The Hubbub Over Replica Guns

By 

John A. Gayder

This article was published during 1999-2000 in Canadian editions of Safari Times under a column called 
"Jag: thoughts from behind the badge".

Media reports indicate that the people who hold up banks and citizens, take hostages etc. are put in danger because they are using fake guns.  So what?  And now almost everyone in government and academe now wants to see these toys outlawed.  How silly!

By their nature, the replicas themselves are not physically dangerous beyond what is provided by their own weight and hardness. Unless they are used as a club, or thrown at a person - they are incapable of hurting somebody.

However, when the vagaries of human nature get mixed into the equation - things inevitably start to change.  Even truer than with real live guns – it is not the object itself that is the deciding factor, it is how it is used and the reaction to it’s usage that really counts. 

Brandishing one in a menacing fashion in front of a police officer may very well get the person doing so shot, but it is an absurd leap in logic to say the person was killed solely by the replica firearm itself.  There is much more at work here: the two biggest factors being the officer's mindset and eyesight. Equally important is to examine what, if any, societal importance is to be put on what are usually rare incidents between just a few people.

Eyesight is a variable factor and not easily correctable.  Linked to this are the lighting conditions present during the incident. As far as this factor goes, society will just have to hope that those who recruit our street officers are paying attention to the mandatory eyesight test results of applicants. 

The factors leading to the officer's mindset are his training and past experiences, and the physical and psychological mechanics of the situation being dealt with.

Guns used to be considered common tools in this country. Modern gun control and anti gun paranoia have increasingly taken guns out of the mainstream of experience.  In addition to other negative things, this has lead to a growing gulf of societal ignorance about the look, feel and capabilities of real firearms.

I have been able to tell the real guns from replicas in all the comparison footage and still pictures I have seen in the media recently.  Admittedly, past experiences have left me very familiar with firearms, and my viewing of the media images has been in the calm, unhurried environment of my living room. The plugged barrels give them away, as do the differences in proportion, heft and finish; a genuine Glock pistol absolutely radiates quality and function - potential lethality.  Replicas always look, well, like replicas.  Even worse are the appearance and quality of the much vaunted pellet pistols styled after real firearms. This is not to say that in a dark building or alley under the confusion of pursuit I might not someday shoot somebody “armed” with what later turns out to be a bar of soap carved and painted with shoe polish to look like a real pistol.  Bad guys please take note: Don’t count on me being overtaken with grief about this. There will be no teary-eyed media apology from me to your family.

My point is this: after even short exposures to real firearms, a person can easily to spot the differences between real and fake far more easily than the media says. Gun control is robbing society of this valuable experience.  Similarly, lots of exposure to fake guns will leave a person better able to readily identify genuine firearms.  This is an important skill that was once learned by every kid who ever played cops and robbers, but now the do-gooders even want to take this away by banning replicas and toys.

Deactivated firearms (real live guns turned into wall hangers by welding internal parts, plugging the barrel etc.) could potentially be far more confusing to the public and police.  They have the look and feel of real guns because that’s what they were!  However, because of the idiomatic constant that no item can become a copy (replica) of itself (and the fact the new Firearms Act was apparently written by idiots) Canadian law is virtually silent on the issues of making, purchasing and possessing deactivated firearms.

The public perception incidents involving replica guns are philosophical issues centered around morals and ethics.

Nowhere has the modern fetish for legislation proven itself to be not only impotent but actually harmful than in the following example. A few years ago, some bright sparks passed a law in America mandating that toy guns need to have bright orange colours on the end of them.  This resulted in crooks painting the ends of their REAL pistols orange in the hope it would give them a few seconds advantage over a potentially confused and therefore hesitant police officer.

One of the very real and very sad phenomena connected with replica guns is the possibility of innocent bystanders being killed by stray bullets fired during one of these confrontations.  Since the only people capable of actually discharging real projectiles are the police, this again brings their training into question.  Unfortunately, most police training courses are conducted not with the goal of excellence in mind, but rather to simply remove departmental liability by meeting a minimum standard.  Police firearms training should be better, but banning replica firearms can not do this.

What concern should society reserve for a thug that gets shot while seeking to get his own way by threatening people with replica guns?  Scarce little in my opinion.  The people using these things know they are in the wrong, but have decided to do it anyway.  They are the authors of any misfortune that befalls them. 

What about the recent events in which the police have almost shot children playing paintball or cowboys and Indians (or should I say meat eaters and Natives?) with realistic copies of firearms? Most of these incidents are the byproducts of the recent cultural hysteria about firearms.  At best, these incidents highlight the need for better parental supervision.  Kids should be told by their parents not to play these games under circumstances that could lead to confusion. Lurking around a schoolyard at night in a trench coat or cammo outfit is not a clever thing to do.  Banning replicas will never make better parents or smarter kids.  In fact – the opposite is true.

Perhaps the real question should be what is to blame for a society populated by citizens that can be robbed and terrorized by punks armed only with dime store imitations of real firearms?  Again; misguided gun controls and the prevalent “never-ever-fight-back” school of thought.

So what is behind the war on replica firearms? At best it is being driven by seemingly well intentioned people raving on about something they themselves are unfamiliar with and easily fooled and scared by.  However, the focus on replica firearms confirms everything I dislike about the anti gun extremists and other modern social engineers.  

Biography of the author and disclaimer: (See attached Curriculum Vitae for additional info)

The author has been a Constable for eight years with the Niagara Parks Police in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The views expressed in this article may or may not represent the official position of his employer.

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