FARRAH MAFFAI Only the gun on the right is the real Beretta. The others are toy guns that shoot plastic pellets. The middle toy gun is painted black to demonstrate the difficulty in distinguishing it from the real gun.
Teens playing with pellet guns cause E.B. officers to draw weapons
By dick metzgar
Staff Writer
Some toy guns can be as deadly as the real thing under certain circumstances, according to East Brunswick Public Safety Director Thomas Finn.
Finn is alarmed about a toy gun being sold in the township that he said looks too much like a real 9 mm Beretta, especially after two incidents that took place earlier this month involving children brandishing the toy gun.
"I’m worried that some youngster with one of these toy guns is going to get hurt — or even killed — if a police officer thinks it’s the real thing," Finn said. "I don’t want to see a situation where one of our officers is forced to draw his service revolver because of one of these toy guns."
The toy guns, which fire light plastic pellets, are marketed by Cellular Fashion, Edison, whose subsidiary, American Pursuits Paintball, has been selling the guns at a sales booth at the Route 18 Market.
Finn said he became especially alarmed about the danger these toy guns present after two separate incidents earlier this month in which township police confronted male juveniles who were playing with what looked like very real guns.
One of the incidents took place one recent weekend afternoon at the Hammarskjold Middle School, when police officers drew their own guns to disarm youngsters playing with the toy guns, Finn said. He said officers did not draw their own guns to disarm the youngsters in the second incident.
"The officer, in the second case, was able to discern that the gun was not the real thing," Finn said. "Our officers are well trained, and thank God, they followed training in both cases."
Four 15-year-old male juveniles were charged with disorderly persons offenses for creating public alarm or inconvenience for no legitimate purpose in connection with the incidents, Finn said.
Finn suggested that the manufacturer of the toy guns alter the appearance of them so that they look less like the real thing.
"I think they could and should do something to change the appearance of the guns so that they do not look like the real thing," Finn said. "I think they could make them a different color that would make them immediately distinguishable from the real thing, something bright, such as orange or yellow or fluorescent."
A Cellular Fashions representative said the company has recently changed its sales policy in an attempt to address the problem.
"We raised the minimum age from 18 to 19 to be eligible to purchase one of the toy guns," said the firm’s manager, Omar Sarwar. "Safety glasses are also being included in the replica gun package, along with warnings and instructions on how to use the guns safely and legally. The gun actually fires plastic BB pellets at a low velocity."
However, Finn said he was not satisfied with these changes alone because the toy gun would still look like the real thing. He said the gun itself was the issue, not whether children handle them safely.
Mayor William Neary said he has arranged for East Brunswick police officers to be present at the Nov. 18 Township Council meeting in order to discuss the issue. He said they will demonstrate the similarities of the guns to parents watching the meeting on television. He hopes parents will understand the need to prohibit their children from playing with the replica.
"I think parental control is the most important step," he said. "They’re not just a toy; they put kids in a very dangerous situation."
Neary also said the township’s attorney is looking into any measures the township can take that will make it more difficult for these guns to get into the hands of local youth.
James Sung, the president of Cellular Fashions, said his company has made changes in its sales policy in response to high school students allegedly using the toy guns irresponsibly, but Finn held that the situation remains too dangerous with these guns being manufactured and sold.
"He doesn’t get it," Finn said of Sung. "My biggest concern is with the guns and the fact that they can look like the real thing. I think this is a nationwide problem. There have been cases where policemen have shot children wielding toy guns because they thought they were the real thing. There can be nothing worse than a police officer taking a shot at a youngster with a toy gun."
The 9 mm Beretta in recent years has been one of the most popular firearms with many police departments across the nation. Finn said East Brunswick police officers carry .45-caliber handguns.
"I don’t think kids would appreciate having real .45s pointed at them," he said.

