Posted on 12/05/2005 3:01:27 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
I must confess that it's probably been two decades since I've done any Christmas shopping for kids. So I was a bit taken aback when I visited ShopKo last week - searching for an action toy for my 4-year-old grandson - and happened upon a black soft air rifle that fires plastic BBs and bears a striking resemblance to an assault weapon.
Yes, the same kind of assault weapon that gangs have used to gun down police.
(Actually, it wasn't a total surprise: Several weeks earlier, a reader had called and suggested I check out some of the sophisticated fake guns now on the market.)
This particular gun was called the Crosman Stinger R34 and, according to a promotional ad I found on the Internet, it's modeled after the "legendary AR-15" assault rifle. Which, it so happens, is one of the many assault weapons that were illegal in this country until last year, when the Republican-controlled Congress allowed a 10-year ban to expire.
So why would a store carry such a gun - especially in Madison, which is having all sorts of headaches with kids bringing BB guns to school?
Jason, a regional manager for ShopKo who happened to be present that day (he declined to give his last name), explained that ShopKo, like many discount stores, carries a wide assortment of fake guns. Everything from the Crosman Stinger R34 and the Crosman Pulse R70 (fires up to 10 plastic BBs per second) - both of which are recommended for kids 16 and older - to the Star Wars Energy Beam Blaster, which is targeted at kids in the 5-to-8 range and shoots something called "silly string."
He pointed out that the Stinger R34, which sells for $59.99, is used mainly for target practice and has been one of the top-selling items in the sporting goods department since ShopKo began carrying it six months ago. What's more, he wasn't aware of a single complaint.
"But there's definitely a level of danger with it," he acknowledged. "I mean, you could easily shoot someone in the eye."
He added that he was almost certain that Target and Wal-Mart also carried the gun. (I checked, and they don't - at least, not at their west-side Madison stores. However, I discovered there are all kinds of fake assault-weapons available on the Internet.)
But what sort of parent, I asked Jason, would buy such a thing?
He shrugged. "I wouldn't buy one for my kid, I can tell you that much," he said.
Now, for all the NRA members who are foaming at the mouth as they read this, I should point out that I'm not an anti-gun guy, that I support the Second Amendment and that I actually did some hunting as a kid.
At the same time, I'll admit I've never had much interest in guns. Probably because my older brother got a BB gun for Christmas one year - just like the dorky kid in the movie, "A Christmas Story" - and actually did shoot a neighbor kid in the eye while horsing around in the yard. (A surgeon managed to remove the BB, but my parents were worried sick for months that the kid's family was going to sue.)
In fact, to be honest,
Mike Hanson, a spokesman for the Madison Police Department, says law enforcement officers have long wondered why stores carry look-alike fake guns. Especially BB and pellet guns that are almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing. (They do come with orange tips, but police say the tips often are painted or removed.)
The problem, he says, is that police occasionally will be alerted about a kid carrying a fake gun in a public setting. "And because the gun looks so realistic, we sometimes have to make split-second decisions about its authenticity - which could lead to a deadly-force encounter."
He notes that just a few weeks ago an officer nearly fired on a teenager who'd pulled a gun out of his pants on Tree Lane on the west side and aimed it at the officer. It wasn't until the kid dropped the gun and ran that the officer discovered that it was actually a BB gun.
"That came very close to being a tragedy," he says.
Hanson says the department can't discourage the sale of BB guns.
"But we can encourage parents that if they have some compelling reason to buy Johnny a mock assault rifle to make sure that it's kept in the house."
Fortunately, my grandson's only 4, so I don't have to worry about these things yet. In fact, after talking to Hanson, I've pretty much decided to get him something sports-related for Christmas - like, say, his first authentic metal driver.
Junior size, of course. And with a small head.
They need to open that instituion on Lake Mendota again, Diana! It was working back in the 60s when I was a kid. We used to walk out the pennisula to get out on the ice to go ice fishing for jumbo perch.
