instead of coming up with rediculous new ones....
 
Jay G said:
Thought question for those advocating that toy guns be painted different colors: Do you also advocate that firearms not be painted different colors?

In other words, do you think Duracoat should be banned?

Because, IMHO, it's a VERY short stretch from "Toy guns should be painted day-glo orange so that the police know they're toys" to "Real guns can't be colored anything other than black or chrome so the police won't think they're toys"...
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Isn't there already a ban on painting guns in New York?
 
I think they should come down harder on these touch-holes that use the replicas or bb guns to commit crimes or to assault people or to strike fear into other touch-holes....
 
Banning these toy guns won't solve the problem, getting rid of politicians who don't know their ass from their elbow, now theres a solution.... as for these touch-holes with there i'm a bad ass with a fake gun, drill a couple of holes into a couple of the Dump trucks, and the rest might not think its a good idea anymore....
 
I totally agree with those of you who say that if they are going to carry the toy gun and act like it is real that they should get whatever is coming to them.

The problem is that a cop (or civilian)who shoots a 17 year old kid for pointing a toy gun at them (justified shooting yes) is going to have a hard time with that. Between their own feelings about a senseless (although justified)shooting and the public outcry. It will not be an easy thing.
 
Half cocked is completely right on that... its always easy to say how you would feel in any given situation, how you feel when its all said and done is another...
 
When I was a kid we had fake guns and starter guns and you could buy them at novelty shops ... I saw some of the guns from one of the other post from 30 years ago and the guns also looked real. How did this all of a sudden become a problem for society.

Because some people decided to use them to intimidate or commit crimes or is it because the gun grabbers want to ban any resembelance of guns one piece at a time. Did Goal sign on to this because law enforcement was paranoid about real looking guns and afraid they would have trigger happy cops shooting kids?

Why ban them rather than say you have to be a certain age to own a certain realistic looking gun. The ban is simply overkill and reaction to paranoid people that don't want anyone to have a gun anyway.

My opinion NO, NO, Double NO!

Oh and by the way! Wasn't it Massachusetts that was giving the Airsoft people problems shipping here. Read the fine print!
 
Half Cocked said:
The problem is that a cop (or civilian)who shoots a 17 year old kid for pointing a toy gun at them (justified shooting yes) is going to have a hard time with that. Between their own feelings about a senseless (although justified)shooting and the public outcry. It will not be an easy thing.
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True. I'd imagine that a justified shoot, killing an armed assailant, would keep the shooter up a lot less at night than shooting some kid and discovering that what looked like a Glock .40 was really a BB gun.

The hell of it is that the shooter would really have had no choice - when you have half a heartbeat to decide, how can you tell? Some of those things are so realistic that you'd have to have it in your hands to tell... which leads us back to putting the onus on the idiot with the toy gun. If you want to look badass, you have to accept the penalty that comes with it. And LEOs, and we as citizens who carry, have to accept that at some point, this may well happen to us. The alternative is to not be a LEO or carry concealed.

Yeah, I know it's a crappy answer. Not much I can do about that... banning toy guns just means that the punk will go elsewhere for his toy Glock.
 
+1 Dwarven1, they shouldnt make them look so close in resemblance, anyone can find black paint, Ive seen air soft so close in resemblance that even the mags drop and and the slides lock back...
 
The sad part is, you can teach your kids right from wrong, but who are we compared to their cool friends, and gang bitches that brain wash our kids.... we can only teach them so much and pray and keep re-enforcing what we teach them, hoping it sets in their brains....
 
drew said:
+1 Dwarven1, they shouldnt make them look so close in resemblance, anyone can find black paint, Ive seen air soft so close in resemblance that even the mags drop and and the slides lock back...
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BUT... those uber-realistic airsoft guns are so useful for training. Where do you draw the line? Ban a useful item with legitimate uses because it might be misused? Gee... haven't we heard that line before?
 
drew said:
The sad part is, you can teach your kids right from wrong, but who are we compared to their cool friends, and gang bitches that brain wash our kids.... we can only teach them so much and pray and keep re-enforcing what we teach them, hoping it sets in their brains....
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Oh it does. We engrained it in sons brain since he was small. Started teaching him gun safety from a very young age. [grin]
 

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