Woah! I seem to have missed quite a bit here.
When my step kid was in high school, he somehow managed to get caught by the cops out in the street of our neighborhood with an Air soft pistol. You know, one of those toys that leaves the little plastic balls allllll over your floor, and that the vaccum won't pick up?? So before I continue, let me make this crystal clear. This gun looked every bit of the toy it was. It was made of clear plastic, with the moving parts inside colored plastic. There was absolutely NO mistaking this for a real gun, at any distance, no matter how terrible your eyesight is.
Anyway, some self important small town cop got all excited about this obvious toy gun that a little boy had, and held the kid for a parent to pick up. The poor kid wasn't doing anything wrong like shooting at people or property, according to the cop. He just had a toy gun with him. So anyway when I arrived to talk to the cops, they wouldn't release him to me because I was a step parent and not a *real* parent. The cop tried to give me some stupid line about "not knowing if It was a real gun". Um, really??? It was clear plastic with brightly colored internal parts!!! It was completely ridiculous and in my opinion way out of line of this police officer.
Anyway. While I agree that toy guns should look like toys, I feel that there are police officers out there who either are just real jerks, or need a lot more training.
