11-Year-Old Arrested For Using Rubber Band Gun

mangalorean.com ^ | 06/06/07 | mangalorean.com

[TornadoAlley3]

11-Year-Old Arrested For Using Rubber Band Gun OCOEE (Florida), June 7: An 11-year-old Ocoee boy was arrested for playing with a toy gun. Police said the arrest was necessary, because it was a safety issue.

The boy was using a rubber band gun and his father said the kid did nothing wrong, but police said they take it as a serious threat and the 11-year-old is facing felony charges.

The crime isn't very common, but Ocoee police said it is serious. It centers on an 11-year0old boy and his toy short-barreled shotgun.

The incident started Sunday afternoon, when the 11-year-old was riding in his dad's pickup near Clarke Road and White Road in Ocoee. Someone driving nearby called police after they said the boy pointed what looked like a real gun out the window. The victim told police she was afraid for her life.

"With that type of behavior, it's hard to tell if it's a real gun or not, especially in their car," said Sgt. Randy Conyers, Ocoee Police Department.

But, according to the charging affidavit, the 11-year-old's dad said nothing was wrong with what his son had done and that he used to do it as a kid. The boy even told police he was pretending to be a cop and thought the victims were laughing with him.

The gun itself only fires rubber bands and was checked into evidence. Police didn't comment on the weapon's color or release any images. Still, the victims said they were frightened and, police said, toy or no toy, the charges are justified.

Eyewitness News spoke to the father of the suspect on the phone. He said his son is out of juvenile detention and that a judge told him the case would be dropped. He also confirmed that the gun was black, but that it looked more like a stick than a gun.

[SmoothTalker]

We are becoming a wussier country by the day. Give us ten years and we will be the new France. The sad thing is that France seems to be getting (slightly) more stones and we are the ones getting to be wimpier and more PC.

[Edgerunner]

This world of ours is fast becoming an authoritarian stink-hole, populated by frightened sheep, and governed by halfwits.

Bears repeating! Ya know, if they outlaw rubber band guns...

[azhenfud]

Re: Yer picture....."it's hard to tell if it's a real gun or not..." - from the mouth of a supposed guardian of society....

"We's in a heap o' trouble...."

[MrEdd]

From the original article "He also confirmed that the gun was black, but that it looked more like a stick than a gun"

Picture from article dismissing the case.

The dad had every reason to laugh at the old biddy.

[davisfh]

You’re right. This is totally stupid.

[NorthFlaRebel]

It was black, it was shotgun shaped, and the kid was pointing it at other cars in the new world of drive-by shooting. Maybe you’re not familiar with the crime reports down here but the locals are. The kid is lucky that some good old boy didn’t cap his arse or that some other driver catching the barrel of something pointed at them didn’t slam on their brakes and cause a multi-car pile up, perhaps with fatalities. But dad is laughing it off. I didn’t say punish the kid, I said punish the dad. I stand by that.

I agree.

I had very real looking cap guns back in the 80's and remember to this day driving down the freeway and streets in Tampa firing the gun out the window while my dad drove. My dad told me to quit because it wasn't something smart to do(even in 1985).

I look back now and see how incredibly stupid it was to be waving a cap gun, that was an exact replica of a .357 magnum, out the window and firing it. Didn't quite understand the big deal back then, but obeyed my dad. Of course, mom about freaked out when dad told her("what, are you crazy, someone could shoot you!!! They don't know its fake, and its making a bang sound). I don't think my father would have laughed it off if we were stopped, and the cop would have probably just had a little talk with me and him and sent us on our way.

[badgerlandjim]

This world of ours is fast becoming an authoritarian stink-hole, populated by frightened sheep, and governed by halfwits.

Bears repeating! Ya know, if they outlaw rubber band guns...

Bears re-repeating...

[agere_contra]

He can do some hard time with Ralphie who I believe is still serving time for being caught with that Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle

Ah yes, the "Assault AirGun"!

[Thunder90]

You forgot that Pelosi also wants to fire our military and have their guns taken away (except for the Federal security forces and our donation to the UN).

[MrEdd]

See picture of the evil “realistic rubber band gun” in question in post 64.

[Hegemony Cricket]

"Bet they would consider a potato launcher a WMD."

Weapon of Mashed Destruction?

[Niteranger68]

OK, why not make the LEO who arrested him carry a rubber-band gun instead of his service pistol?

[colinhester]

Some of my best childhood memories were spent with my father making rubber band guns. My dad probabally made fifty of these for me and my friends. Spent one whole summer at Ft Stewart,GA, having rubber band gun wars....C

[zeugma]

It was black, it was shotgun shaped,

Really? You must be reading a different article.

"The gun itself only fires rubber bands and was checked into evidence. Police didn't comment on the weapon's color or release any images."

[NonValueAdded]

Nice if the kid showed them the "gun" in profile. Try this view:

Granted it wasn't an over under but you should get the point.

[NonValueAdded]

Same article: "Eyewitness News spoke to the father of the suspect on the phone. ... He also confirmed that the gun was black."

If y'all want to let your kids do this, go for it.

[NorthFlaRebel]

Are you sure that is really what he had, because it does not match the description.

[zeugma]

Ignore my previous post.

Also from the article:
He also confirmed that the gun was black, but that it looked more like a stick than a gun.

[MrEdd]

Nice. I post a picture of the actual gun in question, from the second article, and you keep pretending we are talking about a replica gun.

Tell me NonValueAdded , do you still have your castrate sign from the Duke lacrosse potbanging protest? It doesn't matter to you when accusations are proven to be baseless, you just keep on in your own little angry world.

[Sloth]

It centers on an 11-year0old boy and his toy short-barreled shotgun.

Probably under 18 inches.