Sharp as a Marble - My view on brightly painted guns

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Gun Rights

It really PAINS me to find myself leaning towards agreement with the state of New York in anything, much less when it comes to banning of firearms. New York is considering a ban on "brightly painted guns", you know, the bright reds, blues, and worst in my opinion, orange. I'm not a guy who believes that the looks of a firearm should be a factor in determination use, but at the same time, I work in the law enforcement area and know that a orange gun (if they do become more prevailant) will cause either a officer to hesitate when he/she shouldn't or to not hesitate when they should. Either way, it's a screwed up situation. I can understand those who wish to personalize their property, I get it, but can we justify giving the drive-by media and the statistically challenged anti-gunners ammunition of a tragedy waiting to happen and we didn't "nip it in the bud" sort of speak? If I'm way off base please tell me. I just don't see it as a big deal.

I have to respectfully disagree here. I understand the hesitation to give the enemies of free people any ammunition to use, but the minute we cave in to something as ridiculous as banning certain colors of guns we've handed them more than they could ever ask for.

There are several reasons why this shouldn't even be an issue

What are "acceptable colors"?

Some people like chrome. I've seen horrific things done to Desert Eagles utilizing 24k gold. Camo green and sand is popular. I've even seem some nice blue colors. How "green" is too green? How do you define the exact shades that are legal and illegal?

Many toys already look like real guns.

Rip the bright orange tip off an airsoft, and from even just a few feet away, you won't be able to tell. This is important because if toys can be made to look real, there is no added threat from real guns that look like toys.

Only law abiding people would be affected.

I can't believe I have to go through this, but seriously. Let's say you ban pink and all law abiding citizens comply. A thug with a can of pink Krylon would paint his pistol anyway if he wanted. Only now, because the cops "feel" safer knowing that law abiding citizens don't have toy-looking guns, they will react even slower when faced with the criminal and his "toy looking gun".

How do you enforce this?

If you ban "Labial Pink", how can you tell the difference when someone paints theirs "Pink Pony Power"? You can't say "pink" because that's often in the eye of the beholder (I have a hard time with blues looking like purple). Will cops have to carry around special optical equipment that measures luminosity and hue of weapons? And, no matter how well you craft the laws, people who don't like being dictated to will just find other ways to get around it.

Law enforcement is naturally a dangerous job.

You can't make their jobs safer by making laws. Those who have no respect for the law won't follow it anyway and they're the ones cops are going after in the first place. All you would do by banning colors is having cops target people who aren't a threat to public safety anyway.

My solution? You do nothing and take advice from colorblind cops. How do they handle seeing a firearm? They can't tell what color it is, so they go by shape. If it looks like a gun and it's being used in a threatening manner they react accordingly. All cops should do the same because the only reason guns are in the colors they are now are because it really hasn't been a money making business model to do otherwise.

Now it is.

Sorry, my freedom shouldn't be limited simply because some crook who wouldn't follow the law in the first place might do something.

What do you think?

posted @ 3/28/2008 2:03:02 PM

Comments

Gregory Morris says:

on 3/28/2008 5:20:45 PM

Guns are scary! Especially pink ones with kitties on them!

Seriously though, if someone were to point a pink, but otherwise authentic-looking firearm at me in a threatening way, I'd react the same as if it was green or blue or chrome or black. Most toy guns (laser blasters and super-soakers) these days are specifically not made to look like real guns. Except for airsoft guns and the occasional blank/cap gun. If you have an gun-looking toy, orange tip or not, and you point it at a cop, you deserve the sudden blood-for-air trade-off that you'll receive.

It is a pretty simple concept that even a 6 year old can understand: don't point guns, even toy guns, at people. Especially don't point anything gun-looking at a cop.

guy says:

on 3/28/2008 6:06:05 PM

Ok, so you ban brightly colored guns.

The next time someone points a brightly colored gun at a cop, the cop does what exactly? Feels safe in the knowledge that NO ONE ever breaks the law and just laughs it off?

This ban would make everyone safer how?

