The stupid in this is staggering.
“I am unable to apprehend the state of mind producing this kind of confusion” - Babbage
It would seem to be a darned good way to get yourself shot.
Cops fire immediately if the object in the hand of the suspected perp even RESEMBLES a gun, even if it is a cell phone or ball-point pen.
Of course criminal and terrorists of all sorts ought to be encouraged to use toys, that way, when a law-abiding armed citizen is threatened with violence during a criminal encounter, they (we) can use counter-vailing lethal force- and then be relived that the perp we engaged was only using a toy- not that that would change the lethal force formula- even if the perp told us he was using a toy, we would still be lawfully entitled to fear for our lives, unless of course, the perp offered the “toy” weapon to us for inspection.....
I would not feel any different if I had used lethal force on a perp and then found out the weapon he brandished or threatened me with was a toy.
I hope more fools do in fact use toys rather than real weapons- it would indeed make the scenario much safer for the armed citizen.....
Does anyone think the last words heard by an expiring armed robber “but I told you it was only a toy” would change the outcome of a DA’s investigation or a grand jury’s decision? Me neither.