Should OP girl be suspended over toy gun incident?

An Overland Park girl has been suspended until January because she reportedly shot a boy with an Airsoft gun while they were playing on a school playground, though it was on a Sunday. (The incident led to a police report, though the boy's parents let the matter drop.) The school district isn't saying much beyond noting that its no-weapons-on-school-grounds is very clear.

Man charged with shooting son with BB gun

A Tuscaloosa County man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly punished his 8-year-old son by shooting his buttocks with a BB gun.
A school official at Lakeview Elementary School contacted officials after the boy reported the abuse last week, said Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. John Barker.
The child had several marks on his buttocks and upper thighs, he said. Some of the BBs had broken his skin.
Sheriff Ted Sexton arrested Lewis Terrence Brown Jr., 28, on Wednesday and charged him with torture and willful abuse of a child. He was released from the Tuscaloosa County Jail on $15,000 bail.
Investigators discovered that Lewis used an Airsoft gun that fires plastic BBs, Barker said. He had used the gun occasionally to punish his son.
“This is clearly willful abuse in my opinion. I appreciate the partnership between the county school system, DHR and the Sheriff's Office to bring this case forward for prosecution” said Sheriff Ted Sexton.

WestConn student issued summons in alleged AirSoft pistol incident

DANBURY -- University police issued a misdemeanor summons to a Western Connecticut State University student after he reportedly shot someone with an AirSoft pistol Tuesday on the midtown campus.
According to police, they received a report Tuesday at 5:23 p.m. to go to the midtown Student Center where a female allegedly had been shot with an airsoft BB gun.
Police said officers checked the area but found no suspect or victim. WestConn dispatch then reported that the alleged victim was at police headquarters, police said.
The woman reportedly told police she had been shot on the inner left thigh by what she believed to be an AirSoft pistol but reported she sustained no serious injury, just a small bruise to the left inner thigh left by an Airsoft BB, according to police.
Police said an investigation revealed that the alleged shooter was Newbury Hall resident Janzen Glahn-Janatka, and that an officer responded to Newbury Hall and seized an AirSoft pistol.
Glahn-Janatka was issued a misdemeanor summons for second-degree breach of the peace and carrying/brandishing a facsimile firearm.
He was released on a promise to appear and given a court date of Nov. 4.

The Academy Airsoft Facility to Become Maze of Spooky Delights

The Academy, a state-of-the-art firearms training center and Airsoft field that features the Coachella Valley’s only indoor shooting range, is converting its Airsoft and Tactical Training Center into a Haunted House from October 27-31st, with proceeds donated to the Drama Department at Coachella Valley High School and the Coachella Valley Latino Peace Officers’ Association (CVLPOA).
“We’re using a fog machine that will give our facility the look and feel of 19th century London,” says David Chandler, President & CEO of The Academy. “The students in the Drama Department are very excited to decorate and staff the Haunted House, which will have everything from skeletons to an operating room. We’re happy to provide these organizations with a fun way to raise some much-needed funds for their programs.”
Here are the hours and prices for the haunted house.
Hours:
October 27-28: 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
October 29: 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
October 30: 12:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
October 31: 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Prices:
11 and Under = $4
12 and Older = $6
55 and Older = $5
Patrons are encouraged to come in costume.
“Our continued success would not be possible without the support of agencies like The Academy,” says Manuel Lopez, CVLPOA President. “We are able to provide thousands of dollars in student scholarships each year, and are proud to play an active role in the local community.”
The CVLPOA was formed in the late 1980’s and sponsors, supports, and volunteers at numerous community service programs. The organization presents annual awards and student college scholarships, and its members consist of peace officers, retired peace officers, law enforcement personnel and associate members in related fields.
The Academy is located at 38-698 El Viento Road, just north of Interstate 10. The 40,000 square foot facility features 14 indoor firing lanes, a tactical training center, youth programs, self-defense classes and security guard and taser training. Firearms, rentals, uniforms and accessories are available for purchase. Airsoft is an activity where participants work in a simulated urban environment, using replica firearms to shoot plastic pellets for purposes of recreation, teambuilding and training.

