Do you need another wacky gun law or do we need to have harsher penalties for criminals who use/carry guns?

Question

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5472003

(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.

"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.

Answer 1

Forget the gun laws. Prosecute the criminals. Texas has a low rate of violence. Why? Because everybody has a gun. You're a lot less likely to rob a bank when you know the old lady in line behind you won't hesitate to put a cap in your behind.

Answer 2

I think when you break down the whole gun control argument, people feel that if the criminal doesn't have a gun, an innocent person won't be killed in the crossfire.

All gun laws do is make it harder for a person to get a gun legally. Criminals don't get their guns legally, they get them illegally.

True there are exceptions like what happened at Virginia Tech, but it would be naive to think that he wouldn't have tried to get guns from other sources had he been denied a gun permit.

It's frightening to think about because we're talking about people's lives here and accidents do happen. But accidents also happen with cars.

Answer 3

I think we should have stricter gun laws AND harsher penalties for the people that use them for crimes. People say that all criminals use illegally purchased guns but that is not true. Guns DO start out in a licensed shop and they make their way through people that buy and re-sell them...eventually making their way into the hands of criminals. We need to stop this. Also many legal guns are stolen by criminals. ANYONE with a gun could use it with criminal intent. That is why guns are so dangerous...because you never know what the legal owner could do with it. Check out these links to learn more.

Answer 4

ooh! You are throwing out some toughies.

As you may know, I am really big on the 2nd amendment, that is to remain inviolate.

The issue here are there are these toys, my son (22yo) has one and I will tell you from 10' away it looks basically identical to a real weapon, and there lies my problem. Cannot recall the city it occurred in but a kid was shot by the police when he pointing one of those at them. Very hard to blame the police as I believe I would have fired as well. Turns out the kid had diminished capacity, although most seem that way until about 25yo, but still, should the manufacturers consider a certain moral responsibility in producing these toys. I do not want government interference, but in this case perhaps something along the lines of if this thing looks real from 10' to 20 people who know weapons then perhaps the manufacturer has to alter something so all will know it is not real. My recollection is these use to have an orange plastic tip, not sure if the kids are removing them but, today I have seen them and they are very real looking.

Bach is correct as well, which is why I am conflicted on this. My son knew how to load and unload a variety of weapons at age 8, we felt he should since we have weapons. When 18 he had a party when we were out of town, when I got home he had put ALL of the weapons and ammunition in the safe. Stupid me, I did not recall giving him the combination, but he did this on his own, that is a responsible kid, but alas not all are.

Tough, tough question for me.

Answer 5

no we don't need a law on toy guns.
I do think toy guns should look less realistic just because there have been incidents where people thought they were real. its a waste of time for a cop to investigate whether a gun is real or not.
or worse a kid getting shot because police or others thought s/he was armed

we don't need a law for this, just a recommend to toy manufactionors. people forget about the power of boycotting, if parents really want fake looking toy guns than refuse to buy realistic ones (IE only get ones with the brightly colored orange muzzles). stories will start carrying more of those and less of the real looking ones.

Answer 6

Where to begin...

I have firearms in my home. My son, however, does not have any toy guns. They serve no purpose other than to glorify violence to children at an age when most are too young to understand the repercussions. When he reaches the proper age when he can be licensed, I will teach him to fire a gun.

I have banned toy guns in my home. This, however, is a personal decision, not one to be forced upon us by the federal government. This is simply another example of someone wanting the government to make up for their poor parenting skills.

On the second part of your question, yes, we do need harsher penalties for people who use a firearm in the commission of a crime. No one convicted of a violent crime should be allowed to purchase or possess a firearm.

I firmly believe in 2nd Amendment rights. People who use their 2nd Amendment rights to violate the rights of another, however, deserve to have that right taken away.

Thus sayeth Bugs Bunny with a musket...

Answer 7

Banning toy guns is ridiculous and absolutely stupid. I wish these politicians would get out of their bubbles and do some research and work for a change. But as far as real guns are concerned, what good is a law if it goes after people only after they commit the crime? Why wouldn't trying to prevent the crime by restricting gun ownership to people who pass a rigorous psychological and criminal background check be a better choice? Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind more law enforcement of the laws we already have. I live in gang territory and I could tell you stories of people and their guns. And, many of the owners in my neighberhood are legal gun owners shooting them. Trust me honey we could use a crack down on all of gun owners whether they own them legally or not. Trust me, If you and other gun advocates lived in my urban neighborhood for one year you'd demand a gun ban. No one should have a gun unless they are going hunting. There is no need otherwise.

If the Bureau of fire arms were doing their jobs and funded to do their jobs, people wouldn't be getting guns illegally.

Answer 8

I'm not against making it a bit harder for people to get weapons, but I'm totally against banning guns and taking away our rights. I'm a card carrying member of the NRA and have been for many years.

And that flake from New Jersey is a joke. We have games that teach all types of violence. Violence all over TV and at the movies. What's there to gain by enacting a silly law like that?

ROFL! The Socialists will be here in flocks agreeing with the nutcase... I feel it. :)

Answer 9

I think the concern is that a cop may mistake a toy gun in someone's hand for a real 1 resulting in a tragic death. Not having read the law, I can't comment on the wisdom or lack thereof of this particular bill.

Answer 10

I think the idea behind this is to prevent accidental shootings of kids playing with toy guns. Years ago when I worked in law enforcement we had a problem with rookies drawing down on kids with soft air guns that looked like barettas. as far as gun laws go we only need 1. Make it a mandatory death sentence to utilize a weapon in the comission of any criminal act or enterprise. They might violate the law once but there wont be any repeat offenders!