“I’m a gun owner.” Oh brother. How many pro-gun control articles start with the author’s declaration that they own guns? Or, in many cases, a gun. It’s a sure sign that the writer supports firearms freedom like Gemma Massey supports Sharia law. “I was in a gun shop and shooting range last week,” toymaker turned Wall Street Journal columnist Rhett Power continues. “A man came in with his daughter who looked no more than 8 years old. She quickly spotted a pink handgun on display. She was convinced that it was a toy and told her father that she wanted to hold it. I asked the sales clerk if this was common, and he said that kids always think the pink guns are toys.” Uh-oh . . .
That was apparently the case on Feb. 1, when a 3-year-old boy in Greenville, S.C., was killed with a handgun kept in the house by his mother. Police said that Tmorej Smith and his 7-year-old sister had been playing with the handgun. It was pink. The investigators said that the kids thought it was a toy.
As a businessman who makes children’s toys, I am appalled by this aspect of the firearms industry. Toymakers are extremely regulated, and for good reason—no one wants kids to get hurt. In the case of toy guns, manufacturers since the late 1980s have been required by federal law to use distinctive “blaze orange” barrel plugs or markings to ensure that the toys are not mistaken for the real thing. I don’t make toy guns, but I certainly understand the rule: There were too many tragic stories involving young people killed by someone who mistook the child’s toy for a loaded weapon.
Is it me or does that “extremely regulated, and for good reason” bit sound a bit kinky? What business welcomes government regulation, save one that [rightly] views it as a barrier to entry to competition?
Anyway, you can guess the rest. Stop making pink guns! Stop making brightly colored guns! Do it for the children! But don’t get to thinking it’s about gun control . . .
Let me get this straight: Children are not allowed to have toy guns that look like the real thing, but adults are allowed to have the real thing that looks like a toy? That has got to change. This isn’t about “gun control,” it’s about something closer to simple decency.
No it’s about personal responsibility. It’s my job to teach my children gun safety, so they can tell the difference between a toy gun and a real firearm; no matter what the gun’s color.
It’s also about freedom. Not to coin a phrase, but those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Liberty? The freedom to buy pink guns? Yes. In the same sense that I don’t want the government regulating where a supermarket places the Cocoa Puffs or what size soft drink a store can sell or what my child should and shouldn’t eat, I don’t want the state regulating gun colors.
First it’s gun colors, then it’s safety features, then it’s safe storage laws, then it’s age limits, then it’s ammo types, then it’s types of targets, etc. It’s not for nothing they’re called Safety Nazis.
Notice I used the word “stop” instead of “ban” above. Mr. Power didn’t have the cojones to come out and say the government should intervene and ban brightly colored guns. But you don’t have to be a gun control advocate to read between the lines.
The website PackingPretty.com recently reported that “pink guns are flying off the shelves at gun stores.” As a business owner, I get it. Pink guns sell, and this is why the manufacturers keep producing them. It makes business sense. But what about responsibility as corporate citizens?
The corporation as a buffer between stupid people and a tyrannical government. Yeah. No. But I do fancy one of those Hello Kitty ARs—for reasons I can’t explain. And shouldn’t have to. To anyone. Ever.
Need it in purple or red. Not every ovarian-bearer loves pink, just as not every testicular-bearer loves black. Some of us like FDE or OD.
What the hell is up with that grip?
It’s the CA legal non-pistol grip that allows us to own these type of rifles.
I think it’s to make it Calif. legal.
ban paint!
Not sure about anyone else here, but, my guns ARE my toys.
When I ask why a person would want one, it’s an honest question. I never mean that to imply that said person has no right to the item. But sometimes, cutesy characteristics help me explain to my partner why I want a particular gun. My Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless has a cute horse on the grip medallion. She saw that and had no doubt as to the value of that firearm.
LOVE Love love you great p
Looks like a toy to me…the rifle is nice as well.
Control freaks feel superior to anyone else. It’s fun to watch them when two disagree with each other on some small point–it wrecks the whole narrative until they can believe that they’ve torn apart their fellow traveller’s heresy.
Plenty of adults I know couldn’t tell me the make or model of a car that they just saw, or say their friend drives. Many times they can’t even tell me how many doors it had. But they damn sure know what color it was.
Guns should only be used or store responsibily, duh. But until everyone is a gun person and no one uses guns for wrong, painting guns to look like toys puts regular toy owners at risk. Either the kid doesn’t know any better or the cop/CCW holder that see’s the kid pointing the colorful gunshaped thing at them can’t tell the differance.
As Rhett Power said, it’s something like personal descency. And if I might add, for the children
And don’t forget about personal responsibility. Oh wait, you did.
In 2010 firearms accounted for 41 accidental fatalities among children under 12. Accidental poisoning accounted for 60, drowning 638, and vehicle accidents 1,067.
The really hilarious part is that people complain that guns are scary looking, then when someone tries to make them less scary, people complain that they’re not scary enough….
PTSD is a new phenomenon from the Iraq War?! Is she seriously that stupid? Even in California, how does this woman win re-election?
