Maybe schools should require some kind of basic course to familiarize kids with real guns, so they don't grow up into these principals who can't tell the difference.
Maybe schools should require some kind of basic course to familiarize kids with real guns, so they don't grow up into these principals who can't tell the difference.
How far away was the guy in the costume from the principal's office? I'm not familiar with that school district but most public schools I attended were set back quite a ways from the road and sidewalk. If the blaster was black plastic, would you be able to distinguish it from a real gun from 100 feet away?
If the blaster was black plastic, would you be able to distinguish it from a real gun from 100 feet away?
I was raised around guns, and also enjoyed the original Star Wars movies when they were popular. So I'm going to say, I could distinguish between a toy and a real gun from farther away than that, even with failing eyesight. Here's a stormtrooper gun [google.com] vs. a 9 mm [google.com]. Which is probably going to be fairly common. How blind would you have to be to not be able to see the difference? Even if you are not very familiar with guns, you'd have to be pretty obtuse to mistake these two. If you can't tell the difference betw
Even if you are not very familiar with guns, you'd have to be pretty obtuse to mistake [a stormtrooper gun for a 9 mm gun]. If you can't tell the difference between them, then you probably wouldn't be able to distinguish a gun from a stick.
Of course, it's obvious to anyone that a stormtrooper gun is not a standard 9 mm gun. But that's not the point. The question is whether it's reasonable to assume that anyone would be able to tell in an instant that there exists no firearm that looks like a stormtrooper gun. I would surely be scared as hell if a stranger pointed that thing at me.
Here in the Netherlands, it's illegal to carry something in public that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm. That's why toy guns here are invariably made of bright-colored plastic. I believe that this policy has prevented quite a few (fatal) misunderstandings.
Fear of guns (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe schools should require some kind of basic course to familiarize kids with real guns, so they don't grow up into these principals who can't tell the difference.
Re: (Score:1)
Maybe schools should require some kind of basic course to familiarize kids with real guns, so they don't grow up into these principals who can't tell the difference.
How far away was the guy in the costume from the principal's office? I'm not familiar with that school district but most public schools I attended were set back quite a ways from the road and sidewalk. If the blaster was black plastic, would you be able to distinguish it from a real gun from 100 feet away?
Re: (Score:4, Interesting)
If the blaster was black plastic, would you be able to distinguish it from a real gun from 100 feet away?
I was raised around guns, and also enjoyed the original Star Wars movies when they were popular. So I'm going to say, I could distinguish between a toy and a real gun from farther away than that, even with failing eyesight. Here's a stormtrooper gun [google.com] vs. a 9 mm [google.com]. Which is probably going to be fairly common. How blind would you have to be to not be able to see the difference? Even if you are not very familiar with guns, you'd have to be pretty obtuse to mistake these two. If you can't tell the difference betw
Re:Fear of guns (Score:3)
Of course, it's obvious to anyone that a stormtrooper gun is not a standard 9 mm gun. But that's not the point. The question is whether it's reasonable to assume that anyone would be able to tell in an instant that there exists no firearm that looks like a stormtrooper gun. I would surely be scared as hell if a stranger pointed that thing at me.
Here in the Netherlands, it's illegal to carry something in public that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm. That's why toy guns here are invariably made of bright-colored plastic. I believe that this policy has prevented quite a few (fatal) misunderstandings.