Air pistols made to look like firearms

[old'un]

should some air pistols be made to look like a real firearm?, for obvious reasons.

Be interested to hear what others think.

[London Best]

No problem with how they look, until some idiot starts waving one about and expects not to get shot by the police.

[jall25]

I agree - its not what they look like

When we were kids i bet many many of us had cap guns that - in many instances looked real 

[old'un]

5 minutes ago, London Best said:

No problem with how they look, until some idiot starts waving one about and expects not to get shot by the police.

how they look is very much part of the problem when you get someone waving one about and as you say gets shot by the police.

Just now, jall25 said:

I agree - its not what they look like

When we were kids i bet many many of us had cap guns that - in many instances looked real 

don't know your age but things are a little different today with regards guns that look very much like real firearms

[jall25]

2 minutes ago, old'un said:

how they look is very much part of the problem when you get someone waving one about and as you say gets shot by the police.

don't know your age but things are a little different today with regards guns that look very much like real firearms

Yes - and what a poorer country it is because of it

Kids now play on computers rather being outside being cowboys 

[London Best]

Just now, old'un said:

how they look is very much part of the problem when you get someone waving one about and as you say gets shot by the police.

It happened to a close friend of mine, an armed response officer. 
Idiot backed up a stairway, waving a handgun about. 
As he raised it towards my friend, his last words were, “come on copper, if you’re hard enough.” 
Mate double tapped him. 
I can’t remember now if the gun was an airgun or a replica.

[old'un]

Just now, jall25 said:

Yes - and what a poorer country it is because of it

Kids now play on computers rather being outside being cowboys 

I agree with what you say but it was not the question.

[clangerman]

kids have waved everything from water pistols to cap guns about for decades it’s only a prob now because police first response these days is panic! 

[Scully]

I don’t mind how realistic imitation or airguns look, compared to the real thing.
If someone goes out with the intention of scaring someone into believing they are facing the real thing, then the wielder deserves everything they get. 

[London Best]

1 minute ago, Scully said:

I don’t mind how realistic imitation or airguns look, compared to the real thing.
If someone goes out with the intention of scaring someone into believing they are facing the real thing, then the wielder deserves everything they get. 

This!

[jall25]

4 minutes ago, old'un said:

I agree with what you say but it was not the question.

 

I have no issue how they look 

[Scully]

2 minutes ago, clangerman said:

kids have waved everything from water pistols to cap guns about for decades it’s only a prob now because police first response these days is panic! 

I get that impression also. 
An off duty copper reported a kid with a firearm in a garden just the other week, armed response arrived and ( if I remember correctly ) actually arrested the kid with a water pistol. 
He wasn’t detained but released as soon as they realised what it was. 
The kids mother claimed it wouldn’t have happened if he’d been white, although how she knew this wasn’t made clear. 

[jall25]

5 minutes ago, clangerman said:

kids have waved everything from water pistols to cap guns about for decades it’s only a prob now because police first response these days is panic! 

 

Is it not - so many of the publics first response is panic ?

The police dont shoot many people in this country real of faux gun 

[old'un]

10 minutes ago, Scully said:

I don’t mind how realistic imitation or airguns look, compared to the real thing.
If someone goes out with the intention of scaring someone into believing they are facing the real thing, then the wielder deserves everything they get. 

I guess the question then is why do they need to be made to look like the real thing? They are far easer to obtain by youngsters and if with a bit of bravado they take them on the street to show off, without criminal intent, there's a chance they may end up getting shot by the police because they look so realistic.

17 minutes ago, clangerman said:

kids have waved everything from water pistols to cap guns about for decades it’s only a prob now because police first response these days is panic! 

I would hardly call something like this a water pistol, would you know the difference between the air pistol below and a real firearm?

 

[clangerman]

6 minutes ago, old'un said:

I guess the question then is why do they need to be made to look like the real thing? They are far easer to obtain by youngsters and if with a bit of bravado they take them on the street to show off, without criminal intent, there's a chance they may end up getting shot by the police because they look so realistic.

I would hardly call something like this a water pistol, would you know the difference between the air pistol below and a real firearm?

 

they don’t even try to establish what they are dealing with now their first response is jump about screaming while holding firearms makes you wince just watching an accident waiting to happen 

[old'un]

4 minutes ago, clangerman said:

they don’t even try to establish what they are dealing with now their first response is jump about screaming while holding firearms makes you wince just watching an accident waiting to happen 

I will admit that they do sometimes over react but gone are the days when a Bobbie could put their hand on your shoulder and say “your nicked”

[pigeon controller]

To my knowledge blank firing guns are orange or blue but the criminal fraternity paint them black and convert them to fire live rounds.

If I had a gun pointed at me after giving warnings I would double tap, that’s the job.

[Scully]

31 minutes ago, old'un said:

I guess the question then is why do they need to be made to look like the real thing? They are far easer to obtain by youngsters and if with a bit of bravado they take them on the street to show off, without criminal intent, there's a chance they may end up getting shot by the police because they look so realistic.

 

 

I suppose they’re made so realistic so they have more appeal to a buyer. 

It’s the same with gaming; the more realistic the footage the more the appeal. 
As a kid I know I would be more apt to choose the toy pistol that looked like the real thing rather than one which didn’t. 
 

[old'un]

Just now, Scully said:

I suppose they’re made so realistic so they have more appeal to a buyer. 

It’s the same with gaming; the more realistic the footage the more the appeal. 
As a kid I know I would be more apt to choose the toy pistol that looked like the real thing rather than one which didn’t. 
 

If air pistols were made like that when I was a kid we would have thought they were fantastic but even if we were playing cowboys and Indians out in the street I doubt very much one of us would have been shot by the police for being out with one.

Times are very different now, sadly.

[Wymondley]

58 minutes ago, Scully said:

I don’t mind how realistic imitation or airguns look, compared to the real thing.
If someone goes out with the intention of scaring someone into believing they are facing the real thing, then the wielder deserves everything they get. 

This.

5 minutes ago, old'un said:

Times are very different now, sadly.

Exactly, and the police are now more likely to be facing a gun than they were 40 years ago.

The real problem is the amount of illegal firearms held and used by the criminal fraternity, not whether legally held air pistols look like real guns.

 

[old'un]

13 minutes ago, Wymondley said:

This.

Exactly, and the police are now more likely to be facing a gun than they were 40 years ago.

The real problem is the amount of illegal firearms held and used by the criminal fraternity, not whether legally held air pistols look like real guns.

 

yes but there is the possibility that you could be shot for pointing either at the police, a real firearm or air pistol, how do they tell the difference?

[Newbie to this]

Do they need to tell the difference, simply don't point any firearm at anybody, police or othwrwise.

[Yellow Bear]

1 hour ago, Scully said:

The kids mother claimed it wouldn’t have happened if he’d been white, although how she knew this wasn’t made clear. 

Easy standard response when setting up to claim compo.

[pigeon controller]

During a conversation in a Greek Gun shop in September I spoke about illegal guns and the owner informed me that various countries now send them to UK but putting them in plastic bags with magnets and placing them under tourist cars and coaches. Then phone the number to their agent in the country. May not be true but I’ve driven 12 times but never searched on return.

One outbound trip they tape the door handles and found residue as I’d been shooting two days before also I had an empty slab box in the car with fishing bits in it . They checked the car and let me go.

[Genghis]

3 hours ago, jall25 said:

Yes - and what a poorer country it is because of it

Kids now play on computers rather being outside being cowboys 

In some cases this is true. In other cases it’s because kids have had a lot of their conventional fun taken away from them. They’re not even allowed to play conkers anymore.