[Scarecrow]

Banning things in the guise of 'protecting people' from themselves is a bad precident to set under all but the most extreme circumstances. Crimes committed with airguns are not "out of control" anywhere if you compare it to other statistics like crimes committed with knives, bats, hammers, cars, etc. There are far better reasons to ban things like alcohol for instance than there is for banning these toys.

I understand the dilemma a realistic looking airgun poses for the police, but, if a crime is being committed with one, you treat it as a real gun anyways and if you shoot the bugger, so be it. Frankly, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If it causes you that much consternation as a police officer, find a less stressful line of work. Frankly, if all the perp could find was a fake gun and tried to use it on me as an officer, I'd be thankful it wasn't real and chalk the rest up to Darwin. I find the line of reasoning presented by that officer, old, tired and disingenious. He's there to protect me and ensure my safety and restrict my freedoms to serve that purposes, but within reasonable boundaries. I don't consider restricting my access to a toy a reasonable imposition on my freedom. YMMV.

Let the flames begin.