Replica guns look just like real thing

Dover police recently posted a picture to Facebook of two guns, one real one fake.  They confiscated the fake gun from a juvenile. The same week that a Baltimore teen was confronted by police for holding a replica gun.  The teen was shot twice, and is expected to survive.  Dover police spokesman Master Corporal Mark Hoffman tells 47ABC that the replicas pose a real danger.  He says ” it can be a life or death decision based on how the suspect acts and and the circumstances surrounding it, but at the end of the day it appears to be a real gun and it could still put our lives in danger as well as the public.”

Just over a year ago, Dover police fatally shot a 52 year old Dover man who was also armed with a pellet gun.  Hoffman tells 47ABC that this happens all across the country, and adds “in most of those cases, the overwhelming majority of those cases, as a matter of fact, they come to be justified uses of force”.  Although justified, Corporal Hoffman says shootings like these simply shouldn’t be happening.  He says that just because they’re replicas doesn’t mean they should be treated like toys. 

One Delmar man says the burden lies with the parents of the children saying “It’s mostly on the parents to be out there to teach the kids right from wrong.”  Another Delmar resident says the companies who produce the guns should be held responsible, saying “somebody needs to talk to the manufacturers about doing something, either that or send them pictures of the kids that are being killed because they’re using their guns”.

Corporal Hoffman points out to 47ABC that in Delaware, there is no law that requires fluorescent tips for replicas, but he adds that even if there did, criminals often paint over to make them look like the real thing.