What do you think of Airsoft?

[NobleSavage]

1) I wouldn't want to be a cop that has to make a life or death decision by making sure there is not a orange end cap.
2) Dumb kids will remove the orange end cap.
3) A psycho shooter could put an orange end cap on a real gun.
4) I rather a kid shoot a real gun in a safe area, with adult supervision, and instruction that guns are not toys.

An Airsoft G19



A real Glock 19

 

[dismal]

These things have been around a while.

Do you have some evidence this is big societal problem?

 

[NobleSavage]

These things have been around a while.

Do you have some evidence this is big societal problem?

Absolutely no evidence at all. One anecdote tho: My GF's boys play with these. They were walking down the street brandishing them and a neighbor called the cops because she was extremely worried.

 

[DBT]

You could get into big trouble here, Australia, if you are caught in public place carrying a replica firearm. You'd probably get off with a warning with something that's obviously not a real firearm, or maybe it's new years eve or a costume party at the pub. Otherwise, walking around the streets with something that looks like a firearm, your arse is likely to be toasted by the cops.

 

[arkirk]

These things have been around a while.

Do you have some evidence this is big societal problem?

Absolutely no evidence at all. One anecdote tho: My GF's boys play with these. They were walking down the street brandishing them and a neighbor called the cops because she was extremely worried.

The answer to the problem is to ask ourselves what is wrong with promoting interest in something other than guns for young people? When I was a kid in the 50's in the summer the kids played outside till sundown with all sorts of guns and the play was always war play. Those kids graduated from plastic guns to real ones and went off to Vietnam where they killed approximately 2.5 million Vietnamese.

Today in Iraq, this terrible conflict is the result of armament we left behind...also a lot of messed up minds in that country that was bombed to hell by America on the basis of numerous lies from the Bush whitehouse. Our national leadership is being led around by the nose by the military industrial complex and we are making more stuff to kill people. Meanwhile our educational rating is falling, our manufacturing capability is falling, and our people are working for slave wages...selling hamburgers. We need to wake up from dreams of glorious domination of the world and realize we have been driven down the wrong path for a very long time.

Those guns with the orange tips....when I was a kid, they had plastic lugers that just looked like lugers. They shot plastic pellets. The cops never shot a kid in my town during those years with all those realistic looking guns in all those hands. Something has gotten ramped up. It is the security state. We are sinking deeper and deeper into Fascism. We all know we should not be living in fear, yet we are pumped fear by the media...and most seem to buy it.

Unfortunately the change that is needed is a complete retooling of our society for peace, and the powers that are currently in power and control are just making too much money to stop driving us down this warlike path. The Arabs are not coming.

 

[dismal]

These things have been around a while.

Do you have some evidence this is big societal problem?

Absolutely no evidence at all. One anecdote tho: My GF's boys play with these. They were walking down the street brandishing them and a neighbor called the cops because she was extremely worried.

10 years or so all the kids in my neighborhood had these and would have battles outside. I can recall no instances where the cops joined in with live gunfire.

Sure, maybe a few times the cops mistook this for an actual running gun battle but by the time the tactical vehicles and helicopters were scrambled the kids were back on their couches playing their video games and drinking their sugary drinks.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

As long as you're white, I don't see a problem. The police will calmly and politely come up and have a chat with you to determine if you're playing with a toy or simply taking advantage of your constitutional right to walk down the road with a real gun.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We had an incident in my neighborhood where a teenager pulled out a fakish gun, but brandished it like it was real. He was yelling with a racist dumbass (and to be upfront the teen brandishing it was also being quite the dumbass), and it was actually quite lucky nothing bad happened. People can get real stupid sometimes, dumber than normal. We were having a "race war" at the time... black kids from outside the neighborhood were playing basketball in our neighborhood's park and using bad language on the court. Amazing how something so trite can lead to incidents like that, with a fake gun.

 

[NobleSavage]

Just did a quick Google search:

http://rt.com/usa/boy-13-shot-toy-gun-644/

http://www.storyleak.com/airsoft/

http://www.kctv5.com/story/21760348...ids-shooting-kid-15-playing-with-air-soft-gun

http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/Ma...ce-was-holding-an-Airsoft-gun--238986161.html

http://www.policeone.com/investigat...eased-of-Mich-cop-shooting-teen-with-replica/

 

[Keith&Co.]

