Mayor buys up toy ‘Beretta’
guns from Route 18 vendor
Neary: ‘I had to get them
off streets of East Brunswick and make a statement’
By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
EAST BRUNSWICK — It was almost like a scene out of Michael Moore’s new anti-gun movie Bowling for Columbine.
Mayor William Neary, accompanied by three East Brunswick police officers, paid a visit Friday afternoon to a vendor at the Route 18 Market that sells Airsoft Sport toy guns almost identical to the 9 mm Beretta handguns.
Neary purchased all 38 of the guns the vendor had in stock.
In Bowling for Columbine, Moore goes to the Kmart where ammunition used in the Columbine shootings was purchased. He brings with him two survivors, both of whom still have bullets lodged in their bodies, and purchases all of Kmart’s ammunition. Soon after, the Kmart announced it was no longer selling any ammunition.
Neary, who agrees with Moore that there are too many real guns available in America, is hoping his action will have the same effect.
"The merchant (James Sung) was very polite," he said. "He didn’t promise he’d stop selling them anymore, but he led me to believe he would not sell them anymore.
"I had to get them off the streets of East Brunswick and make a statement," Neary said. "For a matter of public safety, I had to do something."
Neary and township police officials are concerned with the sale of the toy guns because they are difficult for police and others to distinguish them from the real 9 mm Berettas. Neary said he fears that children who play with the guns, which shoot plastic BB pellets, could lead to a tragic situation.
A child playing with the toy gun could cause an officer to think it’s the real thing, or someone else could fool people into thinking the real Beretta is one of the toys, Neary said.
There have been two recent incidents in East Brunswick in which police responded to the scenes of youngsters playing with the toy guns, and in one case the responding officer pulled his own gun before realizing the young teenagers were using pellet guns.
The most obvious difference between the toy guns and the real Berettas are an orange tip at the end of the toy gun. If painted black, however, officers have noted the toy guns would be even harder to distinguish. A notice that accompanies the toy gun at point of purchase indicates that U.S. federal regulation requires the orange marking.
The vendor, American Pursuits Paintball, a subsidiary of Cellular Fashions, Edison, is permitted under New Jersey state law to sell the guns, although Neary said he will urge state legislators to change the law.
The Route 18 Market is owned by the township, which subleases it to vendors, he said.
Neary used $1,475 in township funds to purchase the 38 guns, but he said he will solicit donations to offset the cost.
"When police come before the Township Council on Nov. 18, I expect to be able to produce a check that covers most of or all of what the township put out," he said.
Neary said he is hoping the vendor does not use his profit to purchase more of the guns.
"He’s a nice young man. He wasn’t confrontational," the mayor said.
The company president, James Sung, has previously said he would not sell the guns to anyone under 19 years of age, though Neary said the township has no way to enforce that or to know it is even true.
Sung told Greater Media Newspapers this week that he will stop selling the guns.
Neary said the guns he purchased are now in the police department’s evidence room, and he plans to show them to state legislators so they can see how much they resemble the real thing.
At the Nov. 18 council meeting, police are expected are also expected to show the guns to viewers on EBTV.

