Toy Guns Under Assault in New York

New York state has some of the most restrictive firearms laws in the nation. While this is bad enough, its laws also are highly restrictive towards toy guns. In a publicity move, the state’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sent cease-and-desist letters to over 100 companies that they immediately stop selling imitation toy guns that don’t meet New York statutes. Public safety is the reason given behind the restrictive law but let’s take a closer look at this ridiculous infringement of personal liberty.

Cuomo made a statement to the press to justify his actions. “Every day, these imitation weapons put the lives of both law enforcement and civilians at risk. This is a public safety matter, plain and simple, and we will not permit these companies to profit by making our streets more dangerous.”

I’d like to know how toy guns put police at risk. They aren’t real so how do they endanger an officer’s life? Answer, they don’t. If an officer believes an object, any object, is a weapon that officer can take appropriate action. Items like cell phones have been mistaken for weapons by police but there aren’t restrictions on the color or design of these. Cuomo is an attorney and should be more careful of what he says.

To backup his argument that the public is put at risk by toy guns, he cites an incident that took place last week. Two men in Saranac Lake were arrested for attempted armed robbery after allegedly using a fake gun to hold up and attack a man in a parking lot. If I could choose between being held up by a toy gun or a real one, I’ll choose the toy every time. I’d even rather be held up by a toy gun than a real knife, or pipe, or ball bat; well, you get the idea.

The fact that the armed robbery was facilitated by a toy won’t mitigate the thug’s punishment. As long as the victim believed at the time that the toy was a real gun the punishment will be the same as if it were.

Obesity has been in the news lately and overweight children are a reoccurring theme. When I was a child we used to run around and play war with toy guns than would be banned today in New York. Every June 6, my friends and I would take our guns to school in honor of the D-Day landings. The point is, we got exercise without adult supervision. Today’s child spends too much time watching television and playing video games. If they have access to toys that look like the ones they see in movies and games they may be more likely to go outside and get exercise parroting what they see on the screen.

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