Toy guns turn into life of crime

To the editor: I read with interest your Aug. 3, article entitled “Police Find BB Shot Gun Resembles Real AR-15 Rifle.” That article reports that a 12-year old boy apparently launched a plastic pellet at a passing automobile, and that a subsequent investigation by the Newton P.D. revealed that the toy “strikingly resembled” a real AR-15, which prompted the advice that parents should be aware of the “similarities” between these toys and the real thing. The investigation culminated in the filing of a juvenile complaint against this child which will be hereafter adjudicated in the Juvenile Court System. I can only observe that this kid is obviously heading for a life of crime, and if not swiftly dealt the harshest possible sentence by the Juvenile Justice System, will undoubtedly go on to commit even more heinous firearms crimes in the near future. Society must be protected at all costs from the risk that young criminals like these should continue to remain at large, brandishing their look-alike AR-15 water pistols and plastic bead-shooting weapons in public places, to the unquestionably rational and very understandable trepidation of all good citizens and similarly gun-paranoid passers-by. The answer is patently clear: This kid (and all of his gun-toting pals) need to be immediately taken out of circulation and put behind bars for a good long time, before it’s too late; that is, before they get their hands on a real BB gun, or maybe a water pistol that looks even more like the “real thing.” As to the larger societal problem of how to deal with the fact that “these types of toys are sold freely in major retail stores” and similar outlets, it is also clear that the time is long overdue to severely curtail the unrestricted sale of these kinds of weapons of mass intimidation, by either taking them off the market entirely, or at the very least by legislating that all such toys be hereafter uniquely serial-numbered according to a system of Federal Registration, and that their potential juvenile purchasers be finger-printed, required to pass a complete background check, obtain and present a current Firearms I.D. Card and a valid Permit-to-Purchase; and that each sale be forthwith recorded in the central registries of the local and State Police, as well as with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The unmistakable public interest virtually cries out for the swift and certain implementation of reasonable measures such as these. Only in that way can the meddlesome good citizens of this state keep these kinds of inherently dangerous look-alikes out of the hands of irresponsible 12-year old boys, so that the rest of us can, hereafter, assuredly travel the highways and by-ways of this state without possible molestation, and know with certainty that we can sleep safely in our beds at night. Paul L. Abramo, Esq. Newton