CBC: The Trouble with Fake Guns

[Thenooblord]

well, right now all we can do is hope that the footage they showed and what ther were talking about is the "bad" BB guns and they'll contrast it with our organized game for "proper" use, but i doubt it

[Daviday]

Well i don't want to sound supportive of underageded airsofters; but Not all 16 and 17 yearolds are a bad bunch of apples. I myself enjoy pratisipating in the sport just
as much as everyone here, and yes i do fallow the rules at my feild and i do store my weapons properly. I'm waiting untill i'm 18 to be age verified.

I do have to give you all a plus for weaving out the "retards" who come on the
form to try and get a gun without beining 18, and/or getting the stupid ones who
ask questions that they can answer with google.

However it is ture when most average 16 year olds see a gun they
turn into to kid in the candy shop.

[chester]

Originally Posted by Daviday

I'm one year a way from graduating from school and sure as hell i hate my classmates for there udder stupidity and level of Ignorance.

I think you should cut your classmates some slack. Just like we cut you slack for misspellings left and right, including "there" and "udder" as you're calling your classmates stupid. Don't be a hater.

[phantastik]

Originally Posted by chester

I think you should cut your classmates some slack. Just like we cut you slack for misspellings left and right, including "there" and "udder" as you're calling your classmates stupid. Don't be a hater.

Irony is so cruel.

[Daviday]

Originally Posted by chester

I think you should cut your classmates some slack. Just like we cut you slack for misspellings left and right, including "there" and "udder" as you're calling your classmates stupid. Don't be a hater.

Thank you for pointing that out i shouldn't of put that in. My generation however is rather well "different" then agian i did come from anouther country
with a different culture, so it could just be the way people live here.

[Mighty Mouse]

I've been playing since I was 12. All comes down to how you are raised. I was never allowed to point even cap guns at people or animals and that rule was the key to growing up to be a responsible airsofter.

[Amos]

Any updates?

[sushicake]

Originally Posted by Amos

Any updates?

Show doesn't air till 8:30pm tonight.

[phantastik]

Just heard the preview for it on the radio... went something like this

"Real guns are a problem, but recently there has been a growing concern about fake guns, guns that look just like the real thing but are much easier to attain and possess than their real counterparts- we sent ------- a 16 year old into a store, and twenty minutes and 175$ later he emerged, "What did you get? Oh a Walther ppk" These guns have been used in robberies, carjackings and other violent crimes, ------ was held up at her antique shop with what she later found out was a fake gun. "They told me it didn't shoot real bullets, that it was a bb gun, but i don't care, a gun's a gun" The trouble is in many provinces there is no legislation governing these fake guns, and schools have been having trouble dealing, There are police officers calling for bylaws that would make it illegal for anyoneJoin us tonight when we put vancouver police to the test in determining what is a real gun and what isn't tonight on marketplace.

That's not a verbatim recollection of what i just heard in the drive to work, but I have a pretty good memory and that's what i got from it... Things that stuck out

"18 years old to possess 'fake' guns"
"Easier to attain than a real gun"
"No legislation in most provinces"

Can anyone confirm/deny this factual accuracy?

[coach]

Here's the article from the Metro today:

http://www.metronews.ca/Toronto/comment/article/188319

The allure of fake guns spells trouble
Marketplace by Erica Johnson
February 27, 2009 05:02


“Get your wallets, or I’ll shoot her!” yelled the gunman, as he put his weapon to Pat Johnson’s head. He’d just walked into the antique store she manages in Vancouver’s swanky Shaughnessy district.

When he turned away, some colleagues tackled him to the ground, sending his weapon flying. But the gunman’s arrest wasn’t the end of the story. When officers picked up the gun for evidence, they learned it was an imitation — a BB gun, made to look just like the real thing.

Of course, that didn’t make it any less traumatic for Johnson. “A gun’s a gun,” she says. “And we were all terrified.”

And it seems, that’s what criminals are learning, too. Police across Canada say fake guns that look real are being used in more and more crimes. They’re used in car-jackings, bank robberies and convenience store hold ups, too.

And realistic looking guns are causing problems in schools. In Toronto, there have recently been more incidents involving fake guns than the real thing.

So what’s the attraction? Well, for one, young people tell us it’s fun to shoot a BB gun that looks just like a cop’s. And these fakes are easy to buy. In most parts of Canada, there are no age requirements around who can buy a realistic looking gun.

Manufacturers sure know the appeal of real looking fakes — they’re making buckets of money, by getting licensing agreements from the real gun manufacturers to make theirs as real as possible.

And criminals know that it’s perfectly legal to carry a real-looking gun, and no permit’s required to get one.

For the cops? It all spells big trouble. When they get a “gun call,” they respond as though the person — young or old — is carrying a real gun. In Canada, that’s lead to unnecessary shootings and fatalities.

Over the years, numerous coroner’s juries, and police at all levels have called on the federal government to tighten up the laws when it comes to these fake guns. Some cops want the imitations outright banned.

Others want a “must be 18 to buy and possess” law. And others say you should have to have a license to buy a gun that looks like the real deal.

The federal government says it’s looking at the issue — a “working group” was struck two years ago.

While we wait for its recommendations, store manager Pat Johnson has installed tighter security at her shop, so now any “customers” have to be buzzed in.

[phantastik]

Well if the government has created a "special" group to deal with this, we're pretty much in luck, it means they wont be reaching a suggestion for the next 5 years at least...

[L473ncy]

Even using a fake gun in the commission of a crime gets you the same time as if it were a real one correct?

Well I guess if you have a good lawyer to spin it you'd get a reduced sentence, maybe even a slap on the wrist.

Also WTH is this sentence about? I think they need to recheck their facts.

And criminals know that it’s perfectly legal to carry a real-looking gun, and no permit’s required to get one.

[kalnaren]

Will CT sell a real-looking pellet gun to someone under 18?

[coach]

Originally Posted by kalnaren

Will CT sell a real-looking pellet gun to someone under 18?

typically not. even the soft air products they sometimes check ID.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by L473ncy

Even using a fake gun in the commission of a crime gets you the same time as if it were a real one correct?

Using a pellet gun is a firearm offence. Using a prop gun is an imitation firearm offence. The sentencing provisions are similarly harsh.