Reply #15: This wasn't an issue not too long ago

[Horse with no Name]

However, the environment is such now, that just like in the story that I linked to, someone leaves the prop lying around.
So a kid does what a kid does and picks it up. Goofs around with it, someone calls the cops, and the kid either ends up tazered, in cuffs, or shot because of the fear of school shootings.
One of these days, maybe our country will come back to it's senses, but right now, I would be terrified that the child holding the toy weapon could be injured by someone who thought they were saving the world--when the kid was just being a kid.