(New Jersey- WABC, July 11, 2007) - A New Jersey senator wants to make it illegal to sell or give to anyone under age 18 toy guns that look so realistic they can be mistaken for a real firearm.
That’s great. New Jersey is about to create another rite of passage. That’s just what every man thinks about on or near his 18th birthday, the right to buy and own a toy gun. Actually, they’re much more likely to be thinking about real guns rather than toy guns.
Perhaps Mr. Scutari’s bill is half-baked, but at the very least, toy firearms should come in colors that make it obvious that they aren’t real, and the real guns should be made to avoid using those colors. Also, I personally am not fond of the concept of a “toy gun,” because the phrase is a contradiction in terms. Guns are not toys, and any children of mine would not be allowed to be conditioned into thinking that they are.
