LETTER: Now Our Community Is Safer

Editor's note: Les Salay, who has been leading a fight to ban replica guns, comments on the recent Los Angeles Times article:

• LAPD seeks tighter regulations on toy guns
• Chief Charlie Beck urges law requiring BB guns to be brightly colored to avoid confusion with authentic firearms.

Editor:

Our communities and children will now be safer when handling a "realistic toy firearm," and our police men and women will now have the tools necessary to act accordingly in the event an individual should brandish such a realistic looking firearm in the future.  

The fact that ice cream wholesalers are no longer offering these types of realistic "toy guns" for sale to independent ice cream vendors is the main objective I was looking to stop and prevent from happening.  

Chief of Police [Charlie] Beck took it to a higher level and I am OK with that also.

The only thing that is missing from the proposed initiative is that AIR SOFT firearms are SPRING LOADED, not like BB guns which require air propellants to be able to fire a projectile.  

At no time was my objective to hurt small businesses or take away any gun ownership rights afforded to us by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that being the right to bear arms.  

That right is guaranteed to us to embrace or reject as individuals regarding the ownership of any type of firearm, real or not.  

The fact that an ice cream vendor would sell a 12-year-old girl a realistic replica firearm designated for ages 18 and over was the main reason I took it upon myself to stop this before another person could be shot or killed.  

I would also recommend that instead of the multiple colors referenced in the article, the only designated color that should remain consistent for all of these "toy guns" and standardized per NRA recommendations should be the use of BLAZE ORANGE.  

The recommendation of the blaze orange color is the easiest to identify even in the dark of night due to its illumination factor, which is brighter and more distinguishable than the colors of pink, purple or white.  

I would also recommend that no such replica firearms be equipped with the laser light beam attachment, which in itself can cause eye injury or if pointed at an aircraft (which is already a felony) can cause as much harm as the toy firearm itself. 

As a responsible gun owner and NRA-certified firearms instructor whose entire family engages in "competitive shooting sports," [I say] education and supervision are the key to any such hobby or practice, just as it is with drivers education, or other potentially harmful activities.  

The new statute should also include language that clearly states "that no individual under the age of 18 be allowed to purchase or transfer to a minor any type of replica firearm or attachments thereof under penalty of fines or loss of business license." 

That responsibility would then fall solely on the parent in educating their child about gun safety prior to handing them one without any guidance or supervision.

I applaud the actions taken by the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council, which first took on this issue after a presentation I made, and to the CNC's safety committee, which drafted the initial letter to Councilman Greig Smith and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.  

I am also grateful to CNC member Dianna Dixon-Davis for all the research and countless letters she sent to LASUD campus police commanders and PTA associates.  

This amount of due diligence to enrich the lives of our community and its citizens is what makes Los Angeles a better and safer city to live in.

Les Salay