Air rifle owners will need licence

Powerful pre-charged air rifles will be treated as firearms from Friday, requiring a firearms license for their possession. Police say they will take an educative approach on the law change initially and owners will have a three-month grace period (until January 2011) in which to obtain a firearms license or dispose of the weapon by selling it to a licensed person or surrendering it to the police. Airsoft (which fired plastic bullets) and paintball guns were excluded from the law change. Current legislation in NZ is that you must be 16 years and over and have a A-category firearms license to own an airsoft gun, or be 18 years and over. Napier police firearms officer Dennis Hurworth has called for owners of all categories of air guns to act responsibly or they placed themselves in danger from armed police."For Armed Offenders Squad members the law change will make no difference to call-outs," he said."All situations are treated the same until a weapon can be ascertained as to whether or not it posed a threat."On Friday a 25-year-old man, arrested in Napier after an Armed Offenders Squad mobilisation, was found to be in possession of an air gun of the same potency as that used to murder a police officer in Auckland in 2008. In 2007 a seven-year-old Napier girl narrowly escaped death when a .22 calibre bullet from an air rifle lodged in her brain after her father recklessly discharged the weapon.

Contradictions in debate over carrying guns

t soon will be illegal in South Portland to carry a pellet gun, airsoft gun, slingshot or bow and arrow in public.
It will, however, be perfectly legal to carry a handgun in a holster or rifle slung over your shoulder.
Does this make any sense?
The South Portland City Council voted 6-1 last week to ban those far less lethal weapons at the urging of police Chief Edward Googins, who said the move was necessary to protect the community from "those who are acting unreasonably."
Googins, according to the Southern Forecaster newspaper, says the department has received calls about men in masks with guns, likely involved in airsoft war games with nonlethal airsoft guns. These are replica weapons that fire plastic airsoft BB pellets.
Which begs the question: How can a person carrying an airsoft gun in a public place be acting unreasonably when a person carrying a Colt .45 is not?
The new ordinance also comes on the heels of several recent open-carry events in Portland. These involved people with guns, but without the masks, simply making the point that they can carry their guns just about anywhere they like.
As we have pointed out in the past, just because you can do something doesn't always mean you should.
It is, indeed, legal for people in Maine to openly carry a gun. And nobody thinks twice about this when they see two hunters walking down a rural road with shotguns over their shoulders.
However, the same two men might cause a considerable panic if they strolled into the food court at the Maine Mall.
The chief had actually asked for a complete ban on pellet guns, slingshots, even on private property. The council thought otherwise, still allowing people to use pellet guns there.
The lone opponent to the new ordinance was Councilor Tom Blake, who argued that the city is over-regulating its residents. Blake did not believe the volume of police calls justified the ordinance.
"We're creating a regulation for a problem that doesn't exist," he said.
People with pellet guns, slingshots and bows and arrows do not belong in public areas or even in heavily used urban parks.
If they do not, then why do we think people bearing rifles and handguns do?
The Portland City Council's Public Safety Committee, meanwhile, voted Tuesday to recommend that the council seek legislation barring guns from public buildings.
Councilor Dan Skolnik, who proposed the measure, would like to ban guns from places like City Hall, Merrill Auditorium and the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Guns are already prohibited in schools and in the State House in Augusta.
"Guns in City Hall detract from an atmosphere of democracy," the Portland Press Herald quoted Cathie Whittenburg of Portland as telling the committee. "Guns introduce an element of intimidation that is contrary to the open exchange of debate on controversial topics."
Public meetings do get heated at times. Members of the public have even been removed from meetings for threatening behavior.
Who would feel comfortable sitting on a city council while being screamed at by a man bearing a gun?
Perhaps it is time for the Legislature to rule on whether guns should be allowed in government buildings.
After all, if legislators feel the need to ban guns in their workplace, why should guns be allowed in Portland City Hall?

