Toy Guns That Look Real and Real Ones That Don't

Salem-News.com

(Salem) - Things are not always what they seem. It is an old saying that applies to countless situations. But for a police officer, that everyday type of reality can lead to an altogether different situational outcome, or destiny.

Salem Police Lt. Bill Kohlmeyer says officers on the overnight shift recently pulled over a stolen car with two men inside. Inside the car officers found what appeared to be an MP-5 sub-machine gun.

This fierce looking weapon turned out to be a toy that shoots harmless air-soft pellets according to Kohlmeyer, `but was so realistic the officers didn't know it until they actually picked it up. Had one of the occupants of the car pointed it at them the officers would have certainly been justified in using deadly force."

Police officers, deputies and troopers in the mid-valley, have an amazing record in recent years of disarming people who threaten them without using deadly force. Sometimes the worst happens, but the ones I have covered in Marion County all had justifiable outcomes.

Kohlmeyer says these men in the stolen car during the late night traffic stop, came incredibly close to a deadly situation, `The gun was so realistic, there were actually realistic plastic bullets in one of the magazines."

Over the years toy guns have become less realistic-looking. This change is a response to countless shootings where the toys were mistaken for real guns, and the lawsuits that sprang from them. Kohlmeyer says Salem Police frequently get calls from citizens reporting an armed person. `Sometimes we find these people and at least some of the time, we find they are carrying a toy gun."

Carrying a toy gun is not against the law, and the frequency of these calls is not tracked, but Kohlmeyer says it happens often enough that most officers have experienced it. `We even have reported road rage situations where the suspects think it's funny because the gun is a toy. Real funny until the person they point it at has a real one, or panics and crashes."

Kohlmeyer says these situations can force police to make a terrible choice, confronted with the question, "Do I shoot first to defend a life and go home to my family or do I wait and hope it's fake?"

`This is not television and these decisions have to be made in a split second." The passion behind Bill Kohlmeyer`s plea to parents and everyone to use common sense is understandable.

23 years ago Kohlmeyer nearly shot a 12 year old boy who was pointing a toy gun at him. "Of course in the dark, I didn't know it was a toy or that he was a kid until afterward. Luckily for that young man he was faster than I was and he pulled the trigger before I did and I realized it was a toy." He says that was 23 years ago and he remembers it like it was 23 minutes ago.

If kids have toy guns, they should be made in bright colors and not look real in any way. But it isn`t that simple.

The toy gun problems are troubling for officers, but according to Kohlmeyer, they are only half the problem, `To make matters worse there are real guns out there that are coated with some material making them look like toys." He says criminals use them to throw police officers off track, and hesitate to take defensive action.

Kohlmeyer says parents should know what kind of toys their kids are playing with and remember that in this day and age, even brightly colored toy guns can appear all too real.