DirtCrashr says:

on 3/28/2008 6:58:52 PM

Crooks are smart and they demand respect! They don't want no sissy-gun! Besides, they'll paint them black to hide them!

straightarrow says:

on 3/28/2008 6:59:12 PM

Let me see, how many times have police shot empty, reloaded and shot empty again, because they feared for their lives because they "thought" the dead guy had a gun, yet no gun was ever found? How many? who knows? it's a lot, especially in NYC where they have a habit of shooting people with invisible guns.

So if invisible guns get you shot 50 times immediately, a brightly colored gun is going to make them hesitate, why? Oh, I get it, to give them time to put on polarized spectacles to protect them from vibrant color.

Bullshit!

Standard Mischief says:

on 3/29/2008 3:37:45 AM

Tell them we might be willing to compromise, but we damn better get something good in return. How about the right to open carry nationwide? End of the sporting restrictions on imports? An end to the "magic" US made parts requirement when you disassemble an imported evil black self-loading rifle?

Weer'd Beard says:

on 3/29/2008 7:36:36 AM

Hell Look at the FNH FS2000 or those odd gray H&K rifles that are on the market. They're "Standard gun colors" but all those curves and angles, they don't look like "Real guns" to my eyes. I've heard it said that if you carry some of the many super-small pocket pistol, don't expect to get the same turn-and-run reaction from an attack as you would pulling a glock or a 1911 because the guns are small and look more toy-like than gun-like.

First colors, then anything that doesn't look it was made in 1950 or eirlier, then put companies that make good defensive pocket guns out of buisness, like NAA, Seecamp, kahr, Kel-Tech ect. Then maybe Robb's spiffy G29 will be too-plastic, and too-small.

Strightarrow makes a good point. There was a recent shooting in New York where an suspect was asked to "freeze" he instead went into his pocket for somthing. Cops assumed gun, instead the poor bastard was going for his black leather wallet. A VERY stupid move from that guy. But do we want to force ourselfs to make our guns more gunlike, and our other posessions LESS gun-like?

Why not force us all to paint our wallets bright pink?

Hell I remember once hugging my Uncle at thanksgiving, and as my arm went around him my instincts said "Gun". Nope, he just had one of those belt-clip holsters for his cellphone.

In the end it's 100% context. Going for your wallet at the grocery store is non threatening, going for it fast when a cop is arresting you is a BAD idea.

We always talk about "Don't flash your peice" but how often does somebody lift their shirt to show me their new carry rig while we're talking shop at the gun club, or at the gun shop?

Great post, Rob

RAH says:

on 3/30/2008 12:35:40 AM

This is the comment I left over at Rustmeisters

Hunters grew up with bolt action wooden stock rifles and think military style black plastic is ugly and Zumbo said they looked like terrorists rifles. He got shouted down over that opinion.
Your objection sounds like a Zumbo type opinion.

Men like their black or blued guns. Women on the other hand like their guns in colors. Some manufactures trying to appeal to a different market tried color and the husbamds hated it and theirs wives like it.

Cell phones used to come in only black, now crazy colors and people personalize them.

Their is no logical reason a rifle can not be personalized to a color scheme. If a father has a daughter and wants to interest her in rifle shooting and she wants on Hello Kitty or Barney purple than why not? The color does not make a firearm deadly or not.

When I was a child all our toy guns came in black. My brothers had Thompson machine guns in black and used to sit in the back of the station wagon and shoot out the rear window at others cars.
No one freaked out . If the gun was black, in the hand of a child it was obviously a toy.

Now based on the logic of Nassau County criminals can spray paint real guns with orange Krylon day glow paint and disguise real guns as toys. Should we now ban all spray paints?

If a criminal uses a weapon or a toy to hold up someone then assume the criminal should be stopped.

We want to turn people attitudes about guns instead of thinking they are big scary things and only a criminal would have a gun, to it is normal for a 13 year old to take a 22 rifle out to shoot. People used to ride on the subways in New York city with longarms and no one thought they were criminals.

Instead of using the gun as a shortcut to determine criminality let the criminals actions do that and their is no confusion.

I hope I gave a few reasons why it is fine for Lauer to sell their Durocoat to customers to peronalize their weapons.

DirtCrashr says:

on 3/31/2008 7:46:55 PM

He's doubly retarded if he doesn't know that some guns are already Orange from the factory, like the stainless satin-finished marine-environment shotguns/line-launcher(s) by Mossberg

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