Does It Look Like A Real Gun To You?

MARTINEZ - The California Highway Patrol wants you to take a quick look at this image. ”Take a second look if you like,” they suggest.

The gun looks very real. From a distance, it’s clarity would be even more difficult to figure out.

That’s the dilemma a Contra Costa CHP officer recently faced when investigating a homeless encampment, according to officials.

A homeless man had the gun - shown in this picture - laying next to him. The gun is a fake.

Had the man reached for this air gun, the CHP wonders if their would have been tragic consequences.

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In a narrative on the Contra Costa CHP Facebook site, officers share their story of this incident, and remind us time is not always on their side.

“It had it’s hammer cocked back, placing it in single action. That’s never a good sign. That means there is probably a round in the chamber, which is only a slight trigger pull away from being fired by a person.

“Perhaps you’ve even taken a few extra seconds to zoom in on the photo to read the words etched into the upper slide of this pistol. See that - it’s just an air gun. No big deal, right?

“That’s the great thing about photos you can take your time to look at something and ponder all the possibilities and really scrutinize what your looking at from all angles before you make a decision as to what you are really looking at... and what course of action to take.

“Unfortunately, as law enforcement officers, we do not always have precious time on our side. Often times we have to make split second decisions between life and death.

“This gun was discovered laying within close reach of a transient man in a homeless encampment. The man was sitting on the ground in a cross legged manner with this pistol right by his side, when one of our CHP Officers approached to advise the man that Caltrans was cleaning up the area.

“The Officer saw the pistol laying there and immediately drew his service weapon. He instructed the man to slowly raise his hands. Thankfully, the man had enough sense in that instance to comply with the Officer’s lawful order and the situation was resolved. Had he reach for this air gun, this would have had tragic consequences.

“This man and his girlfriend were both arrested for outstanding warrants.

“Now that everyone is safe, we will spend some precious time thanking God for protecting everyone involved.