They’re Coming After Your (BB) Gun  by Tom Reynolds

In February and March, proposed bills S09215 and A10701 were introduced in the New York Legislatures.

The below is taken directly from those bills:

“No person, firm, or corporation shall sell or offer to sell a paint pellet gun or other types of air guns to any person under eighteen years of age.”

“…the term "other type of air gun" means any implement that expels a missile or projectile by the force of a spring, air, or other non-ignited compressed gas.”

“…paint pellet gun means a gun, air gun, pistol, rifle, or like device in appearance or function, capable of and designed for discharging and propelling through the air to a target a small quantity of paint enclosed within a pellet or pellet-like device or capsule or capsule-like device that breaks upon impact with the target, overspreading the target with paint.”

“Any person, firm, or corporation who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars for each violation.”

They’re coming after your BB gun if you are under 18!

That’s understandable since there have been so many kids committing crimes with BB guns.  The news is just filled with stories about it.  Read them here ____________  here _____________ and here ___________.  I’m sure you just read about the kid who injured three people in Grand Central Station with a BB gun.  Oh wait.  It was a man and he used a machete.  Oh well, close enough.  The important thing to the left is that guns or anything that looks like a gun must be banished.

SCOPE wants to be sure you have a complete and accurate understanding of issues.  Some articles imply that because of these potential laws, your ‘imitation gun’ will have the barrel plugged.  That is the current law in New York City but not in the rest of the state.*  My non-lawyer reading of the actual bills does not change that; plugged in NY City but not in NY State.  (Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.)

As I often point out, the anti-2A left cannot revoke 2A so they try to neuter it, in various ways.  The left’s issue here is not about BB guns but about gun culture.  A BB gun or air rifle is the first step in learning about guns in a positive way.  (The left teaches about guns in a negative way.)  Banning BB guns is the first step in breaking what is, for many, a lifelong connection to guns.  But many other people are in the ‘no connection to guns category’ and are easily convinced that all guns are bad.  The anti-gun left hopes that banning BB guns will facilitate moving people from the ‘lifelong connection category’ to the ‘no connection to guns category’.   An early connection helps build a lasting connection based on reality.  If the left can do away with that, the left hopes it will make banning real firearms easier.

*Per Legalclarity.com: City law requires imitation firearms to meet bright color or transparent material standards similar to state law. Additionally, the barrel of such a toy, excluding water guns, must be closed with the same material as the toy for at least one-half inch from the front end, and the toy must bear a clear manufacturer’s stamp.