OH: Focus on Gun Color is Farcical

Gun Watch ^ | 16 December, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Someone painted this Cobra FS 380 for unknown purposes.  The police claim that it was to make it appear to be a toy, but people have been customizing and adorning the appearance of weapons for centuries.  From fox19.com:

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -
Orlando Lowery was in court this weekend for allegedly painting his .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun to look like a toy.

It is only in recent times that firearms could easily be made in many different colors.  As the capability to do so has emerged, more and more people are taking advantage of it.  Here are some pistols in different colors.

This Pink Glock is fully functional.  One advantage of brightly colored handguns is that they are highly visible.   It is hard for a gun to be a credible deterrent if it cannot be seen.   I have read of more than one incident where a person armed with a mini-revolver was forced to fire it to prove that it was real.

Here are a couple of colorful Glock pistols that are not functional.  If a criminal wanted to have police believe his gun was not "real", training blue might be a better color.   Blue is the traditional color for training munitions that are inert.   This is a Glock 17 T FX,

 Another colorful Glock that cannot fire, a Glock 22 P

This Taurus PT 738 has an excellent reputation for reliability.  It is small, light, easy to carry, and is said to have one of the better triggers of the tiny, composite framed .380 pistols.   It comes in a variety of colors.

In the article about the painted Cobra FS, a Democrat legislator wants to require non-firearm guns to be brightly colored:

 Ohio State Representative and President of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) introduced legislation to require all BB guns, air rifles and airsoft guns sold in Ohio to be brightly colored or have prominent florescent strips.

It seems a nonsensical solution to a non-problem.  A 12-year-old who was acting irresponsibly with an airsoft gun was shot and killed in Ohio.  The orange tip required to be on the gun by law had been removed.  From foxnews.com:

A boy brandishing a replica gun died Sunday after being shot by a Cleveland police officer responding to a 911 call about a person waving a gun in a park.

Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the officer fired twice after the boy pulled the fake weapon -- which was lacking the orange safety indicator usually on the muzzle -- from his waistband.

An officer should never assume that a realistic looking item is not real if it is colored, so requiring non-guns to be colored is silly.  

The proposed law seems an emotional response that burdens everyone else for the sake of extremely dubious benefit.  It costs time, money, manpower, and incrementally reduces liberty to implement these regulations and laws.   The old "if it saves one life" mantra is irrational.   A great many things might "save one life".   In the example above, you can easily argue that the "coloring" regulation  was partly responsible for the shooting.  There was no orange tip, so the officer was more likely to believe the gun was a real threat.

One may also ask, what if it costs a single officer's life, because they assumed a gun was a toy when it was not?   Hypothetical's can be easily constructed for both sides.

In half serious mien, it would be better to pass a law requiring all 12-year-olds to be responsible young men with strong moral values.    If followed (not easy, but done in much of the country by custom and culture), it would save many more lives. 

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[marktwain]

Gun color is becoming a matter of personal choice.

[WayneS]

Will someone please post a photo of the “Hell Kitten” AR15.

[Yo-Yo]

Your wish...

[WayneS]

Thanks.

[mikeandike]

According to the gun manufacture's website the guns come in different colors.It appears that the factory finish on this one is ruby red.

Cobra Pistols

[mac_truck]

There was a story out the other day in which an Alabama couple caught two thieves and held them for police.

[Farmer Dean]

What strained legal theory allows the cops to drag someone into court over this?

[Malone LaVeigh]

Then there are people who do something like this.

Real shotgun disguised as a toy.

[MrB]

Wow... I have a supersoaker that looks very similar.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

This being said, thought should be given as to how to safely mitigate the risks involved here.

For instance, when kids are playing with toy guns, they need to be taught a strict rule that if *any* of the kids see a police officer in the area, they loudly yell out “STOP PLAYING!!!” (Absolutely NOT “cease fire”!) to the other kids, and they all immediately put their toy guns on the ground and step back away from them, even if they cannot see the kid who yells.

Once this is established as a cultural norm, that is, most kids know and obey it as a rule; then the police can adopt it as well. That is, if they see a kid with what could be a toy or real gun, instead of yelling “freeze!” or “drop the gun!”, they yell “STOP PLAYING!!!”

This gives a kid trained in this a chance to not get shot, and the cop a chance to not shoot a kid by accident. And, if the kid does not put his gun down and walk away from it, but points it at the cop, then the cop can legally shoot the kid without question.

If they kid does not obey, but does not act in an immediately threatening way, then the cop can shout out the other things, “freeze!” or “drop the gun!”, to try and get the kid to disarm with other means.

Increase safety, decrease ambiguity.

[circlecity]

Actually some of those desert cammo patterns for AR style rifles look pretty cool and don’t make them look like toys.

[W.]

We need to tell Ohio Legislative Black Caucus member Alicia Reece that just because you managed to be elected to public office doesn't obligate you to turn your stupid ideas into law. I swear, putting these people in control of the levers of power is like setting a 2-year-old in front of an old adding machine. They can push the buttons and make the machine go ratchety-chunk, but what ends up on the tape is just useless garbage. Operating such items requires knowledge of the subject at hand and the experience needed to facilitate the proper solution. These days, politicians barely know how to think, let alone resolve complex issues rationally.