Reactions mixed to painted gun ban -- Weaponry, Chicago

A gun is a gun - whether it's colored bright red or conventional black, gun enthusiasts say.

[Bill1154]

Until the first cop is killed because he had that momentary pause that maybe it's a toy.

Unfortunately, like the one gun dealer said, anyone can get a can of spray paint and paint the gun themselves, so the ban is moot. It doesn't matter the color of a gun if it was illegal in the first place.

If a gun is pointed at a cop then he must assume it is real and defend himself. If it turns out to be a toy? So be it.

[Retired LEO]

The anti gunners are so blind they will just never get it.

[By Your Leave]

A police officer must assume any weapon, regardless of color or authenticity, to be real and act accordingly.

[Retired]

When I worked as a supervisor of an Anti-Crime Unit in Brooklyn, members of my Precinct arrrested an individual who painted a Mac-11 machine pistol with green and orange flourescent paint to look like a toy. There were also reports that other similarly disguised guns were recovered. This was back in the early 90's. Nothing new here. A gun can be paintd with a 3 dollar can of paint from Home Depot or a one hundred dollar kit from Duracoat. Any law will be useless. Criminals will not buy the more expensive Duracoat product when cheap spray paint is easily available.

The bottom line is that an officer must always assume that a weapon pointed at him is real.

[who pays]

Morons like Stanley Greenberg of T&T Tactical of New Hyde Park don't give a damn about the dangers that handguns painted in colors would pose for law enforcement. He and the manufacturers just want to sell guns. They don't do the job. Their day is spent standing behind the counter touching the cash register. Tell us your danger stories Stanley. I bet you have lots about how you went to the range and shot your pink gun.

[Jay Hess]

I would have to agree with "Retired" and "By Your Leave" - an officer who has any weapon pointed at him, regardless of color, has to assume it's real and deal with it as such. Banning paint on guns is pointless and virtually impossible to enforce - and besides, it's not the paint on the gun - it's the person who uses it that is responsible.

Could a cop mistake a toy for a real one? Ask my son and his dumb friends who bought some realistic Air-Soft guns and rifles - and then covered the red tips with black electrical tape.

A few hours later, we had half a dozen cop cars on our block, guns drawn, rounding the kids up. It was quite the eye opener - no one was hurt, but it was scary and tense. The cops told me later that if any of the kids hadn't dropped the gun when they said to, or even pointed it in the general direction of the officer, they would have had to fire in self defense.

When it was over, I contacted the father of the kid who thought it was a good idea to buy 16 year olds realistic looking toys, and told him that he almost lost his son today.

Moral of the story: guns aren't toys, and toys that look like guns are treated like guns.

Had they been painted bright pink or polka dotted wouldn't make a difference - the cops would still need to be cautious.

I am not anti-gun - I believe we all have that right to bear arms. But we all need to be smart and responsible and teach our children to respect the law and the power of firearms.

[Feh]

Michael Britt must be one of those pseudo 2A, I gather. And, as a dealer, he certainly leaves a lot to be desired with the position he stated.

I am very sympathetic to the police. But if you are stupid enough to point anything at a police officer, you should expect a response.

I don't care if it is a stick or a knife, a toy gun or a real 'brightly colored' gun, etc., expect a quick and decisive response.

It isn't the 'colored' gun...It is the ridiculous liberal mindset taught to a small percentage of the population that makes them not respect an officer's command.

Mr. Britt...Please find a new business venture, as a firearms dealer, your response is pathetic.

[Just Bill]

5 out of 6 posts here make sense. If you point something that looks like a weapon at someone, whether it is blue and wood, black, or pink with yellow polka dots, you just may have made a life ending choice. It is never the instrument, but the person wielding it, that causes the problem

[paul]

Retired wrote:

When I worked as a supervisor of an Anti-Crime Unit in Brooklyn, members of my Precinct arrrested an individual who painted a Mac-11 machine pistol with green and orange flourescent paint to look like a toy. There were also reports that other similarly disguised guns were recovered. This was back in the early 90's. Nothing new here. A gun can be paintd with a 3 dollar can of paint from Home Depot or a one hundred dollar kit from Duracoat. Any law will be useless. Criminals will not buy the more expensive Duracoat product when cheap spray paint is easily available.
The bottom line is that an officer must always assume that a weapon pointed at him is real.

That much quoted bottom line may sound good, but you forget, an officer is human, too. He is haunted with the prospect of taking the life of a child who does not understand the seriousness of the threat to the officer. That brief moment of hesitation may be very thing that will cost him his life. Painted guns in this sense are very,very dangerous to both sides.

[el politico]

And gangbangers started painting the end of their guns orange as soon as toy manufacturers started making the end of toy guns orange. Just another law for gangbangers to ignore.

So are you going to outlaw knives that are any color but shiney steel too? How about colored clubs or hammers.

Painted guns have been around for 40 years, and they are still not that popular. Never will be more than a few novelty guns at the gun range.
That is like britain now trying to outlaw antique or collector guns, that were proven to be used in only 4/100 of 1 percent of brit crime.
It is a waste of time.

[Retired]

paul wrote:

<quoted text>That much quoted bottom line may sound good, but you forget, an officer is human, too. He is haunted with the prospect of taking the life of a child who does not understand the seriousness of the threat to the officer. That brief moment of hesitation may be very thing that will cost him his life. Painted guns in this sense are very,very dangerous to both sides.

