Guns are not toys, especially "toy" guns (op-ed)
In February 2015 the Atlanta Blackstar asked: Is this a nation where you can shoot and kill a little black boy playing with a toy gun in the park and get away with it?
Recently the Associated Press answered: A grand jury … declined to indict a white rookie officer in the killing of Twelve year old Tamir Rice, a black youngster who was shot while playing with a pellet gun.
The question and the answer have the same climax “boy shot playing”, but they have different descriptions of the gun.
Once it was confirmed the boy didn’t possess a firearm the gun became “fake” or “not real”. These descriptions along with the first two (toy gun, pellet gun) promoted harmlessness and produced the narrative that the boy was just playing.
But the 911 call was made because the boy was pointing a gun.
The caller also said the gun might be fake and the suspect was a juvenile, but the 911 dispatcher never relayed the last sentence to the police officers. (This information is relevant if Cleveland police officers are trained to approach juveniles pointing a gun, which might be fake, differently than adults pointing what possibly could be a pistol -- Are they?)
When the police arrived, the passenger side officer opened the door, the boy walked toward the police car, raised his outer garment, reached toward his waistband, and the officer fired his weapon. It took two seconds. (Now the time it took is relevant if there is scientific proof that fake guns are removed from waistbands at slower rates than real guns -- Is there?)
The “boy shot playing” narrative is false.
The boy was acting out a scenario in his mind. He knew the gun wasn’t “real”, but at twelve years old he was completely unaware of how his posturing looked. Unfortunately when the police arrived the boy was still oblivious to public perception and he reached for the gun most likely to prove to the police it wasn’t a firearm.
Now an Ohio state representative wants “imitation guns” to look more like toys. But this wasn’t prompted by Tamir Rice. It began earlier when a 22-year old was shot by an officer because a “BB gun” was mistaken for a rifle. (Two more descriptions are added to the gun list.)
Manufactures of these “imitation guns” stated they make their guns to look like firearms because they should not be treated as toys and these “imitation guns” come with warnings discouraging owners from brandishing them in public.
So what exactly did Tamir Rice have?
He had an Airsoft replica of a Colt 1911 .45 pistol. Now Airsplat.com features Airsoft University. They have a page titled: Toy Guns vs. Airsoft Guns: There’s a difference! (They have diagrams of the inner workings of the AEG (automatic electric gun) Airsoft rifle, GBB (gas blowback) Airsoft pistol, and the spring Airsoft gun.)
But the same site defines Airsoft as: An informal term in reference to BB guns that use plastic BB’s larger than common BB’s sold in local sporting goods stores … The difference/advantage is that with Airsoft players can safely train/simulate/play with weapons … These toy guns both feel, look, and act like the real thing.
This is problematic. The site points out the difference between Airsoft replicas and Nerf dart guns, Super Soakers, and cap guns and then defines these same replicas as toys suitable for playing.
A spokesman for Daisy, the air rifle manufacturer, said, “Something like that -- which does have a high velocity and if criminally used or misused or carelessly used, could cause serious injury or death - to label something like that [a toy] would be irresponsible.”
A 1997 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics reported that of 101 children hospitalized for air gun injuries, three died, fifteen were blinded permanently, twenty five suffered permanent visual loss, and half of those 101 needed surgery.
The prosecutor summarized Tamir Rice’s death as a confluence of human error, mistake, and miscommunication. Airsplat.com can correct their miscommunication with a simple slogan: Guns are not toys, especially toy guns.
First published by the New Pittsburgh Courier 1/6/16
Recently the Associated Press answered: A grand jury … declined to indict a white rookie officer in the killing of Twelve year old Tamir Rice, a black youngster who was shot while playing with a pellet gun.
The question and the answer have the same climax “boy shot playing”, but they have different descriptions of the gun.
Once it was confirmed the boy didn’t possess a firearm the gun became “fake” or “not real”. These descriptions along with the first two (toy gun, pellet gun) promoted harmlessness and produced the narrative that the boy was just playing.
But the 911 call was made because the boy was pointing a gun.
The caller also said the gun might be fake and the suspect was a juvenile, but the 911 dispatcher never relayed the last sentence to the police officers. (This information is relevant if Cleveland police officers are trained to approach juveniles pointing a gun, which might be fake, differently than adults pointing what possibly could be a pistol -- Are they?)
When the police arrived, the passenger side officer opened the door, the boy walked toward the police car, raised his outer garment, reached toward his waistband, and the officer fired his weapon. It took two seconds. (Now the time it took is relevant if there is scientific proof that fake guns are removed from waistbands at slower rates than real guns -- Is there?)
The “boy shot playing” narrative is false.
The boy was acting out a scenario in his mind. He knew the gun wasn’t “real”, but at twelve years old he was completely unaware of how his posturing looked. Unfortunately when the police arrived the boy was still oblivious to public perception and he reached for the gun most likely to prove to the police it wasn’t a firearm.
Now an Ohio state representative wants “imitation guns” to look more like toys. But this wasn’t prompted by Tamir Rice. It began earlier when a 22-year old was shot by an officer because a “BB gun” was mistaken for a rifle. (Two more descriptions are added to the gun list.)
Manufactures of these “imitation guns” stated they make their guns to look like firearms because they should not be treated as toys and these “imitation guns” come with warnings discouraging owners from brandishing them in public.
So what exactly did Tamir Rice have?
He had an Airsoft replica of a Colt 1911 .45 pistol. Now Airsplat.com features Airsoft University. They have a page titled: Toy Guns vs. Airsoft Guns: There’s a difference! (They have diagrams of the inner workings of the AEG (automatic electric gun) Airsoft rifle, GBB (gas blowback) Airsoft pistol, and the spring Airsoft gun.)
But the same site defines Airsoft as: An informal term in reference to BB guns that use plastic BB’s larger than common BB’s sold in local sporting goods stores … The difference/advantage is that with Airsoft players can safely train/simulate/play with weapons … These toy guns both feel, look, and act like the real thing.
This is problematic. The site points out the difference between Airsoft replicas and Nerf dart guns, Super Soakers, and cap guns and then defines these same replicas as toys suitable for playing.
A spokesman for Daisy, the air rifle manufacturer, said, “Something like that -- which does have a high velocity and if criminally used or misused or carelessly used, could cause serious injury or death - to label something like that [a toy] would be irresponsible.”
A 1997 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics reported that of 101 children hospitalized for air gun injuries, three died, fifteen were blinded permanently, twenty five suffered permanent visual loss, and half of those 101 needed surgery.
The prosecutor summarized Tamir Rice’s death as a confluence of human error, mistake, and miscommunication. Airsplat.com can correct their miscommunication with a simple slogan: Guns are not toys, especially toy guns.
First published by the New Pittsburgh Courier 1/6/16
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