I don't understand. The left's heroes, the "Palestinians", give REAL weapons to children and strap bomb belts on them. Isn't that worse than giving them a FAKE gun?
(Yes, I am playing dumb. Sometimes it's the only way to deal with the Left on their own level.)
I mean "Just like his Grandma's tiny little head.
Gotta read the story more carefully. :)
I never could get my mom to buy me a cap gun so I would buy just caps and hit them with rocks on the road.
"How can one live so long and learn so little?"
That's Madistan, WI for you. The "Berkley" of the midwest; '80 Square Miles Surrounded By Reality.'
I got to fire an AR-15 a few weeks back. It. Was. So. Cool.
When my boys were young, ANYTHING could become a gun, from a clothespin to a Barbie Doll. One of them even used the CAT for a gun one day, LOL! There's nothing new under the sun as far as young boys go. They LIKE to break things and pretend to kill one another. And make noise. Oh, so much noise that I really miss it now that they're grown. *SNIF*
This Grandson is definately going to be a metrosexual when he grows up, and Grandpa will be so proud, LOL!
Lovely. Especially the rubber sheets and use of word "donk" - you usually don't get both in the same post.
If only he would read it....
sigh.
Yep. They will make weapons out of anything. I came home from work one day and my husband was sitting in his chair watching tv. The boys were on their bellies on the carpet having a missle war with tampons.
That is awesome! We used to puff away on those babies all day when I was a kid. Minty-fresh, and if you were really lucky, there was extra powder in the box to make some impressive "smoke" when blown from your palm into the face of your bratty little sister.
Too much fun! LOL!
I remember buying guns like that "Johnny 7 One Man Army" for my boys when they were little and now I realize what I have done...I have created two upstanding citizens and one is in the army defending this sorry liberal a$$hole from beheading maniacs just so he can write such nonsense.
YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!
"The boys were on their bellies on the carpet having a missle war with tampons."
LOL! :)
You could get them to go if you scratched them just right with your thumbnail. Of course, sometimes the powder would end up under your nail before going off. (Ouch!) Those were the days!
"one is in the army defending this sorry liberal a$$hole from beheading maniacs just so he can write such nonsense."
The irony is unbelievable! (Prayers your son returns safely!)
Just get the kid an Easy Bake Oven and be done with it. Maybe a Divorced Barbie too.
The plastic BBs are very large compared to the traditional BB. The regular BBs will not develop much pressure behind them.
Of course, we can always buy bags of ball bearings to overcome that limitation.
How hard does air get anyway?
So I was a bit taken aback when I visited ShopKo last week - searching for an action toy for my 4-year-old grandson - and happened upon a black soft air rifle that fires plastic BBs and bears a striking resemblance to an assault weapon.
You mean this poor deprived kid spent the first 4 years of his life without ever shooting a BB gun! Where's social services when you need em?
Doesn't anyone at FR play airsoft? I spend a couple hours per week playing with my son. Those plastic BB's sure do hurt if they hit bare skin from 20 feet or so. We have learned a LOT about strategy and tactics of combat, all the while having a blast. I am sure I violated some laws when I painted my gun camo, including the goofy orange tip. Ever try to hide a bright orange gun barrel? Now we are getting together in groups to have fun shooting each other with hard plastic BB's. Why weren't these things around when I was a kid????
We don't have realistic fake guns in our house either. My son has a .22 rifle, a .22 pistol, and a .410 shotgun that are "his" , although of course they stay in the safe. If he feels the need to shoot, we go to the gun club and shoot real guns. His friends are welcome to come, with parental permission. I've taken a couple of them shooting and a wonderful time was had by all. Fortunately I have not run into any fretful liberal parents that disapprove.
-ccm
I actually looked really cute in that outfit... I wonder what happened for me to become so "un-cute."
Mark
My son has several, and I reinforced exactly that point with him. He carries his in a duffel bag or similar, and only takes them out at the field or home.
People play honor-system paintball-style games with these things. Tends to be an older, more mature crowd that plays with these, at least the group my son has played with.
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