Police warn public on replica guns (Winnipeg Sun)
 

I'm not sure which area to post this,please move if in wrong area.
Hopefully not a repost.



http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winn...47056-sun.html



Quote:
Police warn public on replica guns
By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 10th June 2009, 4:20am


If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck, right?

Not so in the world of firearms, where replicas -- pellet guns, airsoft guns or toy guns -- look identical to real firearms.

Police in Winnipeg have been seizing more replicas -- and more weapons in general -- from irresponsible owners recently and fear there may one day be an encounter where a person armed with a knockoff handgun or rifle is shot by an officer.

Police took those owners to task for causing a surge in avoidable high-priority gun calls, and urged people to be more responsible in order to reduce the number of calls and prevent a tragedy.

"We would hate for anyone to be placed in a position where a member of the police service had to make a very unfortunate decision due to irresponsible use," said Const. Jason Michalyshen, a Winnipeg police spokesman, yesterday.

Even veteran officers have a hard time distinguishing between the two. There are times police don't realize it's a replica until they pick it up.

"We have to treat everything as if it's real," said Sgt. Russ Dickieson of the tactical support team, which responds to gun calls. "We don't have time to decide if (a gun) is real or not."

Dickieson and partner Const. Brent Tully recounted recent calls where people mistook replicas for real guns and called police, drawing dozens of officers and, in some cases, resulting in road closures, school lockdowns, or evacuations. Those calls can put a strain on resources.

Police take no chances, so a person with a replica firearm in public is often arrested at gunpoint, putting them at risk of being shot by police if a situation escalates.

Officers have seconds to assess threats and risk, and react accordingly.

Since Jan. 1, they have seized 93 actual and replica firearms and responded to more than 200 gun calls, most of which were unfounded or involved replicas, Dickieson said.

chris.kitching@sunmedia.ca

Highlighted the main points, same thing we've been saying for years and years. Nothing new.

From the entire article, I think the above quoted text describes it best. With responsible owners, you'll find them transporting their equipment (AEG's, GBB's, etc.) to and from games in locked hard-body gun cases with trigger locks. This is a practice that my team instituted early into our formation to prevent any sort of misinterpretation from the law enforcement community. Not only is it a safety measure for the player, it is a safety measure for the police member. No one has ever been shot by a police officer for carrying a gun case.

Its what many airsofters have been telling everybody for a while now. Be responsible or you may end up getting shot.

I don't think the problem is with the transporting of the equipment. I thinks it has to with people playing in a public areas, that someone walking their dog can see a bunch of people running around with what look like guns and then call the police. What we need to do is have more playing areas for people to use that are not in the public view.

My apologies if this sounds stupid, and I have never hosted a game so I dont know what is involved. But, what about being more proactive here, and notifying law enforcement that a game is taking place?

We do, but most of the games that we host are normally out of the city limits and we also let the locals in the area know what we are doing. What is happening is that people are playing in the city thinking that there is no one around is it okay. If its in a public area you can not control who is in the area.

If they are acting with criminal intent,shoot the bastard.As for gaming,
it COULD be kids under the age of 18 that this community in general
but not all shunned from games"MAYBE",the bottom line is that they acted
irresponsibly and should face the music.

QFT.

We've had police officers at my house when me and my brother first started getting into Airsoft. We called them and invited them over to take a look at them and give us a true statement saying if they were okay or not. At this time, all guns were painted over black, and the orange tip was removed. There were two conditions in which we were to follow to ensure that they don't get confiscated/we don't get arrested:

1) They're never to leave our supervision (Our own rifles and our wal-marters for first-timers to play with). At no point in time are any rifles we own allowed to be in someone else's house. We can hand the rentals out for games we're attending, but we must make sure to get them back.
2) Be responsible with them. Don't walk around the front and back lawns or some shit waving it around. Common sense shit. Keep it in a case, out of reach of children, don't point it at our skinhead neighbours.

Seriously, this isn't even Grade 8 thinking.

Trust me, there are dumb asses who are 18+ that play on their streets with airsoft guns. so no need to pull out the anti sub 18 year old stuff.

That was not my intention,merely posing a question as to why they
were not in the proper environment to play.

Probably figured "Oh well hey, it only shoots plastic BBs. Not like we can seriously hurt anyone with these. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" as far as the cautions required in airsoft, I mean, it's not like people have never gotten a chipped tooth with one of these things, or shot in the eye. There's a good reason we have safety measures in this game.

And probably something along the lines of "Just because it's all black doesn't make it a real gun. It's not like it uses gunpowder or anything" when it came to the visual appearance. Unfortunately, from a distance, all of them look like real guns, or bear resemblance unto.

I'm up for that.:)

You're exactly right Glen. While my previous comment was focused mainly on AEG's or GBB's in transit, too many times no fore-thought is given to where a game is being played. Notifying local law enforcement and neighboring property owners shows that an individual (or group) has thought about the safety and consideration of others (in my opinion). Ultimately if there is a "gun call" the police will respond, but this ensures that they know what is happening before they arrive - i.e. no misinterpretations.

Thanks Blinky

With our hobby/sport growing with more players each week and with not enough organized playing areas, it going to happen where someone is going to think its okay to play in areas where they believe no one comes into, when it is not. I think that players and organizations should work together and help one another out with this problem. I know that there has been conflict among the different organization here in Manitoba, but maybe we all should start looking out for the hobby than our own personal grudges. Let the past be the past and work to make things better for all in the future.