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| THE "G-ANTS"!?/ | BAN THE TOY GUNS | Meet The "G-ANTS" | MUSIC | |
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Scutari, D-Union, introduced the proposal in late June and plans to push it when the Legislature reconvenes late this year.
He said the bill stems from an incident in a Union Township where four students were suspended after bringing a cap gun to
school. "We need to stress to our children that guns are not toys, but deadly weapons which should always be regarded with extreme
caution and handled with respect," Scutari said. "Restricting access to imitation firearms will help to drive that point home."
Gun rights advocates plan to fight the bill. "It misses the mark because it demonizes toys instead of criminal behavior," said Scott Bach, president of the New Jersey
Association of Rifle and Pistol Clubs, which is the National Rifle Association's New Jersey organization. If the measure is enacted, New Jersey would join several states that have restricted access to realistic toy guns to minors.
New York, for instance, got Wal-Mart in 2003 to stop selling toy guns that fail to have a non-removable orange stripe along
the barrel. The retailer also agreed to stop selling toy guns in realistic colors such as black, blue and silver and paid
$200,000 in civil penalties. Scutari's bill would make it illegal to sell or give to anyone under 18 and imitation firearm, which is defined as anything
"reasonably capable of being mistaken for a firearm." The bill is based on a 1987 New Jersey law that bars the sale of hunting, fishing, combat and survival knives with blades
of more than five inches to anyone under 18. Violators would face a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in prison. Scutari said the bill would help police and school officials figure out whether a firearm is either fake or real, but Bach
said it would intrude upon retailers and parents. "This bill seeks to intimidate retailers of even toy water pistols rather than to address the bad acts of criminals who
use imitation guns in furtherance of crime," Bach said. "A parent who gives a child a toy firearm as a gift would be guilty
under this legislation." (Copyright 2007 WABC-TV) "Seeing is Believing" "Real Guns and Real Boys" Around the world, a young child is killed with a loaded gun every few minutes. Part of the problem is that one out of two
homes in the U.S. have firearms. So even if you don't own a gun, it's likely that one day your child will be in a home where
there is one. That's why children need to know what to do if they ever find one. We put some kids to the test. It's just another day at Carver Heights Child Development Center in Columbus. But this day will be different.
These pre-kindergartners will come face to face with a handgun. We've placed an unloaded
simulated gun into a hidden place in the classroom. We put it in a chair. Two hidden cameras have also been placed in the
classroom. The children have just come in from recess and the teacher is now giving them an assignment before she leaves the
room. "It's a gun, don't touch it, I know what is all about, do not touch it, its dangerous," screams
little Natasha Fanning. She takes charge, telling her classmates repeatedly to stay away from the gun. The
children are excited. They try to get a teacher's attention. But not one of them touches the gun. Deputy
Marshal Booker Patterson comes in to explain. "What we just had was an experiment to see what you would
do, how you would react to finding a gun. You did the right thing you didn't touch it." Patterson is quick to point out to
them some important gun safety tips. After watching the video of their children's reactions, the parents
are relieved. Chavala Champion, a parent of one of the kids in the class says, "After looking at my daughter's
reaction to the gun, I knew that she remembered everything that I taught her." Natasha Fanning's father is very proud. Hope
Fanning says, "She has that in her, wanting to be a leader and I think its gonna carry her a long way."
Another parent, Demetrius Colson, is pleased with his daughter's reaction. "She just reacted like a normal
five-year old would when they see a gun. She got excited and she laughed about it. But she stayed away from the gun." It could
be the most important lesson learned today. And hopefully it will prevent these children from ever playing with a real gun.
The safest choice is not to have a gun in your home. If you do keep one, empty it out and lock
it up. Even if you don't own a gun, teach your children to steer clear of guns at friends' homes, or wherever they come across
them. "While the law is well-intentioned, it really doesn't solve anything," New City resident Paul Murray said at the public
hearing Tuesday night prior to the Legislature's vote. "I don't think it's going to have the effect that you want."
The law, which was approved 15-1, makes it illegal in Rockland County to sell, offer to sell, give away or possess a replica,
toy or imitation of a gun that substantially duplicates the look of a real firearm.
Toy guns with markings designating them as such, including a brightly colored exterior, are permitted.
Legislator David Fried, D-Spring Valley, who held up a gun replica in front of the Legislature to illustrate how realistic
they can appear, said regulating what toy guns are permissible will help police distinguish between real and fake firearms.
"We have children that bring these to school," said Fried of the imitation gun in his hands. "I think this legislation
does provide police with a buffer."
Marc Diana, a Nanuet resident and National Rifle Association recruiter, disagreed.
He said the law could teach criminals how to alter their real guns to look like toys in hopes of getting police to let
their guards down.
"What's to stop a perp ... from painting the barrel of a gun bright orange?" he asked Tuesday. "Are you prepared for the
first police officer that gets killed?"
Diana, also a representative of the United Sportsman Association of Rockland, added yesterday that the law was unlikely
to hamper the determination of anyone wanting to pretend their fake gun is real.
"The kids will do it no matter what," he said.
At Tuesday's meeting Diana referenced the case of a 15-year-old Florida boy who was fatally shot in the head by police
last week after pointing a pellet gun that resembled a firearm at a deputy.
County Sheriff James Kralik agreed that there was nothing to prevent a criminal from disguising a real gun to look like
a toy, but that was not the law's purpose.
"There's no fail-safe," he said. "This law is really geared toward the children, the parents and the manufacturers of toy
guns."
Westchester and Putnam counties do not have a similar law.
Robert VanCura, chief of the South Nyack/Grand View Police Department, told the Legislature that his officers recently
fielded a call from a woman who saw two boys playing with a gun in a park near her home.
The gun, he said, later turned out to be a replica closely resembling a 9 mm.
"It's an issue that comes up all the time," he added.
Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno said the law would make it harder for people bent on mischief to get hold
of a toy or imitation gun that looks like the real thing in short order.
"Does it solve every problem?" he asked. "No."
Copyright©2006-2008. All Rights Reserved. The "AIRONE NETWORK"™,"
Guns Are Not ToyS" ™ and the "G-ANTS" ™ are Trademarks of "MR. O" ™ and the "AIRONE NETWORK"™.
706-689-0000 . |
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