Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - BB guns are not a joke

BB guns are not a joke

Nov 08, 2006 - 04:06:20 CST

There may be time left to avert a potential tragedy in our area. It will require people to think sanely and not brandish BB guns or their like — otherwise, someone could end up dead.

When anyone, young or of any age, packs and displays something that looks — even at a glance — like a cartridge firearm, law enforcement officers have to assume the worst, that the person is armed and dangerous.

That it only launches a pellet makes not the least bit of difference. If it has any resemblance to a Glock, a SIG-Sauer or the like, a cop has an instant decision to make about the person holding it.

One of the legitimate options is deadly force.

Imagine being a police officer who takes down a teenage boy who seemed to be drawing down on him — then finds that what has fallen from the dead kid’s hand is a CO2 pistol. The remorse the officer could experience doesn’t bear thinking about.

It is not alarmism to raise this concern. A week ago, Bismarck police had to deal with reports of teenagers driving around in a car, waving handguns. Officers made a bust with guns drawn. The kids had two BB guns.

According to the New York City Council Investigation Division, in “January 2003, a 17-year-old in Manhattan put a BB gun to the head of an undercover detective dressed as a deliveryman. Police fatally shot him. In August 2003, a Brooklyn man holding a toy gun was shot and killed by police.”

Don’t bother saying, “What do you expect from New York?” It could as easily have been a city in North Dakota.

There have been efforts to preclude some aspects of this ugly scenario. In 1988, Congress passed legislation called the Federal Toy Gun Law. It requires toy guns that in any way resemble the real thing to have a blaze orange plug in the barrel or some kind of marking approved by the secretary of Commerce.

A New York state law makes sense, that toy guns not be allowed to have a black, blue, silver or aluminum finish but show a nonremovable one-inch orange stripe around the barrel. Even so, that didn’t deter a couple of teenagers from that state from wrapping black tape around toy guns for use in a robbery. The attempt failed. Two officers shot and killed the boys.

That doesn’t begin to deal with the problem of pellet guns. It’s sobering to go onto the Web sites of some manufacturers of the devices and read the boasts of how much they resemble the real deal — sidearms made by the same weapons factories bearing some famous names.

It’s probably spitting in the wind to suggest a ban on the manufacture or sale of facsimile handguns. Maybe the best we can do is to beg, plead, cajole or whatever it takes to make people of any age treat the look-alikes as if they were deadly weapons. If any situation is such that it wouldn’t make a rational person wield a .40-cal semiautomatic pistol, holding a pellet pistol instead is not a joke.

Rather than hearing the age-old admonition from a stern parent to a kid holding a brand new BB gun, “You be careful with that thing. It could put someone’s eye out” — it could as well be said, “Used wrongly, that thing could get you killed.”

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Comments

Bill wrote on Nov 9, 2006 11:04 AM:

" I can't believe some of the incredibly naive and immature comments on this board. It must be the last twenty years of public school indoctrination taking effect. If you can't tell the difference between a BB gun and a real one, you shouldn't be a police officer. Also, why is it that now people are automatically considered armed and dangerous if they have a BB gun on them? I remember when the police assumed you were a law-abiding citizens, not a criminal, until you proved otherwise. Fools! "

Martin wrote on Nov 9, 2006 9:41 AM:

" Personal Freedom's and liberties come with risk. A 'perfectly safe perfectly sane' society is perfectly impossible, not to mention boring. In the persuit of happiness I have spent thousands of dollars on replica guns that I use for military re-enactments. We go out in the woods away from people. We use large signs that says "Non-lethat guns in use" it shows a sillouhuette of a gun and says 'toy' across it. It still doesn't stop people who might come by and think, "that just doesn't seem right!" So they call the cops. The cops come out, tell us to lay low from "civie liberals". If I walk into the store or down the street with my M-15A4, perfect mock-up, I deserve to get shot. If I use the propper precautions leave me alone! "

Lee McGee wrote on Nov 9, 2006 6:01 AM:

" Note: 1] It's a toy, for crissakes! 2] Chickenfingers, when held to someone's head in the dark, can resemble a firearm. Let's outlaw chickenfingers. 3] See 1988 Federal Toy Firearms Act: Nothing can be made sufficiently foolproof that a sufficiently motivated fool cannot circumvent it. 4] The Darwin Factor dictates the outcome for 17 year old fools in equal measure to 50 year old fools. 5] SCOTUS has consistently ruled the police are not responsible for the safety of individual citizens. 6] "Nteither the courts nor the legislature can protect a fool from the consequences of his folly." -- author unknown but thanked. "

Craig wrote on Nov 9, 2006 3:23 AM:

" So banning a legal object that has been around since before the founding of this country to stop kids from acting like thugs, isn't going to stop kids from acting like thugs. Like Mike said there have been recent cases of thugs in New York painting firearms with the orange band. So automatically we loose that advantage. The ND Century Code classifies BB-guns as dangerouse weapons, not toys. While it is my biggest fear to have a teen pull a toy or a BB-gun on me, they are acting against societial norms that there are specific consequences for. While it is one of my biggest fear to have someone pull a BB-gun or toy gun on me the consequence that would happen wouldn't be my fault. "

Mike wrote on Nov 8, 2006 12:26 PM:

" Coming from someone from ND who is in the industry, I think a couple things should be noted. First, While there are countless toy guns made to resemble real guns available, the real problem starts before any kid gets his hand on a toy gun. There is obviously a lack of moral structure for any person to point any gun real or plastic at a person, let alone a cop. Second, I would like to belive that a majority of North Dakotans learn these values early. A gun should be treated as a gun no matter what. Next, no current airsoft, pellet or BB gun is actually made by a real gun manufacturer. Some due carry actual trademarks, only because of marketing agreements. Recently there has been cases of gang members painting orange tips on the end of their real guns to make them look like toys. Another reason to treat any possbility as the real thing. "

Bfife wrote on Nov 8, 2006 9:42 AM:

" It is just too bad that we can't make intelligence mandatory. BB and toy guns have to be treated with respect. Guns shouldn't be brandished or pointed at people. My dad taught me that when I got a BB gun over 50 years ago. If he saw me handling it improperly, he took it away from me. I don't blame police who kill "armed and dangerous" individuals who are brandishing look alike guns, I blame the parents. "

babyt wrote on Nov 8, 2006 7:47 AM:

" A pellet/BB/CO2 or even a paintball gun is just as much of a real gun as any other. ANY of those can kill if you hit a person in the right area at closer range. If I were an officer and someone was pointing a bb gun at me I would be treating it exactly like any other weapon. "

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