by Steve » Thu Apr 05, 2012 12:22 am
I support ordinances like this. But, I have two reservations.
The first is that it is unlikely to actually accomplish the intent of the legislation. This would be more likely to succeed if instead of criminalizing posession and stupidity, it required an intervention at the point of sale. A NICS check at the point of sale would go further to keep airsoft guns out of the hands of unsupervised children, in much the same manner as having to buy them online kept them out of my hands when I was younger. Reducing accessibility to minors raises the educational bar while not keeping them entirely out of circulation.
The second objection is that this law, like many others already on the books, is unlikely to be enforced heavily. Selective enforcement and complex laws reduces the effectiveness of all legislation. We already have laws on the books to handle people who use replica firearms in the commision of a crime, so rather than passing new laws, let's enforce the ones we already have.
If the purpose of the law is to keep toy guns out of the hands of unsupervised children, let's find laws that actually succeed in this. If the object is to keep them out of the hands of criminals, then let's find ways of doing that. Like, for example, increasing the penalties for using a toy gun in the commission of a crime. Impose a minimum sentence that is double that imposed for using a real gun in the commission of the same crime, and it is less appealing to use a toy gun to rob a liquor store. Treat all airsoft guns as a subset of firearms, and bar purchase by felons just like with real guns, and back it with a NICS check.
This is not rocket science. Figure out what you actually want to accomplish with a law, and pass a law that actually does the things you want to do.