http://www.pe.com/localnews/sanbernardino/stories/PE_News_Local_S_replicas24.8c49d6b.html
YUCAIPA - Yucaipa-Calimesa schools Superintendent Mitch Hovey remembers the
day a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy mistook a laser-tag gun for the
real thing and opened fire on a 19-year-old Rancho Cucamonga teen, killing
him.
Hovey doesn't want a replay of that 1987 incident happening on any of his
campuses and is asking parents to scratch realistic soft-air pellet guns and
other replica firearms off their holiday gift lists this year.
Several look-alikes have been confiscated from elementary-age children on
Yucaipa campuses in recent months, he said, and at least one expulsion
proceeding is under way. A couple of others have been referred for expulsion
review.
Other Inland educators said they, too, are seeing more replica handguns on
campus and worry about potential tragedy.
Dianne Pavia, spokeswoman for Riverside Unified School District, said school
officials have confiscated four look-alikes at different elementary campuses
in just the last two weeks and about a dozen overall from various
primary-grade students since the end of last school year.
"Parents for the most part don't know their kids have them because they're
buying them from the ice-cream man," she said. "It's apparently a popular
item and they're selling them right off the truck for $5."
Pavia said principals have gone to classrooms and explained to students it
illegal to bring any kind of firearms on campus -- real or imitation.
"These are expellable offenses," Pavia said.
Hovey said he worries about more look-alikes showing up on campus as the
holidays arrive.
"With Christmas coming, I'm afraid parents will be buying their kids what
they think are toys," Hovey said. "But if a kid brings it to school and the
cops are called, my main concern is that sooner or later some
law-enforcement officer is going to mistake one for a real gun. Officers are
trained to engage and I don't want anyone getting hurt."
Yucaipa police recently raised the alert at a task-force meeting with school
administrators.
"One of the officers brought in a couple of soft-air guns," Hovey said.
"They have a magazine you can pull out and they're weighted like a real gun.
"
Soft-air guns are designed to fire small plastic pellets and, depending on
their design, operate by spring, compressed gas or electrically.
The newer generation replicate real semi-automatic firearms such as the 9 mm
Sig Sauer P226, the .45-caliber Colt 1911 and 9 mm Israeli Micro Uzi.
Hovey said possession of any replica handgun on school grounds violates the
state Education Code and automatically starts the expulsion process.
District administrators have discussed the situation with school principals,
he said, and will get the word out to parents through quarterly and monthly
newsletters.
Howard and Pat Reeves, owners of the Sport Shack on Yucaipa Boulevard, sell
several models of soft-air and BB guns. Their policy is not to sell them to
anyone under 18.
"As a business owner, you can't sell what you like. You have to sell what
sells," Pat Reeves said. "But if the kids don't come in with a parent, they
don't get it. So at least I can sleep at night."
Federal law requires manufacturers to place an orange ring around the barrel
of soft-air guns to distinguish them as nonlethal. However, Lt. Jerry Davis,
of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's substation in Yucaipa, said he would
"dare anybody" to tell the difference between some replicas and the real
thing at night.
Davis said deputies are trained to look for the orange ring to make sure
they do not inadvertently open fire on someone holding a look-alike but the
safeguard is no guarantee against tragedy. While earlier paint-ball guns had
big canisters on top of them, making them easily identifiable, newer models
resemble real assault weapons and high-powered handguns, he said.
"It looks like somebody's carrying an AR-15 or M-16 assault weapon," he
said. "I've seen .45-caliber semi-automatic replicas. They're making
whatever they want to make. They're not illegal."
How these "toys" can produce tense situations became clear about four months
ago when Yucaipa sheriff's deputies responded to reports of men in
camouflage carrying assault weapons near a housing tract.
"When the first deputy approached, they scattered and tried to hide. Now the
deputy is thinking he's under assault," Davis said. "It just got uglier from
there. Five units ended up responding. It turned out to be a bunch of 16-
and 17-year-old kids with soft-air guns acting dumb -- exactly the kind of
thing that can escalate."
