boglin: (Default)
boglin ([personal profile] boglin) wrote2005-06-08 05:23 pm
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It looks like a gun...it smells like a gun...

Yet another article about a potential crackdown on the sale of replica guns (mostly airsoft), focusing on how similar the replicas are to the real thing - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4072244.stm - included the paragraphs:

Staring down the barrel of a replica gun, it is easy to understand how terrifying these "toys" can be.

The number of firearms offences involving imitations rose 66% in 2004, while the use of real shotguns, handguns and rifles fell markedly.

Police officers believe that criminals who might previously have used knives in robberies are now choosing replica guns instead, while many youths see them as a status symbol.


Is is just me, or if you were the victim of an armed robery, would you prefer the assailant to be packing a replica weapon rather than a real gun or a knife???

[identity profile] boglin.livejournal.com 2005-06-08 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
More of a 'worst case scenario reasoning' than anything else. I've been in a shop that was being held up at gunpoint, and have had men armed with knives force their way into my house. In the former one I walked out of the shop and dialled 999, and in the latter I appeared at the top of the stairs in my pyjamas and told them the police were on their way. I suppose in either of those situations I *could* have ended up being killed. Perhaps I was lucky that I wasn't. But at least you can't kill someone with a fake gun. Unless you hit them really really hard.