Paul, all weapons are dangerous in the wrong hands. I have been confronted many times with life and death situations and shoot don't shoot scenarios. Have you? In my experience, the color size, configuration or whatever, has little to do with my decision to respond with deadly force. No officer wants to shoot a "child" pointing a toy gun at them. Every situation is different and the officer must evaluate and make a split second decision based on the circumstances.

PS: There is a big difference between a 6 yr old child and a 16 or 17 year old one.

[LMAO]

Ban the paint. It's for the children. No, scratch that. Its for the officers. No, scratch that too. It is really for the gun control crowd who will never truly understand that the color, or type, or appearance, or magazine capacity are not the issues. Pointing a gun at a cop is the issue. Using a gun in a crime is the issue. Failure to put the blame on the criminal is the issue.

Common sense is not so common.

[Responsible Gunowner]

Why do politicians continue to waste their time (and your money) passing such legislation yet continue to cut budgets for police forces throughout the area? Focus on the real issues and enforcement of existing gun laws.

[NYC Paramedic]

This is a waste of time and resources. Any item that represents a firearm should be and would be considered a threat by Law Enforcement. Law enforcement will act accordingly. It is just another restriction on a leagly own firearm.
Law enforcement this will work against you! Some lawyer will make sure of it if God forbid you are involved in an exchange of bullets. The only way a LEO can determine if it is a real firearm is by physically inspecting it not visually.

Will camo paint fall in that catagory? Does changing a rifle that is blued from that factory, glossy black count. Is it a specific color? What about huinting firearms with Factory finishes?
Beware to all legal firearms owners, it is another way to restrict and strip away the right of leaglly owned firearms.
Criminals will not follow the laws and law abiding citizens will become criminals by implementing this.

[Al cholic]

I think this is a beautiful article...just BEEYOOTIFUL. I give unlimited congrats and credit to Marty Chayes. He did and OUTSTANDING job writing this...just OUTSTANDING. One day, I hope to be exactly like him. All children in thy world shall bow at his feet. Can i get an amen?

[Aardvark]

Another dumb law to try and stop dumb people. It is already against the law to point a firearm at a police officer. If you or your kid are too stupid to realize that and point something that looks like a firearm at a police office you should not be surprised at what happens to you.

Plus I am sure someone crafty will figure out that "black" is a color and that "black" colored guns should be banned as well.

[Pfluger the Union Monkey]

Jay Hess wrote:

I would have to agree with "Retired" and "By Your Leave" - an officer who has any weapon pointed at him, regardless of color, has to assume it's real and deal with it as such. Banning paint on guns is pointless and virtually impossible to enforce - and besides, it's not the paint on the gun - it's the person who uses it that is responsible.
Could a cop mistake a toy for a real one? Ask my son and his dumb friends who bought some realistic Air-Soft guns and rifles - and then covered the red tips with black electrical tape.
A few hours later, we had half a dozen cop cars on our block, guns drawn, rounding the kids up. It was quite the eye opener - no one was hurt, but it was scary and tense. The cops told me later that if any of the kids hadn't dropped the gun when they said to, or even pointed it in the general direction of the officer, they would have had to fire in self defense.
When it was over, I contacted the father of the kid who thought it was a good idea to buy 16 year olds realistic looking toys, and told him that he almost lost his son today.
Moral of the story: guns aren't toys, and toys that look like guns are treated like guns.
Had they been painted bright pink or polka dotted wouldn't make a difference - the cops would still need to be cautious.
I am not anti-gun - I believe we all have that right to bear arms. But we all need to be smart and responsible and teach our children to respect the law and the power of firearms.

Now THAT was a thoughtful post. Refreshing.

[Andrew-Louisiana]

Aardvark wrote:

Another dumb law to try and stop dumb people. It is already against the law to point a firearm at a police officer. If you or your kid are too stupid to realize that and point something that looks like a firearm at a police office you should not be surprised at what happens to you.
Plus I am sure someone crafty will figure out that "black" is a color and that "black" colored guns should be banned as well.

Please don't give the ignorant anti-gun people any ideas!!!! They will not be happy until every law abiding citizen is disarmed and only cops and criminals have guns. They will be happy then because then it will become common knowledge that they have always been working behind the scenes for certain parts of the government to make sure that no-one can challenge the g'ment.

[Leo]

Yet another waste of tax dollars. I am a current member of the NYPD, and if you pointed anything at me that even remotely looked like a handgun, rifle, shotgun or any other dangerous instrument, you should expect the the use of deadly physical force.

So far in my career, i have not seen a single gun painted outrageous colors to thwart police, but i have seen more plastic fake guns painted to look real. I had an airsoft Sig p226 that i couldnt get the magazine out, until i realized it was a bb gun and it had no magazine. That was my first week out of the academy, and it taught me a valuable lesson.

Every gun is a gun until i prove its not. No amount of paint, glitter or whatever the hell people are doing these days is going to change that.

[Luis Leon]

Banning colorized guns, will definitely put a dent in NYC violent gun crimes, not. Its amazing that NYC voters fall for this crap, time and time again. Socialist Mayor Bloomberg has a law for everything. Why not just lock up criminals and stop looking around for imagined bogey men? We all know that crime in the city is being caused by "criminals with colorized guns" get a grip on reality and logic, sheeple.

regards,

Luis Leon