N.J. senator proposes toy gun ban

[WhiteFeather]

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...cal&id=5472003

N.J. senator proposes toy gun banWould make it illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase toy gun

Eyewitness News
(New Jersey- WABC, July 11, 2007) - A New Jersey senator wants to make it illegal to sell or give to anyone under age 18 toy guns that look so realistic they can be mistaken for a real firearm.

"The margin between a child's stupid mistake and a tragic ending is far too thin," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari.

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)

[JIMMYC308]

simply put, rediculous

[jtkratzer]

Chalk up another reason why I'll never live there and avoid NJ at all costs.

[MarcS]

"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,"

So you're going to do that by isolating them from it completely? If you want to teach them that, i believe the NRA has been running a very successful program to do that for a long time.

Children will play with toy guns regardless, they'll just make their own. Remember that kid who got suspended for pointing a chicken finger in a menacing "gun-like" manner?

[JP8]

So you're going to do that by isolating them from it completely? If you want to teach them that, i believe the NRA has been running a very successful program to do that for a long time.

Children will play with toy guns regardless, they'll just make their own. Remember that kid who got suspended for pointing a chicken finger in a menacing "gun-like" manner?

I don't really think these people or most "do-gooders" really give a damn about anything other than their own wallets. Civil suits and gung-ho lawyers are responsible for a hell of a lot of the new laws on the books. Whats funny is otherwise-rational parents buying into these ideas and not realizing why these ideas came about. When I was a kid, we could buy some very realistic looking cap guns. Yet, the idea of pointing them at someone we didn't know never occured to us. I think thats good parenting and natural selection at work.

I decided to take a look at ebay. I still have one of these and it still works after almost 20 years. Show me a toy made today that lasts even 5 years. http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Edison-G...QQcmdZViewItem

[KeithPA]

N.J. needs to take a tougher stance on this. What they really need to ban is: air. without air noone could live in N.J. and therefore there would be no crime. Damn I'm smart

I've never had a airsoft gun or capgun that looked very real. They also came with the orange tip.

This who ban seems like a larger attempt to simply outlaw all toy guns. "reasonable manner" is not going to exist and thus they will ban everything. There are already restrictions requiring an orange tip so I find it hard to believe this isn't an attempt to ban all toy guns, especially using that grey legal phrase "reasonable manner".

[God's Country]

At least all of us over 18 can still play with our cap guns

Guaranteed this is yet another attempt to indoctrinate children to the notion that guns are bad. If they can't play with toy guns they'll only have the establishments view and version of guns. After this law passes they'll be arresting children that point they're finger and go bang.