Realistic Looking Toy Guns Pose Challenges for Police

One of the deep concerns of officers is mistaking a toy gun for a real gun and shooting a child.  This is a serious and real problem as toy guns look more and more like real guns.  And real guns are looking more and more like toy guns.

A Baltimore police officer shot and wounded a 14-year-old boy in April after spotting him with a Daisy Powerline 340 BB gun, right. A semi-automatic handgun, pictured left, provided by police shows how similar the models look.
Real gun is on the left.  BB gun is on the right.   

This NPR story points out the challenges of this problem.

http://www.npr.org/player/embed/486057234/486646259

The article points out that officers in Baltimore picked up a mix of toy and real guns in a raid including a pink rifle.  I easily found this photo of a rifle for sale on the Internet.

See the problem?

 

Published by

Chief Jeff Baker

I'm the Chief of Police for the Auburn Hills Police Department.