Posted on 08/02/2006 9:42:22 AM PDT by markomalley
Two Potomac teens were arrested for flashing a toy gun at a woman last week...
(snip)
At about 9:55 p.m. on Thursday, a 29-year-old Rockville woman reported that two boys had aimed a gun at her while driving near the intersection of Westlake Drive and Tuckerman Lane in Bethesda...
(snip)
The brothers were arrested and charged as juveniles with first-degree assault and released to the custody of their father, police said.
Under state law, first-degree assault is a felony that can carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
Using a toy weapon in a crime carries the same charge and possible jail time as using a real weapon, police said.
(Excerpt) Read more at gazette.net ...
Wow, this is absurd.
Because it would make them seem RIDICULOUS.
It's in the article, but you do have to click the link to read it, since it was snipped out. Here:
"The two brothers, ages 13 and 16, were riding in a red 1999 Mercury Mountaineer with their father when the traffic light turned green.
After the woman blew her horn to indicate the light change, the boys aimed at least one toy gun at her, police said."
Here's what I have to say about it. These boys were lucky this woman wasn't armed. Teenagers point a gun at me and they're likely to end up dead.
They're not going to get jail sentences over this, even though they could, legally. But the're going to get scared as crap over it.
You do not point a gun, toy or not, at someone like these boys did. Period. Never. It's a good way to end up dead.
Montgomery County, Maryland, is where the Washington snipers took target practice.
The most obvious question is, "What sort of toy guns?" If they looked realistic, the kids are lucky to be alive.
I agree.
Sorry I had to snip, but that was a requirement for posting from this source.
If it's a real looking gun, then I can see some kind of charge, but not the same as if a real one is aimed at someone. Those kids are lucky they didn't get shot. If it looked real and someone had reasonable fear for their life, it would be a justified shoot.
You are correct. If you live in the Wash Metro area, this isn't funny at all. It is not just a case of toy guns.
You have to have lived there to get it.
My opinion about this case is largely tempered by the outcome. The proper outcome should be a stern warning from a judge and case dismissed. However, kids (especially 16 year olds) ought to know better than to start waving anything around that might be mistaken for a real gun.
Anyone remember the days when all boys (and maybe some girls) had "cowboy guns" and holsters. Then you graduated to BB guns and could carry them safely without being threatened by "liberals" or arrested by the police?
It was a time of common sense before PC BS. Back then, even "liberals" knew the difference between a real gun and a toy.
They are 13 and 16. What are they doing with toy guns? Under the circumstances of the confrontation they could have just as likely been real weapons. I got no problem with this.
I can't imagine anybody here blowing this off if it happened to them.
Once you actually read the whole story, ytou can sdee what idiots these boys were. They could have ended up dead. Nothing to do with liberals or the nanny state.
I loved my silver revolver that shot off caps. :)
"But when last I checked, stupidity wasn't a felony"
No felony, but it is the most common capital offense nonetheless.
Kids shouldn't have toy guns. Someone will just take it off of them and pretend to shoot them with it. LOL
You sound like a cop.
At least you had better be if you shoot a kid with a toy gun.
You will NOT be able to use the fact that it looked like a threat as an excuse. Then again this is in Maryland, the ONLY way you would be packing is if you're a cop.
Sounds like they were Airsoft guns to me. They look pretty realistic, even with the obligatory orange muzzle tips.
It's obvious the parent hasn't taught these idjits a thing about real firearm safety.
When I was about 11 or 12, I was manning my corner as a school safety patrolman when two teenagers pulled up in a car, pointed a gun out the window, and told me to get in the car. I froze, and they pulled off laughing. I wrote down the license number and gave it to the crossing guard at our school when I went off duty. The police called me at home that afternoon to tell me the gun was a toy but they had nevertheless hauled the two kids in and read them the riot act. It was a scary experience, and had I been an adult and armed myself, it could have ended very badly.
I'd guess they were airsoft guns. Most are copies of actual pistols and they fire 6mm plastic BB's.
Me and my kids all have them. Plenty of fun for war games and it gives me an excuse to shoot my kids. (well protected of course)
However, that said, normal gun safety practices still apply ie; don't aim them at unsuspecting passersby.
I loved my silver revolver that shot off caps. :)
Oh yea! And if all the caps did not shoot, you layed them on the sidewalk and hit them with a hammer! What fun we used to have before PC liberals took all our fun away.
