Man in NY Arrested for giving kids a gun to play with at park....A "TOY" gun

Link

A man was arrested at home after another parent complained he gave his children a toy gun to play with.

Another mom who was on a playground at the park at the time said she walked up to Pawlowski, and told him to take the toy gun and his kids and leave. “I don’t tend to take things lying down, so I went past the parents, and so I walked straight over and I confronted him,” said Leni Calas. “I mean, he’s brandishing a firearm and I don’t care if that firearm is plastic. That’s unacceptable.”

That tip lead the police to the fathers home and we was taken out in handcuffs in front of his wife and children.

The mother who called also stated

This is really a way to educate people,” Vallone said. “You cannot run around with a realistic looking gun. It’s against the law, and you could get arrested and actually go to jail.” “I hope in the end, he understands at least somewhat why people became angry that he came here with this gun,” Calas said.

He is still in custody for the following..."on charges of reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a minor, resisting arrest, and possession of an illegal BB gun."

If this was a 15 year old kid kid in Harlem who brandished a fake gun and was shot by the police, Al Sharpton would be all over this. This is a father at a park playing with his kids. They came to his home. They took him in handcuffs. In front of his family. This is NYC. Tell me there are not bigger crimes than this????

I can see if people are concerned, it may look real, but once it is known it is a toy, is it really necessary to arrest him?

A gun that fires any type of projectile, is dangerous. A BB gun is not a fake weapon, they can cause an imense amount of jarm if used improperly.

reply to post by esdad71


Unfortunately he should have known better. In light of what is going on around us that probably wasn't the best decision.

Now, if they were at home in their own yard away from others, this might have Not been a problem.

It is sad to say but that poor guy will probably have an example made out of him.

reply to post by RobertF


From the video in the link it looks like this is an airsoft BB gun, not an actual BB gun.
This is a far less powerful air gun, than a typical BB, or pellet gun.
With that said, using it in public (more specifically by a playground) is just dumb.

The fact that one can be arrested for a toy gun just goes to show the nanny state we have become. Of course there are limits however. If one acts as if the gun is real to a police officer for instance, things maybe could end badly. But they usually make these guns with red tips so that it is obvious they are not real. Some are even colored green or red, unlike a real gun is expected to be.

He should have waited until the Govt. said he was old enough to have a real gun issued by them only and that it's now time to go overseas, visit beautiful and wonderful places, meet other cultures...and then kill them.

Then it would be ok I guess.

Can anyone still say that people aren't going to be terrified on their home turf and that terrorists will never win? This woman is all about the problem and not the solution.

Peace

Originally posted by JiggyPotamus
The fact that one can be arrested for a toy gun just goes to show the nanny state we have become.

Nearly 30 years ago a 17 year old I worked with was arrested and sacked for a toy gun.

He had it in public and was playing with it.

"we have become" ?

No, it's just stupid people still do stupid things.... sadly, they need to be kept separate from the rest of us.

Originally posted by JiggyPotamus
The fact that one can be arrested for a toy gun just goes to show the nanny state we have become. Of course there are limits however. If one acts as if the gun is real to a police officer for instance, things maybe could end badly. But they usually make these guns with red tips so that it is obvious they are not real. Some are even colored green or red, unlike a real gun is expected to be.

First, a BB gun is not a toy gun.

Second, did you follow the link? That fake gun is the realest looking fake gun I've ever seen, and I'm no stranger to guns. If I was at a park and saw some kid and his father waving that thing around I'd be nervous given how real the damn thing looks.

According to the article, it doesn't sound like it was a "toy gun"...sounds like it was a BB gun and that he was shooting it at the park.

Yes, that is endangering kids and he deserved to be arrested.

I notice the quote from the father specifically mentions "plastic" guns.

“I mean, he’s brandishing a firearm and I don’t care if that firearm is plastic. That’s unacceptable.”

My first thought upon reading that line was: 3D Printed Plastic Guns

Am I merely connecting dots which aren't related to one another? I certainly hope so.

Originally posted by RobertF
A gun that fires any type of projectile, is dangerous. A BB gun is not a fake weapon, they can cause an imense amount of jarm if used improperly.

"an imense amount"? Not even a real handgun can bring an IMMENSE AMOUNT OF HARM... let alone a bb gun... where did you grow up? Butterfly Kingdom of lulu pink ponies?

