A Toy Gun, A Real Crime January 8, 2003 Alan Newsome never thought his BB gun would kill anyone. When he brandished it in the hallway of his Harlem apartment building, it was just something to help scare some cash out of a burger joint deliveryman. But the deliveryman turned out to be a cop, and when Newsome pulled the fake gun, the cop's partner shot the 17-year-old three times in the chest, killing him.
Though it was just a prop to Newsome, the BB gun could look
just like a 9-mm handgun to a frightened deliveryman or a detective faced with
a life-or-death decision. Deaths caused by toy guns passing for real ones are
rare, but often high profile. In 2000, budding actor Anthony Dwain Lee (who
had roles in "Liar, Liar" and "ER") was shot while holding a rubber toy gun by
an LAPD officer at a Beverly Hills, Calif., Halloween party. In January 1997,
a 26-year-old Long Island woman was shot and killed by an officer who mistook
a toy gun she carried for a real one.
The problem is nowhere more prevalent than in New York, where Newsome's death was just one of a number of prominent New York shootings involving toy guns. In April 2000, two suspected gang members were shot dead by undercover NYPD narcotics officers after they used fake handguns to rob them. In August 1998, a 16-year-old New York boy bearing a submachine gun water pistol was shot six times in the legs by police. Another boy, this one 13, was shot and killed in 1994 by a police officer who mistook his toy gun for the real thing. Although federal law already places some restrictions on toy guns, a pair of New York lawmakers plan to go further. Citing the prevalence of crimes committed in New York using replicas -- 1,400 in 1987, the last available statistic -- they want to ban toy guns from the city altogether. "We have to go to the source," says Brooklyn councilman Albert Vann, one of two authors of the proposed ban. "There have been more deaths in New York City due to toy guns than any other city in the nation. It seems to me that we have no other alternative than to make them unlawful." Vann and the bill's co-author, Queens councilman David Weprin, have seized upon Newsome's death to generate support for their bill, which was introduced last October. But the controversial measure has been decried by some, including the toy industry and, not surprisingly, gun rights groups, as a quick fix that ignores the real problem, criminal intent. It's not the toy guns that cause deaths, they say, it's the people who use them to commit crimes. A toy gun cultureMakeshift toy guns have been around almost as long as firearms themselves, but the modern history begins with the cap gun, invented by shotgun manufacturers who retrofitted their factories in the settling smoke of the Civil War. In 1886, the first BB gun was created, scaring parents because it actually worked. Cheap, non-functional replicas, called penny guns, sprang up then as well, riding the coattails of improved manufacturing techniques. In the 1950s, the toy gun vaulted into the mainstream when the swashbuckling, dual-holstered cowboy of the Wild West boosted sales to almost $300 million dollars over the decade. (Think Ralphie Parker, boy protagonist of "A Christmas Story" and his quest for the Red Ryder BB gun.) Westerns waned eventually, but the rise of the toy gun continued in the following decades. In the 1980s, anti-gun activists leveled their sights on BB guns. The pared-down pistols and rifles, they noted, could do just what mothers had cautioned they would for years: "put your eye out." One study found that almost all BB guns were able to achieve the 39 meters per second required to penetrate the eyeball. Toy guns didn't become a target of federal lawmakers until the late 1980s, when the Federal Imitation Gun Law was passed, requiring manufacturers to modify their toy guns to make them appear less realistic. In October 1992, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued regulations governing the "Marking of Toy Look-Alike and Imitation Firearms." Under the new specifications, toy guns were required to bear a solid, "blaze-orange" plug at the tip of their barrel, or be colored entirely white, bright red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink or purple. Paint it blackThe problem with the existing toy gun regulations, says the Queens councilman leading the fight, is that they're easily defeated. "These guns, you can spray paint 'em. It defeats the purpose," Weprin said. "I have a [toy] gun that I bought myself. I spray painted it black and it looks identical to the gun that's on the front page of the newspapers." Weprin is worried that juveniles with a criminal bent will use toy guns when they can't get the real thing. Buying a gun isn't particularly difficult for those with connections, but for the younger crowd, a toy is easier to come by. The councilman, a father of five, also says kids won't be missing much without a toy that encourages violence. "People ask me, 'When you were a kid didn't you play with toy guns?'" said Weprin. "The answer was, yes, I played cops and robbers, but I also used to play with toy cigarettes. I wouldn't want my kids using those either." Lawmakers across the country are also addressing the issue. In November 2002, the Carrollton, Texas, city council amended its firearms ordinance to outlaw the possession of toy guns by minors and to make it illegal to use toy guns in public in any manner that would cause alarm. And laws curbing the accessibility of BB and pellet guns have been strengthened in Chicago and Baltimore. On a national level, New York congressman Edolphus Towns plans to reintroduce a bill on Jan. 7 that would "ban toys which in size, shape or overall appearance resemble real handguns." Towns' measure does not go as far as the proposed New York City ban. The bill, whose first rendition died in committee last session, seeks to tighten restrictions to prevent replicas from being too similar to real guns (and thereby easily modified) while allowing individuals to continue enjoying toys they already have. It's a necessary compromise, says Brenda Pillors, congressman Towns' chief of staff. "When you start talking about a total ban it becomes something quite difficult to do," said Pillors. "One would theoretically like to do that, but the reality of it is nonexistent. The question becomes, how do you define what a toy gun is? Is it a stage prop? Is it a water gun?" A spokesman for the Toy Industry of America likens the proposed New York ban to "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." "It would be ridiculous to eliminate products like Nerf guns, Star Trek phasers, and translucent water guns that aren't used in criminal activity," said Rick Locker, the association's counsel, who plans to argue his point to the New York City Council on February 6. "To blame toys when the real issue is criminal intent is a red herring. It's a quick fix," he said. "Police officers don't react to a toy, they react to the situation. And you could easily create out of wood or a flashlight something that could fool them just as easily as a toy gun." Instead of a ban, Locker suggests strengthening penalties for the use of decoy weapons. One motivation for using a prop weapon, admits Brooklyn councilman Vann, is the chance of getting less jail time if caught with a water pistol, say, instead of a Desert Eagle .45-caliber handgun with the serial numbers filed off. The two New York City lawmakers also hope that a strong showing in the city council will spur the state legislature to boost penalties for selling toy gun replicas, which now top off at a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. The debate has made curious bedfellows of the toy industry, concerned about loss of profits, and gun rights groups, who object to the implication such a ban could have on real guns. "We don't think that the government has any business regulating toys, especially guns," said Angel Shamaya, executive director of the guns rights organization Keep and Bear Arms. "Banning toy guns is just another feel-good anti-gun maneuver, and we oppose it." But for supporters of the ban, that's partly the point. Beyond preventing crimes committed using gun replicas, the councilmen simply want to keep guns of any sort out of the hands of youngsters. Said Vann, "If they use toy guns there's a greater chance they'll graduate to the real thing when they grow up."