Another Proposed Law to Ban Carrying Airsoft Guns in the Philippines

Philippine Airsoft Players really are having a bad year. They are prevented carrying airsoft guns to their game sites during the last national elections, now the ongoing campaign for the village and youth council elections, and soon they will have to face the prospect of not being able to play airsoft at all with a law being proposed by people's organisations in that country.
Mainly-led by Catholic Church-influenced organisations, this group is using the country's unique "indirect initiative" where they can directly draft a bill and have it tabled for debate by the Philippine Congress and have it approved to be signed into law. The justification for this proposed law is the proliferation of illegal firearms in the country used by private armies owned by politicians and criminals. The gun ban during elections this year have drastically reduced the number of crimes in the country and the groups advocating for stricter gun regulations have gone to high gear elated by the results of the election gun ban.
While it is understood that such regulation would control the proliferation of dangerous weapons used in crimes, the sweeping proposal also covers airsoft and other replica firearms as stated in Section 3 of the proposed law, called Citizen's Protection Act of 2010. According to the Bill... "Only the following persons who are in the regular plantilla of the PNP or AFP or other law enforcement agencies are authorized to bear, carry or transport firearms or other deadly weapons in public places." Licenced firearms of private citizens should be left at home.
In interviews with the news media, the proponents say that sports shooters can carry their firearms to shooting ranges. The President of the Philippines, Nonoy Aquino Jr., is a gun enthusiast himself and thus can carry firearms only for the purpose of bringing it to a shooting range. But going over the Bill, there is no provision whatsoever regarding such assurance for those who use firearms and replica weapons for sporting purposes. However, a law that gets approved in the Philippines needs Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which then may define how firearms are to be transported through the issuance of "permits to carry".
Philippine airsoft players already enjoy such privilege through the Philippine National Police Circular No. 11 ("Revised Rules and regulations governing the manufacture, importation, exportation, sale, possession, carrying of airsoft rifles/pistols and operation of airsoft game sites and airsoft teams"). However, since its an IRR, it may be overturned as the PNP will need to issue another circular as based on the Citizens Protection Act 2010, if it does get approved to be a law.
There's an ongoing friction between the Roman Catholic Church and the Philippine President over birth control, and this proposed law might just worsen that friction as the President himself is a gun enthusiast. The proposed law is actually a rehash of the proposed gun ban law in the early 1990s, during the time of the President's mother, Corazon Aquino, which never prospered.
However, airsoft players and responsible gun enthusiasts should not be complacent. The first thing that they need to do is to dialogue with the proponents to clarify what they mean by sports shooters being able to carry their firearms from home to the shooting/gaming areas. Transporting weapons, even if concealed, from one point to another, for legitimate purposes, would still cover "public areas", especially for players who use public transportation to get to game areas. Those who travel by car would be safe as cars are considered private property.
But then, the proposed law is not explicit on their explanation of allowing licenced owners to carry their registered weapons to shooting/gaming areas. If the text is loud and clear, then there might not be something for enthusiasts to be alarmed about and they may just support the proposed law in the name crime prevention.
You can read the proposed law by downloading the "THE CITIZEN PROTECTION ACT OF 2010."

