Salisbury may ban replica guns to protect children
Salisbury officials are considering a ban on toys and BB guns that look like real firearms in an attempt to prevent the type of shootings that have taken place across the country.
“We’re seeing kids around the country getting killed because police think they have real guns,” said City Councilman Muir Boda. “They don’t have time to figure out if they’re a real gun or not.”
Boda said he proposed the legislation after he was approached by city residents and then did some research.
Toy guns have orange markings, but the look-alike BB and pellet guns do not, he said.
Boda, who works for Wal-Mart, said the replica guns were popular at the North Salisbury store.
“It was one of our hottest stolen items,” he said.
Other area stores that sell BB and pellet guns include Gander Mountain and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Mayor Jake Day called the proposed law as “something we could certainly consider doing,” although action at the state or federal level would be more effective.
“The bottom line is I think we will be doing something,” he said.
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The proposed law will likely be up for discussion at the Oct. 3 work session, said City Council President Jack Heath.
“I certainly think it’s worth a discussion, especially with everything that’s been going on,” he said.
In the meantime, Heath said he has been looking into the success rate of replica gun bans in other parts of the country.
The proposal also has the backing of City Councilwoman April Jackson, who said she is alarmed by reports from across the country of the number of teens toting fake guns who have been shot by police.
“I don’t want that to happen here,” she said. “If we can prevent it before it happens, why not do it?”
The Salisbury Police Department has recovered 41 replica guns over the past five years, with seven of them so far this year, said Chief Barbara Duncan. Most have been BB guns, but police also have confiscated paintball guns, toys, cap guns and flare guns.
Over the same 5-year period, there have been 12 arrests of juveniles related to fake guns, Duncan said.
“It’s always a concern of law enforcement,” she said.
If Salisbury enacts legislation to ban replica firearms, it will join a list of communities that have already put restrictions in effect, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington and the state of California.
READ MORE: Teen wields gun in armed robbery
The California law, which took effect Jan. 1, requires BB and pellet guns to have fluorescent markings to distinguish them from real guns, according to published reports. It was enacted after police fatally shot 13-year-old Andy Lopez of Santa Rosa when they mistook the pellet gun the boy was carrying for an AK-47.
Similar shootings have been reported across the country, including one recently in Columbus, Ohio. Tyre King, 13, was shot multiple times after he ran from an officer investigating an armed robbery and pulled out a BB gun that looked like a real gun.
And in 2014, Tamir Rice was shot and killed by Cleveland police after police said they mistook his toy gun for a real one.
Closer to Salisbury, the Baltimore City Council is considering a similar law that would ban all replica guns, including toy, BB and pellet guns. The bill was introduced Sept. 19 and could get final approval by December, according to The Baltimore Sun. In April, a 14-year-old was shot and wounded when a city police officer thought his spring-air pistol was a semiautomatic handgun.
A bill introduced earlier this year in the Maryland General Assembly would have outlawed imitation firearms statewide unless they had visible markings on them. The legislation introduced by Sen. C. Anthony Muse, D-26-Prince Georges, never made it out of the Judicial Proceedings Committee.
Boda, who believes the issue is one of safety, rather than gun rights, said he doesn’t want Salisbury to wait for a statewide ban on replica guns.
“Thousands of bills pop up in the General Assembly and most of them get killed,” he said.
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