| talk about hysteria.
How many here really know anything about police training - or actually, lack thereof? Not their fault, they are under-budgeted.
How many here have actually been in situations that they believed to have been life-threatening and can actually say that they never ever made even the slightest mistake in judgement during said circumstance?
How many here can say that they can accurately identify every single firearm, lookalike or gun-like object, in the dark, in the rain, when out of breath and in circumstances that training has led you to believe requires extreme caution and is extemely dangerous?
To illustrate the above: highly trained military aviators with all kinds of high-tech assistance have more than once shot up their own or an allies hardware and people.
The causes of this particular issue are legion: lack of proper training for law enforcement, lack of responsibility by real and fake gun owners, deliberately manufacture of 1-to-1 replicas by people out to make a fast buck, differences in laws - both within the US and trans-national, poor education regarding firearms because of pre-existing firearms hysteria in this country, poor training on the part of citizens when dealing with the police (I've been pulled on three times in my life and I'm still here - none of those were deserved but they happened anyway) and etc. ad infinitum.
If it were illegal to manufacture, distribute, sell, own or posess a non-firearm look-alike - be it a water pistol, airsoft gun or paintball marker, the need for this law would be seriously under question. If brandishing or using a gun-like object in a threatening or gun-like manner were punishable across the board in the same way as using a real firearm, this proposal would be in serious question. But, it still would not eliminate cases of mistaken identity completely. As it stands, the number of 'fake' weapons being brandished and used in illegal manners is on the increase and needs to be addressed. |