Damn.

This caught me by surprise.

I grew up with a bunch of toy firearms and related items...a bunch of Colt SAA,
a Thompson submachine gun, a 1911, a US Army bayonet, a toy grenade...And I like
to think I turned out OK. Never pointed the thing at a cop (or I was
reprimanded).

I think bans like these are going over board.

But perhaps parents would opt to buy real firearms for their kids instead, that
sounds like a good oportunity to teach youngsters about firearm safety and
responsability.

Xela

-------article--------
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/local/stories/080806dn\
mettoygun.e85ed8.html

Dallas may drop the hammer on toy guns

Safety panel vote puts city closer to adopting strict ordinance

11:10 PM CDT on Monday, August 7, 2006

By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

They're Americana slipped into the holsters of little boys in cowboy hats.

But after a 7-1 vote by the City Council's public safety committee, Dallas is
closer than ever to passing one of the nation's strictest ordinances regulating
the sale and possession of toy guns.

The committee directed City Attorney Tom Perkins to craft an ordinance that
would ban all toy guns except those painted a bright color, such as hot pink or
neon green, or made of transparent or translucent material.

The toys would also have to reflect light.

Toy guns that don't fit the city's paint/reflection criteria would be illegal
even if kept inside a private home or vehicle, council members said.

"I would have liked to see the city absolutely outlaw toy look-alike replica
guns, but to get anything progressive done in this part of the country is
significant," said the Rev. Peter Johnson, who through the community activism
organization Weed & Seed has advocated banning toy guns locally.

Dallas should model its proposal after New York City's toy-gun ordinance,
regarded as one of the country's most stringent, the committee told Mr. Perkins.
A small percentage of municipalities, including Plano, have also further
regulated toy guns beyond a federal provision requiring toy makers to place an
orange cap over gun barrels.

In recent months, many Dallas residents have expressed concern over what they
say is children's easy access to inexpensive replica firearms, especially since
numerous ice cream vendors and bazaar and flea market retailers sell the toys.

In recent years, police and private citizens throughout the nation have shot
several children brandishing toy firearms after believing their own lives were
in danger.

The council committee added the light-reflection provision after Dallas Police
Deputy Chief Mike Genovesi testified that "under bad lighting, I don't know if
the color is going to make any difference."

The committee didn't specify whether the paint itself should be reflective or
whether reflective materials, such as a reflector on a bicycle spoke, would
suffice.

Council member Mitchell Rasansky, who cast the lone vote against council member
James Fantroy's motion, said the proposed ordinance doesn't go far enough.

"I want a total ban on these, period, etched in stone," Mr. Rasansky said.

Some council members worried, however, that a complete toy-gun ban would invite
legal challenges that may delay enforcement.

"There isn't an awful lot of law on that at this point," Mr. Perkins said of a
complete ban, noting that courts have affirmed the legality of New York City's
ordinance. "It is possible. It has not been tested."

Said Mr. Rasansky: "I don't want to wait until two kids die."

The committee did not discuss specific penalties for selling or possessing toy
guns. At the meeting's outset, Mr. Perkins presented the council committee with
options that included prohibiting people from obscuring guns' orange tips and a
total toy-gun sale and possession ban.

For Suzanna Reese, a supervisor at the Toys "R" Us at Dallas' Southwest Center
Mall, any such toy-gun ban probably wouldn't affect the store.

"We just carry ray guns and laser guns," Ms. Reese said, adding that her store
hasn't sold realistic-looking toy firearms for about five years.

As general manager of Collectible Trains and Toys in Dallas, Mike Belden has
traded a vintage toy pistol here and there while tending to his primary
business: trains.

He said he appreciates what council members are attempting to accomplish, as "a
lot of the toy guns they sell now are strikingly realistic."

If Dallas regulates toy-gun sales and possession, Mr. Belden said he hopes
council members would include a provision exempting collectibles.

"I grew up in an area where, if you didn't have twin six-shooters, there was
something wrong with you," he said. "A ban like this would definitely be an
issue for kids my age – I'm 57. These guns are neat, nostalgic items, and you're
looking at basically criminalizing nostalgia."

E-mail dlevinthal@...





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