Realistic pellet, BB guns are dangerous to users

BB guns that look real can fool police, with possible deadly results

With all the talk about gun control, I thought this was worth discussing. BB and pellet guns are now manufactured to be so realistic that it is impossible to tell the difference between them and the real thing.

I was in a local popular department store browsing the sporting goods department and was amazed at what I saw hanging on a rack in an aisle.

The barrels on these pellet or BB handguns are designed to look like the real thing, with the smaller projectile discharge hole recessed about a half inch inside a full sized barrel opening. It appears like a real weapon.

The semi-automatic styles are the same size and shape of an actual weapon, and in some cases made to resemble popular brands like Smith and Wesson, Colt and other manufacturers.

I had to look twice to be sure they were not real!

There were two revolver models with full-size barrels, and cylinders that from the front look loaded with hollow point ammunition including the brass casing and firing cap on the back.

This looks like a loaded weapon ready to fire.

These BB or pellet guns have options for scopes or laser sights for greater accuracy. As the advertisements state, they are “designed to look and feel like the real thing.”

There are models that use .22-caliber pellet ammunition fired with compressed air cylinders.

These are weapons in themselves, and not anything like your grandfather’s old Daisy.

Some of the model documentation indicates that you must be 16 years old to have one, but lately there have been cases where a younger child had possession of such a BB or pellet gun and was shot by police who thought it was the real thing! Then the public and news media puts the blame on the officer for shooting a child with “only a BB gun.”

In reality if someone has a real gun, they can kill you just as dead regardless of their age or mental condition.

When someone is pointing a gun at an officer or anyone else, it is not logical to wait until it is fired to see if it is the real thing! If it looks real, chances are that it is real, and there is only a fraction of a second to make a life and death decision that affects both parties.

Parents should be aware of the risks involved in having a minor possess one of these realistic-looking BB or pellet guns. If there ever is an involvement with a police officer or anyone with a legal weapon carry permit, the child’s life will be in danger.

Also note that New Mexico (as well as other states) is an open carry state. Anyone can strap on a handgun, with no proper training, as long as it is not concealed. If a minor points a realistic-looking BB or pellet gun at the wrong person, they could end up on the wrong end of a real weapon and be shot!

The solution: BB and pellet guns should be manufactured to look like what they are, and easily identified by law enforcement.

They should not have fullbore barrels or look like real loaded weapons with laser sights and scopes.

The way it is now, in a life or death situation there is not enough time for anyone to make a proper decision to determine “is the gun real or not?”

Since most anyone can purchase a pellet or BB gun, maybe the politicians and others promoting gun control should take a closer look at this problem if they want to protect our children.