The guy does have a point. Even that obviously full-sized and apparently (on closer look) functional AR in the photo looks like a toy at first glance. Visual cues are important, and all the teaching in the world won’t erase the fact that young children don’t have fully functional logic circuitry and can’t fully grasp the consequences that guns entail — let alone think their way past “looks like a toy, must be a toy.”
I’m not saying the gov’t should step in and start regulating firearm color schemes. For one thing, government never seems to know when to stop regulating once it starts, and for another thing, putting regulatory power into the hands of people who hate the thing (and the people) they’re regulating is a very bad idea.
If you’re giving a gun the same color scheme you’d see in a kid’s toy, you’re playing with fire, and you better have darn good safety practices if kids are in the picture. We’ve already seen that in the right circumstances, one bad outcome is all it takes to put everyone’s rights and liberties in jeopardy.
As for my attorney ID number, you and Josef seem just a little too riled up for me to divulge any personally identifying information. I think I’ll pass.
Why? Attorney registration numbers are matters of public record. They aren’t social security numbers. The New York State Office of Court Administration has a website on which citizens can publicly verify whether a person is or isn’t a licensed attorney. You are holding yourself out on this blog to be an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of New York, but you’ve made several glaring legal errors about N.Y. law on a number of posts regarding this case, which no real practicing attorney would have made. That raises a lot of people’s suspicion about your claim to be an attorney. In my opnion, there’s nothing unfair or wrong with asking for a lawyer to verify their license. People ask attorneys to do that every day.
Mirror mirror, on the wall, who’s the craziest of them all!
I believe Seantor Feinstein suffers from a very dangerous and conagious form of stupid and is a clear threat to National Security and should be put down.
So she thinks police are unable to suffer from PTSD? Wow now she confirmed how biased and idiotic she is. I believe that she may in fact hate military service members.
I have no idea whether I can tell a fellow gun owner or not because I don’t walk up to strangers in the street and ask them.
Sometimes. If they wear anything gun brand-related it’s a call out, but camo is popular so that’s not a general indicator. Cabelas is close too, so that’s not a good give-away. Generally I, or one of my kids, spots a bulge in their coat/shirt at 4 o’clock and that’s a good sign. My girls are good at it, mostly because that’s eye-level for them and we make a game out of spotting who’s carrying. Other than that, it’s hard.
Mind you, if you’re at Wal-Mart and there are 20 guys just “hanging around” sporting goods at 7:00a, that’s a good indicator that they’re all Gun Guys…
I watched… the whole thing…. my head hurts
Oh, and GET EM Chuck Grassley
Damn she looks good holding a gun!
Good stance and grip. Also looks like a P22 to me. Good starter handgun.
Whenever I see someone wearing a paracord bracelet, I check to see if they are printing.
She’s pretty hot. I’d hit that.
Too soon? 😉
I join Kelly and others who live in Carrollton (and have raised my family here for past 28 years) in claiming some degree of embarrassment in having this guy as my mayor. But, I know him somewhat socially and will question his logic in this quote when I see him next.
Oh, and I’m a former biker who never left home without firearm protection (and still don’t)! And, to Kelly’s other comment, I do believe he is outranked by Georgia’s firearm allowance in parks and greenways.
I remember when the federal government in Canada was trying to institute a national registry for long guns. They estimated that there was at least 21 million long guns in the hands of Canadians. (in 1997) This was considered a low estimate at the time. After 15 years, billions of dollars, threats of prison for non compliance and finally complete capitulation and repeal only 7 millions long guns were ever registered.
We Canadians defeated the law with non compliance and political action. Admittedly we still have a long ways to go but you will never seen another attempt at registration of long guns in Canada. (at least for a couple of generations)
tell me this she trust her bodyguards that are or where soldiers at one point , that they shouldn’t have assault rifles here in the states then how are they to protect her then ???
Sounds like my part of the world. Laws made in haste and ignorance by those who have almost no technical qualification.
All politicians have lackofbrain disease and should not be allowed to hold office
While some of what you say may be true. You should be clear, that if you owned a shotgun that holds more than 7 shells, but less than ten before the law was passed, you may continue to possess said shotgun (or lever-action as the case may be). You simply cannot load more than 7 shells in said firearm except under limited circumstances.
However, from 4/15 on, you will not be able to purchase a shotgun or lever-action rifle (or any rifle for that matter) that has a permanent magazine which holds more than 7 rounds/shells unless someone before the point of sale permanently modifies the magazine to restrict it to 7. So, even if you had a bolt-action rifle with an internal 8 round magazine, it’d be a no-go unless permanently pinned the magazine to only hold 7 rounds or less.
The magazine it what is restricted. The type of gun it is attached to is irrelevant if the magazine holds more than 7 (going forward).
This, by the way,has always been the law in NY, and was true under Federal law from ’94 to ’04, except the limit was simply 10 rounds then, and a lot fewer firearms with a fixed magazine hold more than 10 rounds (that aren’t .22 rimfire), so no one really noticed or paid attention.
