18-year old young man tries to rob 12-year old Maryland boy with toy gun

A 12-year old boy in Severn, Maryland, was approached by an 18-year old male, who then tried to rob the boy using a toy pistol.  The boy fled the scene.

From an article:

Dejon Arnold, 18, of the 8200 block of Autumn Lake Court in Severn, was charged with robbery, theft less than $1,000 and second-degree assault, according to online court records. 

Officers responded to the 8200 block of Clearwater Court at 4:45 p.m. and spoke with the victim and his father. The boy told officers that he had been walking in the area of Clearwater Court and Indian Drive at 3:15 p.m. when Arnold approached him and displayed what looked like a handgun, police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said. 

Arnold demanded the victim's coat. The boy refused and then fled; he was not injured. 

Police were able to find and arrest Arnold. Officers determined the gun used in the incident to be fake, Mulcahy said.

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17-year old Utah boy with Down's almost shot because of toy gun

Police in Clinton, Utah spotted a shadowy figure with a gun late at night.  He didn't respond to verbal commands, and nearly got shot before they managed to see the tiny red tip at the end of the toy gun he was holding.  The boy turned out to have Down's Syndrome and had gotten out of his home late at night.

From the article:

"I saw someone crouched by the van," Benedict said. "At that time, the deputy I was training stated that she saw a gun."

They pulled around for a closer look, from about a couple dozen yards away.

"As I flipped around, I did see a gentleman crouched down by the van in a tactical position, and he was pointing a gun," Benedict said. The officers had to be careful and their training kicked in.

"I called out the location, asked for additional units," Benedict said.

Then the teen turned and pointed the gun toward the officers. As officers pulled their weapons, calling for the boy to drop his, Benedict said the teen just turned around, keeping the gun at his side.

It was a standoff for a few seconds. "As he was walking away, we were closing the distance, giving verbal commands to drop the weapon," Benedict said.

But it wasn't until the officers got much closer that they could see the 17-year-old was holding a plastic toy gun with an orange tip and that he had Down syndrome.
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Still, toy or not, deputies said in the dark it all seems very real and dangerous. "(What was) going through my mind is that this was a threat to mine and my partner’s lives," Benedict recalled.

Police say parents need to be aware that those real-looking guns, even the ones with orange tips, can be dangerous, especially since some criminals have painted orange tips on their real weapons.

The teen’s mother said the boy loves the police and was playing “policeman.”

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Ice cream truck is also selling toy guns in front of elementary school

In Salinas, California, an ice cream truck is selling more than frozen treats to elementary kids in front of the El Gabilan Elementary school.  They are also selling toy guns, which has the principal concerned and has led to at least one incident at the school.

From the article and news footage:

"It is very disturbing to us and it is our job to take care of it right away," said Rosie Alvarez, principal of the school. The fake fun is one of the first things kids see when they walk up to the truck.
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She's frustrated someone would sell fake guns so close to her school. "What they're doing is empowering the child to bring weapons and they don't realize that," she said.

Alvarez said she hopes parents keep a close eye on their kids to make sure they don't have fake guns in their backpacks. "We all have to work together as a team to help remedy the situation because it's our children's future," she said.

If students are caught with a fake gun on campus, they will be suspended and school officials will notify police.

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16-year old boy and 19-year old hold up a store with realistic toy assault rifle

A 16-year old boy and a 19-year old young man held up a Texas business using a toy assault rifle.  The orange tip had been removed.  The clerk, who had even sold firearms and ammo in the past, was fooled by the look-alike.  They boys have been arrested.

From the article:

"He put a gun to the clerk and threatened him," Nathan Ruiz said.

Ruiz says the clerk was terrified and thought the assault rifle was real.

"The clerk has worked selling guns and ammo and he had no clue. He thought the gun looked very real."

But, police says the gun used in the crime was a fake. Authorities later arrested 19-year old Jaquan White and a 16-year old boy. Officials say the toy gun was stripped of the orange tip that would have helped identify it as a fake.
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Police say it isn't uncommon for fake guns to be used in crimes. They also say some phony firearms are becoming more realistic looking. The only real giveaway is often the orange tip, telling police the gun is a toy.

"it is even difficult for trained police officers to tell the difference," Carrollton police spokesperson, Jon Stovall said.

Stovall said Carrollton passed an ordinance in 2004 making it illegal for an adult to brandish a fake gun in a menacing way. The law also makes it illegal for a juvenile to carry a fake gun in public to a park or school. Stovall says the ordinance grew out of an incident involving a police officer and a child that didn't end up with anyone being hurt, but could have ended badly.

"Kids often don't think about what they are doing, so this helps keep them safe."

Since then a handful of cities, including Dallas have also passed ordinances to restrict where children can carry fake guns. In most cities, those caught violating the rule can be fined.

Why have such realistic toy guns?

New article about kids and toy guns

What should a parent do when a small child, mostly boys as it turns out, uses other objects as guns and makes claims of "shooting" someone? This new article in TodayMoms answers some questions for parents about little boys and toy guns or objects used as guns. From the article:

Not at all, said Michael Thompson, psychologist and co-author of the best-selling book “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys.” It’s normal, he explained, for boys to be interested in what men do, and in whatever it takes to be strong and powerful like their dads and the other heroes in their lives.

This is a good article for parents of young boys and how to talk to them when they want to "shoot" with toy guns or other things found around the house. It doesn't mean that they will grow up to be violent adults. One caution is offered by Thompson in the article:

When parents should worry, he said, is if their boys lack empathy, seem to really want to hurt others and are not remorseful after accidentally or intentionally hurting another child.