This will make a difference: Store pledges to pull replicas
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DeanC
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Post subject: This will make a difference: Store pledges to pull replicas  Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:33 pm |
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Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:54 am
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Location: Minneapolis
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http://www.startribune.com/462/story/982248.html
Quote: StarTribune.com
GUNS020607
Last update: February 05, 2007 – 1:37 PM
Store pledges to pull replica guns from shelves
St. Paul's move to close a loophole and make it illegal to carry real-looking, replica guns in public places got a private sector boost today.
St. Paul's move to close a loophole and make it illegal to carry real-looking, replica guns in public places got a private sector boost today.
Gander Mountain, the outdoor retail giant based in St. Paul, announced it would voluntarily pull replica guns off its shelves.
Mayor Chris Coleman applauded the move and said he'll be sending letters to merchants asking that they follow Gander Mountain's lead.
While state law already makes it a crime to brandish a fake gun or use one during a crime, a new ordinance that will be proposed Wednesday at the St. Paul City Council meeting would add so-called airsoft guns to city ordinances that ban possession of pellet and BB guns in public places.
"In the hands of those with malicious motives, these guns can be easily mistaken for the real thing," Coleman told a news conference this afternoon.
He displayed 21 guns -- 17 phonies and four real ones -- and noted that it was nearly impossible to tell them apart.
Of the 690 guns confiscated last year by St. Paul police, 125 were replica guns.
CURT BROWN
©2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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Dave Matheny
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Post subject: Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:06 pm |
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Location: No. 12 Grimauld Place, London W1
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Gee, I've never had a problem telling a real gun from a phony, but maybe they've gotten better.
Although, based on the little I know about Curt Brown, the reporter, it would not take much to fool him.
But it seems to me that the problem they're fixing is only the problem that somebody stupid enough to wave a fake gun at a cop is going to get shot. How big a problem is that? I don't mean it's never happened, because it has, but why is it a problem? Isn't it just a case of nature weeding out the stupid?
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"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
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Brewman
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Post subject: Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:30 pm |
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Location: Prior Lake, MN
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My son has a couple air soft pistols. Remove or color over the bright red muzzle thingy, and you'd never be able to tell the difference unless you were right next to the gun.
He's a sensible kid, and I taught him to shoot my guns at the pistol range at an age when he demonstrated the required maturity to handle the responsibility.
Still, when he bought his airsoft pistols, we had a talk about the proper way to transport them, and discussed the potentially fatal consequences should he EVER brandish them. I think the talk sunk in.
It's important for them to realize how utterly foolish it is to pretend you are armed when you're really not.
This law is ridiculous, and won't impact the issue one bit. Education is a better idea. Simulations would be good too- put the kids in a "shoot or not" simulator and let them see things from the prospective of the other person.
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Brewman
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Mike
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Post subject: Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:21 pm |
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Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:18 pm
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Location: Saint Paul
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Speaking from a 'moment' with one these replica type guns from some years ago: get rid of them.
The father's response when all was said and done: Why would store sell my son this if it was not legal? The kid was elementary school age. Everyone was fine, but boy it was close.
Pretty much everyone on the block got a show that evening.
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Mike
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Rip Van Winkle
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:56 am |
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Location: W. St. Paul
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plblark
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 8:43 am |
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When a friend found out I had a permit he related this scenario:
he was at a high school graduation party where everyone was having a good time. Two youths came running into the yard and pointed guns at the graduate. People were hitting the ground, jumping furniture, running for the house, and calling 911.
The kids were laughing like hell as they shot the graduate with airsoft guns.
My response: HOLY SHIT! That could have been REALLY UGLY! Presumably the graduate is your friend and you don't know the gunmen.
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Brewman
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:25 am |
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That scenario is exactly the type of foolishness I was talking to my son about.
Imagine the possible outcome if this scenario happened at some type of an event that felt the need to hire security and an off duty police officer was moonlighting.
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Brewman
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hammAR
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:54 am |
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Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:54 pm
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Location: N 44°56.621` W 093°11.256 (St Paul)
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Real guns or toy guns I don't care, IT'S NOT THE GUNS!
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plblark
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:08 pm |
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Brewman wrote: That scenario is exactly the type of foolishness I was talking to my son about.
Imagine the possible outcome if this scenario happened at some type of an event that felt the need to hire security and an off duty police officer was moonlighting. The thin blue line and his day job would help him in the press and with attorneys... ME, I'd be SOL...
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Erik_Pakieser
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:19 pm |
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Location: Minneapolis, MN
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The problem, as someone else said, isn't the guns. It's morons who misuse them.
Over at the Minnesota Airsoft Association board the general consensus is that this is "great news!" The Airsoft guns sold at Gander Mountain, like most other big-box retailers, for the most part are cheap junk, and all too often they are bought by parents who, not knowing any better, let their kids go out and play with it in the street.
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MNXD9
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Post subject: Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:08 pm |
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Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:48 am
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I'll admit I have nothing against this. Really some kids are stupid, and they are generally products of stupid people.
Have you guys seen these guns? They really do look real, take you all of 5 seconds to make it look even more real.
For reference....
http://www.hobbytron.com/AirsoftPistols.html
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DeanC
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Post subject: Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:07 am |
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It's a stupid idea because the toys are available everywhere anyhow. The toys will still be around even if they can't be sold or "carried" in St. Paul.
Gander Mt doesn't even have a store in St. Paul. They have always had a small selection of overpriced crappy guns anyhow. Most kids know that and get their toys elsewhere. Gander is just joining the political "feelings over substance" movement.
It is already illegal to threaten someone with a fake gun. This is a behavior issue not a "ban the offending object" issue.
Yes, some kids will get shot for misusing the toys. It will be a very, very small number and it will be their own (and their parent's) damned fault.
As a father of several boys, I can tell you, if they couldn't get their hands on realistic airsoft guns, they'd make them out of sticks, scrap wood, legos, or whatever else they can lay their hands on.
The best cure for juvenile behavior with airsoft guns is to get the kids into reloading and shooting real guns. All of sudden, they grow up real fast.
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I am defending myself... in favor of that!
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nyffman
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Post subject: Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:23 am |
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Dave Matheny
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Post subject: Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:22 am |
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From the Airsoft site:
"This beautiful, highly realistic handgun was used by Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 2, by Chow-Yuen Fat in The Corrupter, and it's the standard issue sidearm for the United States Armed Forces!"
So we're sending our guys to war with fake guns -- is what this says.
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"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
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DeanC
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Post subject: Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:23 pm |
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Funny how different people fall on this issue. The Gun Guys - (Joel's favorite whipping boys) think the toy gun ban is misguided. Although, they stop short of saying it should be abandoned. http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1872
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