YUCAIPA - Yucaipa-Calimesa schools Superintendent Mitch Hovey remembers the
day a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy mistook a laser-tag gun for the
real thing and opened fire on a 19-year-old Rancho Cucamonga teen, killing
him.
Hovey doesn't want a replay of that 1987 incident happening on any of his
campuses and is asking parents to scratch realistic soft-air pellet guns and
other replica firearms off their holiday gift lists this year.
Several look-alikes have been confiscated from elementary-age children on
Yucaipa campuses in recent months, he said, and at least one expulsion
proceeding is under way. A couple of others have been referred for expulsion
review.
Other Inland educators said they, too, are seeing more replica handguns on
campus and worry about potential tragedy.
Dianne Pavia, spokeswoman for Riverside Unified School District, said school
officials have confiscated four look-alikes at different elementary campuses
in just the last two weeks and about a dozen overall from various
primary-grade students since the end of last school year.
"Parents for the most part don't know their kids have them because they're
buying them from the ice-cream man," she said. "It's apparently a popular
item and they're selling them right off the truck for $5."
Pavia said principals have gone to classrooms and explained to students it
illegal to bring any kind of firearms on campus -- real or imitation.
"These are expellable offenses," Pavia said.
Hovey said he worries about more look-alikes showing up on campus as the
holidays arrive.
"With Christmas coming, I'm afraid parents will be buying their kids what
they think are toys," Hovey said. "But if a kid brings it to school and the
cops are called, my main concern is that sooner or later some
law-enforcement officer is going to mistake one for a real gun. Officers are
trained to engage and I don't want anyone getting hurt."
Yucaipa police recently raised the alert at a task-force meeting with school
administrators.
"One of the officers brought in a couple of soft-air guns," Hovey said.
"They have a magazine you can pull out and they're weighted like a real gun.
"
Soft-air guns are designed to fire small plastic pellets and, depending on
their design, operate by spring, compressed gas or electrically.
The newer generation replicate real semi-automatic firearms such as the 9 mm
Sig Sauer P226, the .45-caliber Colt 1911 and 9 mm Israeli Micro Uzi.
Hovey said possession of any replica handgun on school grounds violates the
state Education Code and automatically starts the expulsion process.
District administrators have discussed the situation with school principals,
he said, and will get the word out to parents through quarterly and monthly
newsletters.
Howard and Pat Reeves, owners of the Sport Shack on Yucaipa Boulevard, sell
several models of soft-air and BB guns. Their policy is not to sell them to
anyone under 18.
"As a business owner, you can't sell what you like. You have to sell what
sells," Pat Reeves said. "But if the kids don't come in with a parent, they
don't get it. So at least I can sleep at night."
Federal law requires manufacturers to place an orange ring around the barrel
of soft-air guns to distinguish them as nonlethal. However, Lt. Jerry Davis,
of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's substation in Yucaipa, said he would
"dare anybody" to tell the difference between some replicas and the real
thing at night.
Davis said deputies are trained to look for the orange ring to make sure
they do not inadvertently open fire on someone holding a look-alike but the
safeguard is no guarantee against tragedy. While earlier paint-ball guns had
big canisters on top of them, making them easily identifiable, newer models
resemble real assault weapons and high-powered handguns, he said.
"It looks like somebody's carrying an AR-15 or M-16 assault weapon," he
said. "I've seen .45-caliber semi-automatic replicas. They're making
whatever they want to make. They're not illegal."
How these "toys" can produce tense situations became clear about four months
ago when Yucaipa sheriff's deputies responded to reports of men in
camouflage carrying assault weapons near a housing tract.
"When the first deputy approached, they scattered and tried to hide. Now the
deputy is thinking he's under assault," Davis said. "It just got uglier from
there. Five units ended up responding. It turned out to be a bunch of 16-
and 17-year-old kids with soft-air guns acting dumb -- exactly the kind of
thing that can escalate."
