SkunkApe: I also bought two of those blowguns from that ad with the anteater. I think I got a 4" and a 6". They came with a quiver, which was a block of syrofoam which you taped to the tube and stuck the darts in. I also had a sling made up with parachute cord on mine. They were a lot of fun. As was mentioned, in no time, you could be shooting very tight groups. The perfect thing to overcome the boredom of watching television. When I bought mine (20 years ago ?) they included five or so "magnum" darts which were a yellow plastic cone used with the same wire as the beads. I tried several times to bag a chipmunk with it, but they seemed to be able to move out of the way. The sound reached them before the dart. When I moved out of my parents house I wanted to take them with me, but they were too long to justify driving across country with them in the car. I would still like to have one just for the heck of it. I have no doubt that if you hit someone at fairly close range, you could bury the dart all the way to the bead. If you hit someone in the right place I would say, it could kill them. Like the carotid artery in the neck, possibly in the trachea..................... I definitely think the use of lethal force would have been justifed for that cop.
I don't think this qualifies as an assult weapon unless you have a pistol grip, detachable mag, and a bayonet lug. Although it woud be tactical if you painted it black.