TOY GUN NEWS STORIES FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY Toy Gun Causes
Airport Evacuation SAN JOSE (AP) -- A 6-year-old boy's toy
gun and a security mix-up led to a major evacuation Saturday at the San Jose
International Airport, causing flight delays that affected travelers nationwide,
police said. Water Pistol Leads to
Shooting NEW YORK (AP) -- A 16-year-old boy was
shot by police who mistook his water pistol for a real weapon, with one of the
officers firing all 16 rounds in his gun. Michael Jones was in critical
condition Monday. He was shot early Sunday after encountering police while he
rode his bicycle. He was hit six times in the legs. Mugging Suspects Dead in Latest
NYPD Shooting NEW YORK (AP) -- Two undercover
narcotics officers fatally shot two reputed gang members after they robbed the
policemen by brandishing fake handguns, authorities said Saturday.
Expulsion for toy gun upheld A hearing officer has upheld the expulsion of an 11-year-old Whitman Middle School student who brought a squirt gun to school. The boy was expelled two weeks ago under the Seattle School District's zero-tolerance policy after a school staff member saw the squirt gun in the lunchroom. The gun, which was painted black and brown, fell out of the boy's backpack. "Toys that look like weapons are treated like weapons," said Trevor Neilson, district spokesman. "They (the parents and the student) were aware of the policy and were in violation of it. We feel bad, but we can't start making exceptions if we want our schools safe." The zero-tolerance policy has been in place since Superintendent John Stanford started in the district three years ago. An amendment last year added toy weapons. Last year, more than a dozen students were expelled for bringing toy weapons to school, Neilson said. The student can petition for re-entry to the Seattle School District, but he would first have to go through a program at John Marshall or Sharples Alternative School. But even after the re-entry program, it is unlikely he would be allowed back at Whitman. Neilson said if the boy's parents appeal the decision, their case will go to a School Board subcommittee, made up of a School Board member and two community members.
Until last week, Imelda and Ramon Yanez said they had not given much thought to their son, Alejandro, playing with toy guns. But Saturday, the Yanezes took Alejandro, 4, to the McDonald's on North Oxnard Boulevard to drop off his three toy guns. The Yanezes said their 6-year-old daughter, Anna Karen, had told them earlier in the week she learned it wasn't OK to play with guns. "We'll try not to buy him guns anymore," Ramon Yanez said. "We want more creative toys for him." The family's changing attitude is a result of a weeklong anti-violence campaign at Brekke Elementary School. Officer Arnulfo Loza and Lt. Howard Walther of the California Youth Authority's tactical team in Camarillo had visited the school to talk to children about why they should not use toy guns, and teachers discussed the issue with their students. The tactical team sponsored a toy-gun buyback for the first time as part of the campaign. Saturday, more than 120 children dumped their toy guns in a large bin or signed a pledge for nonviolence. In return, they got a free hamburger meal and a Frisbee from the tactical team. "What we're trying to do is to prevent kids from becoming involved in violent acts," said Cassandra Stansberry, the correctional facility's assistant superintendent. "Because violence is a learned behavior, we've asked them to bring in their toy guns." Children must be told from an early age, she said, that guns can hurt people and should not be used. "We looked at what happened recently in San Diego," said Stansberry, referring to the March 5 shooting at Santana High School in Santee, which left two people dead. "He learned that 'if these kids are picking on me, I need to get rid of these people' and he picked up a gun." Several dozen guns, including large water guns, were dumped into the bin. The movement to ban toy guns is a national one, according to Web sites. Although there's no apparent study that links violent behavior to children using toy guns, child development specialists Alvin Poussaint and Susan Linn caution parents against allowing their children to play with toy guns, according to the Learning Network Web site. "Playing cops-and-robbers or other 'shoot the bad guy' games is often seen as innocent fun and a harmless rite of passage for little boys across America," they wrote. "Every toy we give our children carries the message that we approve of that toy. ... Do we want them to practice using guns?" Not everyone agrees with that point of view. Richard Poe, a conservative author and journalist, wrote that children "play fighting" is natural and should not be stopped, according to the Front Page Magazine Web site. "Scientists believe that all this chasing and fighting stimulates the nervous system, building up important neural connections in a young animal's brain," he wrote. Fact Sheet About Toy
Guns Send mail to webmaster@theppsc.org with questions or comments about this web site.
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