City is latest to pass ordinance addressing danger cited by police
08:28 AM CDT on Thursday, July 19, 2007
By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News
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Toy guns aren't all fun and games anymore.
Manufacturers are making the toys look so realistic that it's hard to tell them from the real thing at a distance, Farmers Branch police say.
Some young people are using the toys to intimidate. Some residents are alarmed. And police officers are concerned about situations in which they may not be able to distinguish between a toy and the real thing until it's too late.
Now, someone carrying a toy gun in public that looks like a real gun can be fined up to $1,000 in Farmers Branch.
The city on Monday joined Dallas, Plano and Carrollton in regulating "facsimile" weapons – those that so closely resemble the real thing that they can only be identified as fakes through close inspection.
The Farmers Branch ordinance makes it illegal to display or brandish a facsimile firearm in a manner that could alarm people in a public place or cause any type of reaction by emergency personnel.
"It's not to target two 6-year-olds out playing cops and robbers," Police Chief Sid Fuller said.
But it is intended to deal with situations like these that Farmers Branch officers have encountered in recent years:
•Police officers responding to a call at Dallas Christian College found two people behind a small building pointing what appeared to be guns at each other. A third person was seen running toward the other two while also carrying a handgun. Officers drew their guns and ordered the three to drop their weapons, only to discover that they were facsimile guns.
•A resident flagged down officers and said she saw a man wearing all red, including a bandanna across his face, and holding a shotgun. The gun turned out to be a toy.
•An officer on patrol saw a child pull a handgun from his waistband and point it at other children. Officers drew their guns and ordered the child to drop his weapon. It turned out to be a cap gun.
•A known gang member was seen by neighbors with what appeared to be a large-caliber handgun tucked into his waistband. He fled into a house when officers arrived. They called him out of the house and the gun turned out to be a fake, which he said he was carrying because rival gang members threatened him.
There are no state regulations regarding facsimile weapons, but a federal law requires that they have an orange tip, Chief Fuller said.
In dark conditions, from a distance, or when the barrel of the toy is hidden inside a waistband, orange tips may not be visible, city officials said.
"If you use it in an aggressive manner or are trying to make it look like you've got a real gun, that's what causes the problem," City Manager Gary Greer said. "We're concerned with it causing friction between people in the community, people trying to intimidate other people with these facsimile guns."
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