Should toy manyfacturers be allowed to market realistic looking toy guns?

[stone space]

19 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes.
	7 (37%)
	No.
	12 (63%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[HereSince1628]

1. Without toy guns there can be no pretend war...no pretend heroes

We'd have to depend on upland bird hunting to prepare our leaders.

[Takket]

8. Or shooting moose from a helicopter!

Like all brave Americans do!

[Oktober]

12. Guess what the Afghan kids use to play war with...

... assuming Dad's AK is unavailable...

Sticks and fingers... Can't unring that bell.

[morningfog]

2. I just think cops shouldn't be allowed to kill kids

With toys.

[madokie]

3. After 15 months

of strapping on a weapon each morning, (sometimes a 45, others a 38,) and keeping one (M16,) within reach and then seeing what they can do to human tissue I chose to not have anything to do with them once i returned to what I thought was a sane world so NO I don't think we need guns in our lives whether they be toys or the real thing.
Put me down in the no group there if you would be so kind to

[justhanginon]

7. Very well said and I thank you for your service.

[groundloop]

9. That says it all.

[abelenkpe]

4. Gun manufacturers shouldn't make guns

That look like toys. Pink guns? Orange guns? Not making it easier for toy manufacturers. And maybe cops should stop shooting before they actually grasp the situation.

[Prophet 451]

5. Define "toy manufacturer"

I own a bunch of airsoft weapons, all of which look pretty similar to real guns. But I didn't buy them for their appearance, I brought them because I enjoyed plinking in my backyard (that was back when I could stand for more than minutes) and couldn't afford a "real" airgun.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I voted no but I think you will find the manufacturers exclusive to airsoft and replica guns and not

as makers of 'toys' in general.

[uponit7771]

10. I have a feeling that the most of the people who vote yes wont be people of color...

... different perspectives of how police react to different people

[TorchTheWitch]

11. they are already required to add the bright orange tip to the end of the barrel

Any gun that actually does expel a projectile like a BB gun is not considered a toy, and therefore isn't required to have the bright orange tip. The larger problem is people seeing BB guns and seeing real guns - which they are though they don't expel bullets. A BB gun is not classified as a toy, therefore there is already a problem when people believe that it IS a toy because by law it is not.

I think that making BB guns or other projectile firing guns to look like a gun that shoots real bullets is madness without some kind of obvious marking that it isn't a bullet firing gun. I also understand the fear of the public when seeing someone walking about with what looks to all the world as a gun more lethal than it actually is seeing all the mass shootings the country has lived through. It also certainly doesn't help having these new open carry laws that as far as I can tell are designed to put people in fear and subject someone to being shot by police or someone else if they don't instantly comply to orders to put up their hands and/or put the gun on the ground or otherwise handle the gun inappropriately.

If the police can't tell that a gun is either a toy or a BB gun or some other non-bullet firing gun than there is a big problem they might and has already caused the death of people carrying them that do stupid things like walking around in public with them in hand, pointing them at people and not immediately putting it down out of their hands when ordered by the police. I think it's rather obvious that the police HAVE to assume that a gun that appears to be a bullet firing gun IS one since the risk of believing that it isn't is too great to themselves and others that it may be what it appears to all the world to be.

Though we have laws that toy guns - those that do not fire any kind of projectile - have to be designated visually as a toy with the bright orange tip on the barrel, we don't have any laws about non-bullet firing guns that are being made to look just like real bullet firing guns.

I don't see that it makes any difference the age of a person who has such a gun in their hands. Children have killed people with guns before many times either handling them inappropriately or actually shooting them at someone on purpose. A gun in the hands of a child or a mentally disturbed person is even more of a danger since such people can't be trusted to not handle them inappropriately or be able to ascertain what not to do with them that puts people in legitimate fear or to follow orders to immediately put it down. I already think that it's wildly foolish to furnish projectile firing guns to children without adult supervision. Why anyone allows their child to walk about in public holding a projectile firing gun in their hand is a mystery to me. That falls under the category of really stupid person that doesn't know how or why to handle a gun appropriately regardless if it's a bullet firing gun or not that looks like a real bullet firing gun and has no distinctive marking signifying that it isn't.

[Ykcutnek]

13. Nope, nor should airsoft manufacturers. nt

[helpmetohelpyou]

14. An airsoft or BB gun CO2 pressure fired gun should not be sold as a toy

NERF guns are toys


This is a toy gun

[Daemonaquila]

15. Talk about targeting the wrong problem.

You can have an issue with toy guns in general - we can all reasonably disagree about what what should or shouldn't be a toy to begin with. However, toy guns aren't the problem when it comes to getting kids shot. Kids were running around with every kind of relatively realistic looking gun under the sun, not to mention actual BB guns, without any of them getting shot by cops for decades. Now with the militarization of police, it's apparently acceptable to shoot down a kid with a toy. Rather than trying to legislate toys out of existence, it's our job to shut down this new mode of policing so that a kid with a plastic gun doesn't automatically have a target painted on his chest.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

16. Absolutely not.

All toy guns should be brightly colored. Toys that shoot absolutely nothing more dangerous than water should be a certain color (lime green, red, whatever), and "toys" such as air guns or bb guns that can do some limited damage should be florescent orange. They should be easily distinguishable from real guns.

[Amishman]

17. Put an age requirement on buying airsoft, like they do in Canada

I know, parents will buy them for their kids but honestly there reaches a point where parents have to make right choices. This way at least parents have to be aware that their kid has the airsoft gun and know they are putting their child at risk.

[NutmegYankee]

18. Millions of people play airsoft.

The actions of one racist cop shouldn't dampen their fun. I've played the sport quite a few times, as I have with paintball as well.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. Putting the onus on the toy manufacturer

relieves the police of the responsibility for their actions.

[beevul]

24. Guess which side of that paradigm...

Guess which side of that paradigm our anti-gun colleagues fall on.

[kcr]

20. No, they should not

They should go the way of lawn darts and bucky balls.

[Xithras]

21. Yes. The problem is the cops. Not the kids or the toys.

We need to purge our police departments of this shoot-first cowboy mentality that is killing our children.

The toy guns we had back in the 70's and 80's were FAR more realistic looking than the ones we have today, and yet we did NOT have cops mowing kids down left and right. Kids have not changed. The toys have not changed...if anything, they're safer today with their bright orange tips. It's the COPS who have changed.

Saying that we need to ban toy guns because of COPS is basically accepting and adapting to our new, more murderous police forces. The cops are the problem, so fix the COPS.

[One_Life_To_Give]

22. Make Yes, but who should have/use such

Some place I have a realistic looking battery powered squirt gun, which looks like a 9mm Beretta. I would be very leary about letting a kid play with such. When I bought it was in my early 20's and used it horsing around with other guys my age. Was also aware that any cop seeing it would have to assume it was real and act accordingly.

For kids we see even with zero tolerance places that kids find a way with fingers, sticks etc. Don't think you accomplish much by just making the plastic piece illegal while leaving a larger culture intact. Would need to censor all mass media. And I don't think that is practical nor desirable for producing well rounded adults.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Sure. However, toy manufacturers are liable for injuries and deaths linked to their dangerous toys

and thus should be prepared to pay up when a child is killed because someone thought it was a real gun.