IF WE ARE SO DANGEROUS WHY IS THE WEAPON SHE IS HOLDING ON FIRE ????? SOMEONE TAKE THAT AWAY FROM HER BEFORE SHE SHOOTS SOMEONE AND BLAMES IT ON THE WEAPON
How many combat veterans will avoid seeking help with PTSD issues now that our 2nd amendment rights will be revoked upon diagnosis. With the highest ever suicide rate in the military, we will keep our war fighters from getting the help they need. More will die from this than these laws will save.
Funny how Senator Feinstein and Senator Leahy–both of whom SERVE the public–propose common sense legislation that can diminish crime and violence and are instantly reviled by so many.
Then you have so-called citizen rights supporters like Wayne Lapierre–who has never served anyone without getting paid, and paid well–make absurd statements about the “right” of citizens to military-grade machine guns. Suddenly, hero!
The only democrat to vote “yes”on Cornyn’s amendment was Coons of DE-and he is a far left liberal-Blumenthal of CT voted “no”.Amazing-that turd lied about serving in Vietnam-he “misspoke”(twice,apparently) he said.I spent a year in Vietnam and I can assure you it’s not something one is unsure about remembering.So the phony war veteran now wants to grind his heel in the faces of real war veterans-I really hope the justice he deserves finds him.
Excactly AR-15’s dont have a full auto. Neither do the M16’s we are issued, only 3 rd burst.
NY forgot to exempt police and their beloved Hollywood film production from the gun ban…so it is safe to say this is yet another stupid legislative accident.
So we just stop giving a crap about these damn laws and abide by the Constitution. The unlawful entity here is the state, not us. End of story.
Jusat face it. The disarmment of the US is here and still coming.
Once the SAFE Act is defeated, can we expect any lawsuits challenging the AWB still in effect here since the federal AWB expired?
Do you ever forsee NY’ers able to own NFA items (even safety items, like suppressors)?
The Big answer to her question is simple.
Most US sitting presidents were of Military nature. Some were of combat missions. The Men who wrote the document we all read today. Were Men of Honor, Men of war. These men wrote a document knowing in the future that someone was going to try to change this and try to read it and interpert it there way. They new this and made sure to write it in there.
So for PTSD Combat Veterans that are crazy and should not have weapons,I think she needs to step back and look at the document she is trying to change. IN todays language and her interpertations, They are all crazy ? Maybe the one who is so fixated on Gun reform should be diagnosed with a OCD for gun reform. If I competivaly made argument on a subject as much as she has, I would be locked up on a dilusional compulsive dis order.A OCD label, and told that I was a conspiracist and a threat to Govt.Am I the only one who see this.
Admittedly I know close to little about 3D printing and its limits and capabilities. In addition to lower receivers and the mags shown here, what’s the outlook for being able to produe other components used in BCG’s and LPK’s? And, I’m totally fishing in the dark on this one, but does anyone see 3D printing one day allowing us to print shell casings, i.e. will materials and efficiency progress to that point in 10 years?
The gun’s reputation is ‘underserved?’ Maybe if it tipped better it would get better service….
My home has NRA stickers right on the window where it would be broken to get at the inside door locks. Both my neighbors, as well as most folks on our street, have been burgularized in the past 2 years, not us. But I carry ever so discreetly.
Herein lies another issue though. Half our citizens are gun owners with a significant minority actively carrying. I think poloticians and libs believe we’re a smaller minority cause we blend in and often conceal our ability to meet force with force. Me thinks they have underestimated their pro-2A supporters.
If we are banning states based on shape Florida might as well be next.
Your scenario depends on a special skillset and training, above and beyond normal LE. I’m not knocking it, but I propose that this, along with Uniformed SROs (RSOs?), as well as motivated and eligible School staffers with CHL/CCW authorization, should all be used. Some of these cost more than others, obviously, and at some point, hopefully, the use of (not so) common sense self-sufficiency should take hold.
I have 2 Saiga 12’s and they work just fine for me. The only modification I’ve done on my saiga 12’s is install $100 reliability kits. Now I’m not an upidy compition shooter, queer gun snob like Nick Leghorn, but I’m ex infantry and I’ve put a lot of rounds down range. If any of you think that these Saiga’s are junk and unreliable for life and death situations or general shooting, then your just plain stupid and don’t have a clue about this gun.
The problem arises when toy guns are in the home with real ones. Children shouldn’t even know that there is such a thing as a toy gun. They should be responsibly trained on real guns.
Some females are intimidated by firearms but understand the need to have them. They also want to prevent the men in their life from “adopting” aforementioned firearms.
Pink coloration can be useful for that.
No young lady wants to pay for a gun and then have all of the men in the house shoot up all her ammo and act better then she is with it. Of course, they’ll hand it back when it needs cleaning.
Regarding the 3 year old who got killed by his 7 year old sibbling with a pink handgun:
Why the hell would you leave a pistol with trigger pull and safety features useable by a 7 year old around the house when you’ve got kids that age?