Shootout training prepares campus for the worst

The question of how San Diego community colleges would respond to a potential school shooting has been thoroughly considered by the administrative and protective services of all three of San Diego's district colleges. With the average response time to most emergency scenarios being five minutes or more, it is a difficult subject for police to address. But some distinguished district officers have come up with an interesting solution to keep costs down, and police training up, by utilizing what some would call a popular kids game; Airsoft. Richard Ferrell, Police Officer and Firearms Instructor for the San Diego Community College Police Department since 2000, has stated that the SDCCPD has conducted mandatory school shooting trainings every six months paid for by the department since 2005. Known as "Active Shooter" trainings, these include 10-30 volunteer 'civilians', visual effects, professional audio equipment, true-to-life 'Airsoft' weaponry, and officers charged with the task of moving through the campus securing frightened students and mainly, eliminating those who are actively killing. They usually occur during the weekends when campuses are empty, and declare the area off limits using police tape.Shootings are a tricky issue because of the time gap between when the shooting starts and when officers arrive. Kristen Gelineau of the Associated Press has said, "Virginia Tech and city police spent three minutes dashing across campus to the scene and broke into the chained-shut building, which took another five minutes." According to several reports, most of the students who died at Virginia Tech died within those first several minutes.When asked about the time gap, Officer Ferrell said, "That gap in time is addressed in all of our trainings. We address breaching techniques and knowing the layout."Ferrell also mentioned how trainings cycle between all four of San Diego's community college campuses so they can stay up to date on the changing landscape as construction progresses to keep response time minimal."We do not wait for help, we do not wait for cover, that's how important this is to us. There are always police officers on all of our campuses," Ferrell said.He also mentioned a new initiative that the Firearms Tactics Unit, consisting of six distinguished SDCCPD personnel who have been working on pioneering as a public awareness campaign that is being shared with the SDCC staff."We have just started educating the leaders of each educational institution because those are the people that students will be in contact with," said Ferrell.If the county promotes the program, we could see teachers being trained by law enforcement on how to respond in a life-threatening situation, and some say that's just the solution that we need.Linda Farnan, a personal instructor of self-defense and the Co-Director of the Mesa Speech and Debate Team advocates training for teachers, saying that "Installing (training) programs is necessary if we truly want to prevent deaths from not just school shootings, but any disaster scenario.""This initial response is what needs to be trained," Farnan said. It isn't arguable that the police trainings are pivotal to student safety, and this highlight calls attention to the student's behavioral role that results in the deaths that occur during a shooting scenario.Mesa College student Andrew Smith, an anthropology major, said that if he heard muffled pops followed by screams on campus and didn't know what was happening, he very well might respond by investigating which could be dangerous."I would probably stop and look," Smith said.And Christian Alvarado; a biology major on campus, when asked if he knew what a gun sounded like, said he had only heard one gunshot in his life.This poses the question of who should be receiving the training, the teachers or the students?And Kim Gerhardt, Co-Director of Forensics and professor at Mesa College says, "We are the front line between the gunman and the students."Officer Ferrell agreed that gunshots can be difficult to identify depending on the location, surroundings, and environment, "We do exercises to train officers on hearing gunshots. It's difficult to identify if they're coming from inside or outside." Ferrell said.It's training programs like Officer Ferrell's and the Firearms Tactics Unit's public awareness initiative that are being looked at as effective safeguards worthy of financial investment.Being on duty during the time of the interview, Ferrell said if he heard a gunshot he would not be afraid to put himself in harm's way.But without taxpayer dollars, not even the training that's happening today would be possible.Robert Paul Frigerio, a volunteer coordinator for 858airsoft, one of San Diego's biggest Airsoft communities and a participant in the Active Shooter trainings says paying for the whole program is pivotal."What it really comes down to is funding. Since Active Shooter does not yet have a prescribed and established funding technique, the department has an issue with who it sends its funds to."Frigerio continued by advocating for Airsoft as a way to keep costs down over other department standards."The Airsoft way is financially more viable. Even using blanks in a real weapon is much more expensive."And that's something that Officer Ferrell was happy to put his name behind,He described one of the districts current standards, 'simmunitions'."Simmunitons are actual bullets with the metal tips replaced by a small plastic paint filled capsules and officers use actual firearms during simulation. The bullets are about $2.50 cents a round and we use roughly 2,500 rounds in a training course."That's $6,250 per training spent on ammunition alone.Officer Ferrell then expressed his approval of Airsoft as a new department standard, saying "The initial cost for training with Airsoft equipment is probably around $15,000, then $100-$200 annually for ammunition and upkeep. Airsoft is chump change compared to everything else."With San Diego's huge budget deficit and the crippled United States economy, it will be interesting to see where the city decides to send its taxpayer dollars.If you're interested in finding out more information or becoming part of the program as a volunteer, contact Officer Ferrell at rferrell@sdccd.edu or visit the forum at 858airsoft.com.According to Rob Frigerio, "We are always looking for volunteers."

It’s kids’ play at the bi-annual Knob Creek shoot in Kentucky

BULLITT County, Ky. – The machine gun shoot this weekend isn’t all about the adults — there’s really fun for the whole family. Apart from the live music and cotton candy, there were plenty of pint-sized weapons and toys for the kids (or more squeamish adults).
There were blowguns and mini cross bows. And then there were the airsoft guns.
Airsoft guns have been criticized in the past few years for their incredible likeness to real thing, except of course, the bright orange tip.The toy gun shoots a hollow, plastic pellets. Operating usually with a spring mechanism or a battery powered source, the guns are pretty fun toy.
Airsoft designers have taken pains to make the replicas as varied and detailed as the real thing. You can find a toy M4 3181 Rifle with a grenade launcher, a bolt-action sniper and a tactical M515 pump action shotgun. Wooho!
So while other merchants totted heavy artillery and state-of-the-art firepower, one merchant at the machine gun shoot dealt in plastics.