Toy Weapon - Dangers and Controversy

Dangers and Controversy

Toy weapons can cause harm like most objects in the hands of children. BB guns which were sold as toys can and have caused lethal injury, as well as property damage. Unlike most other toys though, much of the danger of these toys is related to mistaking a real weapon for a toy weapon.

As plastic replaced wood and metal in toy weapon manufacture, so did real weapons such as the M-16 start a trend to use plastic in manufacturing modern assault rifles. Current military rifles such as the Steyr AUG now resemble children's toys. Technological advancement also enabled weapons to be the same size of toy weapons. In previous days Colt Peacemaker pistols, Winchester lever action rifles, tommy guns, and Louis Marx and Company children's versions of the M-1 and M-14 were noticeably scaled down in size and unlikely to be mistaken for the real thing. From the 1960s weapons like the Uzi and Mac-10 submachine guns are the same size as children's toys.

Problems with toy weapons that look very much like a real one include:

• a robber or other criminal might threaten people with a toy weapon
• people might flee and panic, or overpower the carrier of a toy weapon
• police officers or other authorities treating the carrier of a toy weapon as armed may harm him or her, and take measures such as closing an area, causing disruption to the public and needless work for the authorities.
• a child might handle a real weapon confusing it with a toy

Therefore these toy weapons are forbidden in many countries. Realistic looking toys are often called "replicas". In the United States since 1992, toy guns are required to have an orange plug or be entirely brightly colored to signify them as toys.

Toy weapons are sometimes banned from certain public places where responses could cause a disruption.