You can't fault Annapolis (MD) lawmaker Cynthia Carter for not caring about her constituents, especially the children. Why, she cares so much that she wants a new law to ban most toy guns within city limits, with provisions for fining parents whose children play with the toys outdoors. Such toys "glamorize" guns, don't you know.
Clear or brightly-colored guns are off the hook, and alderman Carter insists that this solves the problem of all those bank robbers who use toy guns to hold up banks. Um, how often does that happen? And if a guy steals $10,000 using a fake Uzi, are there really no other felony charges that can stick to him? If someone's already committing a felony, what's so great about being able to slap a toy-gun misdemeanor charge on him? Does Carter really think this will deter crime?
And what prompted this boneheaded suggestion? Well, back in April, a 7-year-old boy marched into a Hollywood video store with a toy pistol and told employees he was there to hold up the store. The gun looked real, and the employees responded as though it were. Is it obvious to anyone other than me that the problem here is not with the toy gun? Where were this kid's parents? Why was he alone in a video store at such a young age? Where did he get the idea to hold up a store? Why should the kid's parents get fined if they didn't give him the gun, or thought he was in school? What good is it for the kid to learn that he shouldn't use a toy gun, when he should be learning not to be in a video store by himself, and not to pull pranks that resemble felonies?
If toy guns are now verboten, does this mean that real guns that resemble toy guns will soon be illegal?
This part is just hilarious:
Mrs. Carter is known for her efforts on toy guns. In 2000, Mrs. Carter organized a toy-gun buyback that yielded 12 toy guns.
Mrs. Carter said she anticipates full support from all council members. The council is made up of two Republicans and seven Democrats. She speculates that her greatest obstacle will be fathers, who she believes encourage their sons to play with guns and take them to target practice.
Oh no, those terrible Fathers! How dare they try to safely initiate their kids into the world of sharpshooting and hunting with toy guns? Don't they know they should be overreacting when the kid buys a cheap cap gun? Why, they're well on the road to "robbing" video stores already!
Geez.
(Thansk to OpinionJournal's Best of the Web for the link.)
Posted by kswygert at June 19, 2003 06:00 AM