The answer to the problem is to ask ourselves what is wrong with promoting interest in something other than guns for young people?

There was a comic strip, When I Was Short, and the artist discussed this. He quoted someone who said if boys played with little toy pacifists, there would be no wars.
The strip shows two boys with their pacifist sets, competing about how many nukes they reduce from the stockpile.
"I take all my nukes out of Europe."
"Well, I take all my nukes out of Europe AND off of every ship afloat."
"Then I take all the nukes off of my ship, off of my planes, and weld half the silos shut so it'll take two hours to open them again."

In the last panel, the two boys both shout, "I LIED!" and launch preemptive attacks.
The caption: I don't think it'd matter much.



I would tend to agree. I think you'd need to retool human nature before retooling society. Or figure some way to make a handheld noise-maker so it's fun to run around pacifying at people.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

My friends and I used to do "war play" all the time with fake guns. Then I grew up and started shooting people with a Canon.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

My thought: Realistic replicas (whether airsoft or not) should be subject to the same transport requirements that real weapons are.

Pointing one at someone that doesn't know it's a toy should be a fairly minor crime.

 

[Bronzeage]

These things have been around a while.

Do you have some evidence this is big societal problem?

How many people would have to die because a toy was mistaken for a real gun, before it could be considered a "big" societal problem.

 

[dismal]

These things have been around a while.

Do you have some evidence this is big societal problem?

How many people would have to die because a toy was mistaken for a real gun, before it could be considered a "big" societal problem.

How many would you say? I'm sure bicycles result in death and injury every day...

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

How many people would have to die because a toy was mistaken for a real gun, before it could be considered a "big" societal problem.

How many would you say? I'm sure bicycles result in death and injury every day...

In fact, that just happened last week in a Walmart in Duluth. A black teen was walking around with a bike in the store and was shot dead after pointing it at Police.

 

[Keith&Co.]

How many people would have to die because a toy was mistaken for a real gun, before it could be considered a "big" societal problem.

How many would you say? I'm sure bicycles result in death and injury every day...

Yeah, the constant cliche of people who die because someone mistook a bike for a howitzer. That's one of those not-news items, it happens so often.

 

[dismal]

How many would you say? I'm sure bicycles result in death and injury every day...

In fact, that just happened last week in a Walmart in Duluth. A black teen was walking around with a bike in the store and was shot dead after pointing it at Police.

Why is this a relevant distinction?

In fact if anything the bikes are more harmful because it does not require some second party idiot to come along and shoot you for them to be dangerous.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

In fact, that just happened last week in a Walmart in Duluth. A black teen was walking around with a bike in the store and was shot dead after pointing it at Police.

Why is this a relevant distinction?

It is relevant because you are equating accidents while using the item (accidental gun deaths are not uncommon, accidents involving cyclists are not uncommon) verses accidents involving the mistaking of the item as a lethal weapon (has only happened once with a bicycle in a fictional account of a Duluth incident).

 

[Bronzeage]

How many people would have to die because a toy was mistaken for a real gun, before it could be considered a "big" societal problem.

How many would you say? I'm sure bicycles result in death and injury every day...

Yeah, bikes and guns are the same thing. I ask how many toy gun related deaths would qualify because I don't think you would concede any number, however large was a societal problem. If I am wrong, state some number and we can move on.

 

[dismal]

How many would you say? I'm sure bicycles result in death and injury every day...

Yeah, bikes and guns are the same thing. I ask how many toy gun related deaths would qualify because I don't think you would concede any number, however large was a societal problem. If I am wrong, state some number and we can move on.

What is the relevant distinction between bikes and toy guns? Or bikes and playgrounds? Or playgrounds and swimming pools? Or toy guns and swimming pools? Or toy guns and playgrounds?

In what statistics I found, swimming pools may be the worst of all.

And be worst in the context of this thread I mean things intended for enjoyment that are some factor in a children's deaths.