An LAPD officer shoots a 13-year-old holding a pellet gun, and this is the Golden State legislature’s response:
An NRA-ILA alert – California SB 798, introduced by anti-gun extremist state Senator Kevin De León (D-22), passed in the Senate Public Safety Committee by a 5 to 2 vote and is now awaiting third reading in the full Senate. This bill would treat air and BB guns the same as a toy gun by requiring the entire exterior surface of the device to be white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, right pink, or bright purple as the predominate color. BB guns are not toys and should not be treated as or manufactured like a toy . . .
The California legislature are mandating that all pellet and Airsoft guns be painted in Day-Glo colors to help cops distinguish lethal from less-than-lethal firearms. What could possibly go wrong? I know!
It certainly doesn’t take a lot of effort (something criminals do by nature, otherwise, “Cube-T” would already be working and a productive citizen to society) to duracoat (cerakote) a real gun with a brightly colored finish. A cop sees a “toy gun” and lowers their guard (just enough) to be shot in the head by Johnny (Jose, Jamal, etc.) Perp.
Did anyone think to teach 13-year-olds not to point the gun or make furtive gestures around the police? That’s a less expensive option. We could also go with simple Darwinism. But again, a gun is a gun is a gun, right?
Anything that launches a small object at a relatively high velocity in a generally straight direction is not a toy. People wear safety glasses around these items for a reason. Owners should follow the four rules of safety: Loaded, Brain, Finger, Muzzle – or LBFM. (I know the real rules, this I can remember.)
Back to the law. It will do nothing to save children from being shot. Don’t even try that “well, if it saves just one life…” argument. That is a crap. If we lived our lives under that rule, we would all be limited to 5 MPH in our cars. It is a question risk and reward. The risk is pretty low and the reward is non-existent.
:: head-desk::
Really?
Airsoft guns are sports equipment for wargames. High quality guns cost well over $100. Adults play this (I do). If the gun can be easily seen, there IS no game.
-D
When I was a lil kid, our cap guns had a silly RED thing in the front. We used to paint it black so that it would look like a real gun, not a silly toy.
And when I was a little kid they weren’t putting anything on the front. We knew better than to point a toy gun at police. Although we did shoot at each other with our bb gun’s.
This just shows how far down the US is falling in every aspect. Air guns ARE TOYS. You can sugar coat it anyway you want but the majority of people who own them treat them as toys. If they are not toys you would not see kids running around shooting AT each other. I know they are dangerous and can do some serious damage but come on people we cannot be dragged down by this mentality of “everything is a weapon”.
The problem seems to be that we shelter every little kid from everything. My grandfather still laughs at all these things as he still has pictures and memories of using dynamite to blow stuff up for fun on his farm when he was barely 10 years old. Think of that, when people had to work for a living just to survive and kids were expected to work you could walk down to the local store and buy TnT and yet no one was killing each other with it.
Call it what you want but a toy is a toy. The problem is we are coddling every little brat in this world so when they finally get ahold of a REAL firearm they have no idea what to do with it. I know when I was 5yrs old my father bought me my first .22mag rifle and he told me the rules and he expected me to follow them and I DID in fear of getting my hide tanned real good. Set rules for your kids and follow through on punishment and they will turn out fine assuming you do not live in a retarded state like California or Illinois that is out to ruin your life in general.
Agreed. I remember blowing up stumps with home made goodies before I was old enough to know it was verbotten. Of course, I use to jump off the barn and practice parachute falls…
lol. Back in the day before liberals were liberals and America at least resembled a free country.
Hell yes! I use to use speaker wire, a lantern battery and a bare flash bulb as ignition. I came up with it on my own at 12.
Maybe if they just dictate oven mitts on all children until age 18…and special helmets-like I wear!
Old garage door opener, magnesium wire from gramps old flasbulbs, diesel and fertilizer were my favorite toys at ten.
At age sixteen I had perfected a can for my bolt action .22. My older brother was a cop and came home to visit over the weekend while my parents were on vacation. He was trying to get to sleep in the next room while a stray dog barked endlessly about a hundred feet away. I slid out of my bed, eased my window up, removed the screen and nailed the barking bitch in the hip. The dog tore out, barking all throughout our small town. The next morning, brother was still wondering what got into the dog. I told him the whole story thirty years later. He still doesn’t believe it. I wised up and destroyed the can before I turned “age of majority” but I think about that can every time I see a piece of lamp rod for sale at Hobby Lobby. Oh, what I learned in Girl Scouts!
Tara W.
I wouldn’t be so quick to call airguns toys. A lot of the break action, spring powered, .22 and .177 pellet guns are capable of reaching pretty close to .22 lr levels of power and can be bought for right around 100 and 150 dollars. Obviously wouldn’t be eager to use them for home defense or anything, but they’re still definitely powerful enough that they shouldn’t be shot at human beings for shits and giggles.
Now, even if you don’t agree that the .177 and .22 caliber pellet guns are more dangerous than your average airsoft gun; you’d be hard pressed to call something capable of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o0XVa5oyMU a toy.
It’s nice to know that everyone needs to be regulated based on the lowest common denominator.
Reminds me of some statement I read from a British politician(it may have been fake, don’t remember), something to the effect of, “someone has to come along and ruin it for everyone,” which is how teachers treat children in kindergarten.
BB and pellet guns that look like NERF-type toys. What could possibly go wrong?
Why don’t they just give the bad guys black hats and the good guys white hats?
And now the cost of a ‘Preban’ Daisy skyrockets to $550 in Cali…
Roflmfao. California never ceases to amaze me.
Now if CA would just outlaw shooting black people for no good reason, we could all sleep well tonight.
Forgetting anybody?
Gangbanger? No.
I sure am glad we got out of the DPRK. Painting my Weihrauch HW77K purple would be sacriledge. Hopefully it will soon be part of Nuevo Aztlan and the likes of Fineswine and Babs “call me Senator” Boxer will cease to afflict the Republic. Mexico deserves them.
My friend and I used to save our lunch money and walk to the local hardware store at school lunch time. We would buy a box of .22 shorts at lunch hour. We would need another box the next day. Went thru tthousands of BB’s also.
You can’t fix stupid, but you can fix this stupid law with a can of tactical black spray paint. Flat or satin finish, your choice.
What saddens me is that I work at an Airosft retailer outside of Los Angeles. This job puts food on the table. While I am an airsoft hobbyist, I am more concerned by the fact that this will put a lot of places out of business as Los Angeles is the nation’s largest hub for airsoft retailers. While this may appear to be a non sequitur argument, please allow me to break it down. Airsoft’s largest appeal is realism. Cut the realism out of the picture and hardly anyone will play. This will curb sales and pretty much outlaw what we have already. No sales means no money. No money equals lay offs and unemployment applications. Right when we’re trying to turn things around in our country, the Democratic party of California finds a way to make more people unemployed. Senator DeLeon, does this mean you are going to start paying my bills?
I have the tendency to agree with the concept that Mr. Perp/Mr. Gang Banger can paint his M16 day-glo-pink and fool the cops (as well as anyone) into thinking he’s carrying his kid’s toy at the mall! This bill is a bad idea no matter if it pertains to airsoft guns. I think Mr. De Leon is trying to show he’s an alpha male and pee in everyone’s sand box!
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