Why Realistic Toy Guns and BB guns Should Be Banned
2/12/18 Baltimore Sun:
Last week, the beginning of an explosive corruption trial involving eight members of Baltimore's elite Gun Trace Task Force revealed that a handful of Baltimore cops allegedly kept fake guns in their patrol cars to plant on innocent people—a failsafe they could use if they happened to shoot an unarmed suspect, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Detective Maurice Ward, who's already pleaded guilty to corruption charges, testified that he and his partners were told to carry the replicas and BB guns "in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shootout, so we could plant them." The directive allegedly came from the team's sergeant, Wayne Jenkins, the Washington Post reports. Though Ward didn't say whether or not the tactic was ever used, Detective Marcus Taylor—another cop swept up in the scandal—was carrying a fake gun almost identical to his service weapon when he was arrested last year, according to the Sun.
A "throwdown gun/weapon". Historically, they were real guns, as accurate fakes were very rare, and somewhat expensive, and small pocket guns were common and cheap. Airsoft has changed that somewhat.
ReplyDeleteI would think that to find a cop carrying a counterfeit/fake gun would be more likely to raise questions than a real gun. A fake would just be tossed into the trunk, as a cop wouldn't waste limited belt/pocket space on a toy.
I see this as a reason why scumbag cops should be put up to the wall and shot, not as reason for a legal and harmless (unless it's misused, of course) product that millions of law-abiding citizens enjoy in perfectly legal ways should be banned.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I think there might be a few parallels here to certain other legal products that some people insist should be banned...