"immense amount"... get outta here... its like you're talking about a nuclear weapon... its A BB GUN! Whats the kid gonna do? Its not like you can exactly go postal with a bb gun...

Your tone... just lets my imagination fly... :lol

"sir... are we ready to fire.... the bb gun?"
"not yet corporal... not until we receive orders from upstairs... and when we do... may god have mercy on our souls"
"sir... those guys on the enola gay had it easy..."

This is so ridiculous...

EDIT:

"FIRE IN THE HOLE"
"spoink."

reply to post by RobertF


Did you know each year there are 150000 injuries and about 400 deaths from ladders? From 1999 to 2010 there were 39 deaths from BB guns.

Can they be dangerous, yes, put people also own pit bulls.

The police coming to your house and arresting and holding you for having a pellet gun is F$^&^#% insane. Next they will arrest parents for letting their kids watch Wily E Coyote cartoons.

Sad that this happened to this man but then again to all those living in the USA; "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, November 11, 1755.

You deserve nothing but your Nanny Police State, enjoy it. When will you ever learn...never it seems. For all those that will say he deserves it and is stupid, Ben was talking directly to you. You have sold your soul for a little temporary Safety which by now you should have realized has long since been gone.

Your children are suspended from school for pointing pencils and making noises. Eating a slice of pizza into an L shape and calling it a gun. Drawing a picture or having a plastic toy soldier and saying they are dangerous because it's a gun image or has a gun depicted. Then you say your headed down a slippery slope, yet can't even tell you have already fallen into the pit.

Sorry for the rant OP, but it is disgusting the amount of ignorance on ATS displayed by those in the US.

Did he deserve to be handcuffed and taken to jail, no, but when you live in a police state, that's what you get.

reply to post by esdad71


I would say letting your kid pay with a bb gun in a public park = not so smart, but arresting the guy, and charging him?= really stupid.

At worst, under the absolute worst case scenario possible, an eye would get put out.

Once in a million, worst case.

The other 999,999 times, it is painful at most.

This is idiocy from the nanny Bloomberg crowd as per their SOP.

Yes the father was not very smart at all, and should be reprimanded, and maybe even fined, and given some community service, but not arrested, and not charged like he gave his kid an actual loaded gun to play with in public.

When I was this kids age, I got an actual gun for my b-day, and actually used to kill squirrels and rabbits.

My oh my, how times have changed.

reply to post by inverslyproportional


This was pretty much my point. Would I do it, no, but arrest someone at home in front of thier kids? HOw about just take the gun. call the guy an idiot and move on.

An airsoft gun can take out an eye, damage an eardrum, knock out or chip a tooth. I play airsoft on a regular basis, I've seen all these injuries with these.
Am I against banning them? Not a chance.
Am I against idiots brandishing them in public? You bet.
He should have known better, but arrest? No.

reply to post by RobertF

I dont see where it says that the BB gun was the one in question.

That appears to be a separate charge.

“I mean, he’s brandishing a firearm and I don’t care if that firearm is plastic. That’s unacceptable.”

reply to post by HomerinNC

Where is it mentioned that it was an airsoft gun?

Its possible that the bb gun was the one in question but until we have more details, I am inclined to think it was a different plastic toy gun.

The question we have to ask is, are toy guns illegal?

What are toy guns supposed to look like, hot dogs?

Originally posted by RobertF
A gun that fires any type of projectile, is dangerous. A BB gun is not a fake weapon, they can cause an imense amount of jarm if used improperly.

Its an airsoft gun big diffrence then a bb gun. First this one uses a spring to fire compressed air sending a plastic projectile if you shot it against your leg it would sting but airsoft guns are specifically designed not to penetrate the skin. So in effect its closer to a nerf gun then a bb gun.

Yet another reason among many to avoid the stupid congregation of humanity known as New York City like the plague.

Those two women who complained typify the uninformed, scared people of that region. If that woman who "didn't take things lightly" told me to leave the park I'd have told her to $&^^% - off.

Where I live most likely half of the adults in any park have a real firearm either on their person or in their car, no one is going to get spun-up about an air soft gun.

Pathetic, the arrest was over the top grandstanding by an administration in NYC that wants to foster a culture of gun fear.

Personally, I would not be sad if NYC were walled off and made into the prison camp it is....