Gunmakers Are Profiting From Toy Replicas That Can Get Kids Killed
LAPPL News Watch
May 10, 2019
When 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by police in 2014 mere seconds after their arrival at a park in Cleveland, the officers said they believed they were in imminent danger because Rice was holding a gun. They didn’t know it was a toy.
According to a report released by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, the plastic replica, an airsoft gun that fires 6mm plastic BBs, was so close to the original that “even to a trained eye, careful side-by-side comparison is required.”
Modeled after a .45-caliber 1911 pistol and originally purchased from Walmart, the fake gun was complete with Colt trademark inscriptions, and produced by Cybergun, a French airsoft manufacturer and longtime partner of Colt’s Manufacturing.
This kind of partnership is not uncommon. In fact, gun companies have longcut lucrative licensing deals with toy manufacturers allowing their products to be reproduced. Some replica airsoft guns share the same branding, weight, and materials as their real-life counterparts; the only difference is they shoot small plastic BBs.
And in the half-decade since Tamir’s death, little has been done to rein in the spread of these ultra-realistic replicas.
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