Toy Guns: Regulated More Than the Real Thing?
For the first time in my life, I agree with the National Rifle Association. The Associated Press reports that 15 states are cracking down on fake firearms, attempting to impose restrictions on the production and possession of realistic-looking toy guns. The proposed bills are an effort to curb incidences of gun violence in which police react with a hail of gunfire directed toward individuals (oftentimes, to children) who display guns that too closely resemble the real thing.
But this weekend a 5-year-old Indiana boy shot and killed his 4-year-old sister with a semiautomatic handgun that was the real thing; no fake-gun law in the country will address that.
So where does the NRA come in? Typically in opposition to all forms of gun control, the country’s leading gun lobby spoke out against bills that address toy guns, citing their failure to significantly address gun violence: “It doesn't deal with issues of crime,” says NRA spokesman Ashley Varner. “It won't eradicate the human element of the crime. It doesn’t target getting criminals off the street.”
Let’s be clear: the NRA doesn’t support anti-toy gun legislation or any other gun control legislation; I, unlike the NRA, support both. But Varner got it right when she said that outlawing toy guns won’t do nearly enough to solve this country’s larger problems of gun violence or to significantly relieve our soaring rates of gun-related deaths (30,000 per year, in case you were curious). Banning toy guns will target a tiny percentage of the problem, but it won’t address real weapons in the hands of children or dangerous criminals. What would do that? For starters: banning assault weapons, increasing firearms traceability, prohibiting unregulated gun show sales and strengthening the National Instant Check System.
Bottom line? I’m interested in saving as many lives as possible, and all the anti-toy gun legislation in the world isn’t going to do that if we don’t pass anti-real gun legislation, too.
So where does the NRA come in? Typically in opposition to all forms of gun control, the country’s leading gun lobby spoke out against bills that address toy guns, citing their failure to significantly address gun violence: “It doesn't deal with issues of crime,” says NRA spokesman Ashley Varner. “It won't eradicate the human element of the crime. It doesn’t target getting criminals off the street.”
Let’s be clear: the NRA doesn’t support anti-toy gun legislation or any other gun control legislation; I, unlike the NRA, support both. But Varner got it right when she said that outlawing toy guns won’t do nearly enough to solve this country’s larger problems of gun violence or to significantly relieve our soaring rates of gun-related deaths (30,000 per year, in case you were curious). Banning toy guns will target a tiny percentage of the problem, but it won’t address real weapons in the hands of children or dangerous criminals. What would do that? For starters: banning assault weapons, increasing firearms traceability, prohibiting unregulated gun show sales and strengthening the National Instant Check System.
Bottom line? I’m interested in saving as many lives as possible, and all the anti-toy gun legislation in the world isn’t going to do that if we don’t pass anti-real gun legislation, too.