Customs Seizes Toy Guns in Washington State

Several news outlets including The News Tribune are reporting that customs officials seized “30 machine guns at the Port of Tacoma.” We’re following up on this for a few reasons. The first is that these guns were copies of M-4 assault rifles, which were actually seized in October of last year. We bring this up because it serves as ammo – no pun intended – to anyone who says that all guns used by criminals must have been legal. Clearly this is further proof that guns can, and likely will continue to be, smuggled into the United States.

But what is really odd is that the Customs & Border Protection is claiming that while these were “the same size, weight and look of the M-4″ these were listed as toy guns. The News Tribune noted:

“On Jan. 25, the ATF submitted its report. It found ‘that in their imported condition the rifles were tooled to shoot plastic balls. However, replacement of internal components with original machine-gun components could be accomplished within a short period of time, thus rendering the rifles capable of firing live ammunition,’ the Customs news release said.”

“Shoot plastic balls” seems to imply to us that these may be Air Soft guns, as not real guns at all. While these lacked the typical orange tips required for such guns, we should note that this is an American law and isn’t follow overseas. Likewise, there is a market for “non-guns” or “counterfeits” as well – as in guns that look the part but can’t be made to fire. Note our choice of words: “can’t be made to fire.”

We’d like to know how any “weapon” that is either not really a gun, or is meant to “shoot plastic balls” can be converted in what ATF claims to be a “short period of time?” Seriously?

What is more confusing is that according to the ATF, a machine gun is a machine gun if it has a receiver. Essentially a full-auto receiver is what makes a gun a machine gun, so do these guns have such a receiver? Otherwise, we can’t understand what the problem with these seized toys could be… unless the ATF is looking to start an Air Soft team cheaply!

Note to the ATF: If it looks like a duck, is the same size as a duck, but is made of wood it is called a decoy, but it isn’t a duck! Keep that in mind when you look to seize something that looks like a gun, feels like a gun but doesn’t shoot REAL BULLETS like a real gun!

Tiny Gun Causes Child Big Trouble

While toy guns have evolved – devolved even – over the years, we sort of understand if these look realistic. Considering that police have enough to worry about we agree that realistic guns can be a problem. But is this about keeping guns safe, or really about teaching guns that all guns are bad. That’s a question we ask because of a story making the rounds this week on how a child in New York City was in trouble for a toy gun for an action figure. MSNBC notes this fact:

“Department of Education policy states that there can be no imitation guns on school property, and a representative said that the principal has ultimate discretion, and this one felt there was reason for ‘concern.’”

So why is a toy gun for an action figure a problem? Is this even an imitation gun? Imitations in our opinion at least would be replicas – as in full-size or approximate size to the real deal. A toy gun for an action figure or toy is just that – a toy. It isn’t an imitation. No one calls a Matchbox car an imitation toy. It is a scale replica, with scale being the key word.

But this is no surprise in New York City, where it is a crime to sell toy guns. Soon we might expect toy stores to ban action figures, or anything “violent,” regardless of whether it is historical. We assume this would mean no knights sold at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has a fine gallery of arms and armor. And soon we might expect that the military planes need to be removed from the U.S.S. Intrepid, the World War II era aircraft carrier turned floating museum. But that’s New York City for you!

Firing Back: Toy Guns Remain Popular in Other Parts of the World

Currently I’m on a working vacation that is taking me to some interesting parts of the world, and recently I was in Cairo, Egypt and Kusadasi, Turkey. In addition to the usual tourist sights, I was taken back by visions of boys (and a couple of girls) playing with very realistic toy guns. While even replica firearms have come under fire in the United States there seems to be no such fear of these toys, which is odd considering that real threat of violence.

The reason I bring this up is that it shows that toy guns shouldn’t really be feared. Yes, there have been some tragic examples where the toys were mistaken for the real thing. But we have become so fearful of guns in the United States that it has made the sight of obvious toys items that need to be feared. This in turn means that boys (and girls) don’t experience this play – and while some would cheer this fact – it also means that a part of childhood is stolen. Yes, guns used by soldiers in war are a horrible thing, but for most of recorded history children have played these games.

As with fighting monsters and battling evil, playing cowboys or cops & robbers is just play. It is something that is part of childhood. The irony also is that Turkey is a nation that has had a military history that is colorful, yet for the last several hundred years one without a successful military tradition. The United States by contrast is a nation that has had a long and successful military history, and yet the liberal element continues to fear guns. Let’s just hope we don’t go the way of the Ottoman Empire, and become a second rate power.