This sounds more like a couple of stupid kids who fortunately avoided a harder lesson than they could have gotten.
I was Roy Rogers and Las LaRue all rolled into one.
Of course now, I might be a little reluctant to be "Lash LaRue" what with all it's possible S & M implications. (LOL) Was he the first hero cowboy dressed in black? I liked him better than "Whip Wilson". None of these stage names will ever be as good ad "Beaver Cleaver"
Roy Rogers was redeemed by Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes and Trigger. He was very well dressed, in fact he was the best dressed cowboy.
Maybe in MD, but in most of the free states, reasonable fear of loss of life or limb is the standard. Doesn't matter if it's actually real or not, the shooter would deservedly get off scot-free.
Not all of us have to rely on the police to protect us.
I gotta agree with this.
susie
Whatever happened to getting pulled over for a stern warning from a police officer? For a lot of people, that would be more than sufficient to make the point. Cuffing, transporting and charging a 13 year-old with a serious felony sounds extreme in this case.
Yeah, and we lost a number of windows back in that day too.
susie
You're right. I agree. When I was their age, I had real guns (long guns, not handguns). It was a different time.
I don't agree with you about much.
But I finally found something we agree on.
"You sound like a cop.
At least you had better be if you shoot a kid with a toy gun.
You will NOT be able to use the fact that it looked like a threat as an excuse. Then again this is in Maryland, the ONLY way you would be packing is if you're a cop.
"
Nope. I'm not a cop. I live in Minnesota, and have a CCW permit. When someone points a gun at me, it's not in my nature to examine it for a very long time. If I saw the colored tip, I'd hold fire, but lots of kids take those off or paint them.
Any parent who allows teenaged children to point even toy guns at people in adjacent automobiles needs to have his head examined.
I cannot imagine what my father would have done had I done something like that as a teenager, but it would have hurt...a lot.
You do not understand the situation. When someone points a gun at you, you have very little time to decide what to do. If you delay and the gun is real, you could be dead. If you do not delay, the person pointing the gun at you could be dead.
Children do not point guns at people if they have decent parents. Children who point guns at people in states where CCW is legal and common, end up dead. Further, in states that have passed laws regarding self defence in threat situations, the person who shoots the gun pointer is going to walk free.
Make no mistake. Pointing any sort of gun, toy or real, at another person, especially a stranger, could be your last act.
Teenagers? A sizable proportion of murders in this country are done by teenagers.
I disagree. Pointing a gun at someone is a good way to get shot. Many states have laws that consider pointing a gun at someone a form of assault, and with good reason.
Given the stories about "road rage," and the fact that there's no way that the driver could know that this was a toy gun (and if it were pointed at you, would you really take the chance?)
If someone in a car points a gun at me, I'm taking evasive action and on the cell phone, dialing 911. And I'd be pulling a weapon, if I carried it.
Mark
I really really doubt that you would get off scot free ANYWHERE under the circumstances described here.
You wouldn't if I were on the jury. I support both packing and using your firearm for self defense, but engaging a target in another vehicle is stupid 99% of the time in my opinion. If for no other reason than you can NOT BE SURE of either your target or what is beyond it.
Amen, brother mineralman. It is not even nice to point a finger at someone.
I saw teens in the first line.
No doubt youngsters playing Cowboys & Indians and pretending to kill the Indians could get them the death penalty!
I personally don't see it: confusing an Airsoft with the real thing. But that's just me, I guess.
Maybe simple observation and common sense is so rare in Montgomery County that the cops need to focus on it (rather than dealing with gangs, drugs, and other less important issues) /sarc
I have a theory about this. Since Montgomery cty surrounds DC and most of the residents there are dependent upon the taxes plundered from the rest of the country, they worry about peoples' ability to resist tyranny. If actual resistance happens, then they won't be able to swill from the public trough and will actually have to find useful work for a living, so anything that diminishes the power of the people and increases the power of the government sounds good to them.
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Introduced my grandson to that just last week.
"I personally don't see it: confusing an Airsoft with the real thing. But that's just me, I guess. "
I dunno. I used to build model cars and planes when I was a kid. A little jar of black paint and a brush, and that orange disappears. Kids do it all the time. Feels more real to them, that way.
Stupidity. And I find Law enforcement cupable for going along with this stupidity.
Par for the course in the People's Democratic Republic of Montgomery County.
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