Strollerderby

honestly with they way school shootings and gang shootings have gotten i dont blame the cops in the least.

1) why do toy companies make them to look so real? does anyone else see the problem with that?

2)I as a parent do not buy toy guns for my childeren bright water guns only. i would rather not let them play with toy guns but comprimise with bright coulors and call them water squirters.

In no way do i look down or judge the parents who buy such toys its not my place to raise others children or tell them how to do it.

3)I see these stories and make it a point to tell my kids that in no way do you point anything at a police officer toy stick or even finger. I truly hope others can do this with there kids aswell.

Errrr.... Isn't this why they put the big bright orange plastic tips on the barrels of the toy ones?

Toy Guy?  LOL!

Children develop at different rates, and there is always the possibility that he is developmentally delayed. My 33-year-old cousin suffered a fever-induced stroke as a young child and is mentally retarded as a result, he still plays with GI Joes and water pistols. Even if he is simply immature or has bad judgement, he certainly did not deserve to get shot.

There is no denying that being a police officer is hard dangerous work, but there  are too many law enforcement officials who assume the worst case scenario in every situation instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt. There are also a lot of cops out there who habitually abuse their power and unnecessarily escalate situations to a level of violence. Like, Tristan, I would never ever point so much as a finger at a police officer, but that is only because I know that there are a lot of cops out there who are only looking for an excuse...

Some cops are just looking for an excuse, and some cops abuse their power.  Some cops are people working hard just like anyone else, trying to do their job right and support their families.  The law gives police a fairly low standard for use of a weapon because police officers routinely lose their lives in the course of duty.  Giving someone "the benefit of the doubt" might mean a family loses a mom or dad because lives can be lost with hesitation.  It's never an easy call, and it's not one I'm comfortable making from the outside.

I agree with Kent- I thought this was the reason that toy guns are required to have that gigantic orange cap on the end.

More and more cops, because of budget cuts, are being run through training on a conveyor belt. Here in Houston, an officer shot an unarmed boy in the back after the boy had gone off his ADD meds and tried to run from the house. The correct protocol is to wait for an intervention team rather than enter the home and deal with it on your own. Remember, he was shot in the back.

I'm not necessarily an advocate of super realistic looking guns as toys, but take it from a guy who has been trained to pull a trigger, in this instance and in the one I mentioned both officers made snap decisions without correctly adequately assessing the situation. The best way to correct this? Constant training on target identification ranges. Lack of such training tends to make shooters who lack confidence in themselves resulting in itchy fingers.

I realize this is my opinion and may differ from other readers, so I'm not going to get in any big debates on such a tragic occurrence. Furthermore, none of us were there and are not fully qualified to pass judgment. Still, the fault goes to the police officer.

By the way, if the boy had autism or displayed signs of a mental handicap the fact that he was 15 is irrelevant. That's another part of correctly sizing up the situation.

The orignial article I read said the toy gun did not have the big orange cap on the end.