Banning Toy Guns
Laws That Go Way Too Far
By Daniel Muniz

The Public Safety Committee for the city of Dallas Texas has proposed an ordinance to ban the sale of toy guns that appear too realistic. This committee recommends that such toys be brightly colored or be made of a clear plastic. And it is even considering an outright public ban of children playing with toy guns.

However, the city of Dallas would not be alone.

Such bans are already in place in cities like Hartford Connecticut, Akron Ohio and Baltimore Maryland. The bans are also the law in many Dallas suburbs. And a number of other municipalities across the country are also considering similar ordinances to enact for their cities.

This proposal already has supporters from activists’ organizations such as the Black Panthers and the Brown Berets. The ban also has the support from Dallas city councilmen Steve Salazar and Mitchell Rasansky who seek to take advantage of the issue. Rasansky insists:

"This was mind-boggling to me ... I didn't realize we had these realistic-looking toy guns on our streets," Rasansky said. "They're dangerous, and they're a disaster just waiting to happen."

But about the only thing that is mind boggling is not using common sense. Laws like this proposal are rarely ever effective because they target phantom issues instead of the source of the problems.

Many in law enforcement already know that there are already too many other objects that can be mistaken for a firearm. And it doesn’t take much for someone to fashion something like a bottle to give it the impression of a gun especially in darkness. As a result, such a ban on toys will have a negligible impact.

And any media sensation over this issue is just that; a meaningless story that is more about news coverage for a slow news day instead of focusing on a topic of substance.

For instance, far more children are seriously injured or killed in bicycling accidents every year than they ever are from guns. Yet, the press doesn’t care about that and will rarely report bicycling accidents involving children. Consequently the public and the politicians won’t care either because they do not see such carnage as a real problem.

But the media does this sort of thing all the time.

If a person gets eaten by an alligator in Florida, the press considers it to be a big story demanding enormous coverage. Such incidents are extremely rare and they are often self-inflicted like swimming in a watering hole in a part of the state where alligators live. Yet almost no attention is ever given to the thousands of people who are seriously injured or killed every year by deer crossing the highways, especially at night.

Such a deer problem is serious and widespread but the media doesn’t care about it. Consequently, the public and the politicians do not care either. But they sure love a good “alligator eats human” story.

As a result, it is easy for the public in general and for politicians in particular to overemphasize issues that are poorly understood because the press does a terrible job in reporting them while ignoring the real problems that truly threaten public safety. That is why city councils and state legislatures rarely take the necessary action that promotes the common good. If such committees and legislative bodies really cared about the safety of children, then they would focus their efforts on bicycle safety instead of wasting their time on toy guns.

And for politicians like the Dallas city councilmen, this too is a no-brainer. They, along with activist organizations, can demonize guns and look tough while giving the false impression that they are protecting children. It is irrelevant that their actions won’t accomplish much as long as it gets media coverage.

But oftentimes, such posturing backfires. It will be ludicrous to outlaw children playing cops and robbers as is also proposed by the Dallas Safety Committee. There have been school districts that have had little kids arrested for playing with guns using their index fingers. Yes, zero tolerance sometimes means using zero intelligence and that is the real danger from an ordinance like this.

However, what is worse is having laws on the books that there is no way possible to enforce.

And does the public really want their law enforcement agencies to waste their time pursuing kids with toy guns?

One possible suggestion which represents a good compromise for all sides is for cities to pass a resolution instead of trying to enact these types of ordinances. At first, I never liked resolutions especially on topics like this but throughout the years I have to admit that I have changed my mind.

A resolution provides a way for the politicians to acquire the media attention they crave while explaining their point of view. I may not agree with the content of such resolutions but they do provide a platform for debate and discussion of ideas which is necessary for a city to be a part of. They also satisfy an elected official’s need to be heard without going through the mess of passing a law that is impossible to enforce.

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