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TheReverend wrote:

austinrealtor wrote:I don't consider myself an "old timer" by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm kind of taken aback by all this talk of idiot parents and stupid kids walking around in camo with realistic looking guns etc. What happened to the "good ol' days?"

It wasn't very long ago, mid 1980s, that I was a youngster walking around in old Army fatigues and camo gear with some rather realistic-looking toy rifles and pistols (and they didn't all have orange tips on them back then - and the ones that did have the orange tips, we could pry them off with dad's pliers). We played out scenarios EXACTLY as you're describing.

Only major difference is we USUALLY did so on our own property, usually in our own backyard, but certainly not in a neighbor's property. We would venture into our own front yards. And occasionally we'd play "war games" in the neighborhood park. Some friends of ours even lived on a big-to-us 7 acre property with a swamp and old abandoned shed in a densely treed area out back. We would tromp through that swamp as if we were Special Forces patrolling the rice patties of Vietnam.

I'm not exactly sure where the fine line should be drawn on this issue. Certainly kids being allowed to do these things unsupervised at night in public view is stupid. But just kids playing "war" or "cowboys and indians" is not by itself some delinquent act by kids of absentee parents. This is one of those "play time" scenarios that used to viewed with reverence in this country. A right of passage, as it were. Boys played with toy guns; girls played with dolls.

Anyway, obviously the scenario for OP was frightening, and if these kids were on your property you have every right to be upset. And the Frisco cops - especially if at night, in public, and with teens who were actually firing air soft guns - can likely be excused for their aggressive reactions.

But at some point, we have to let kids be kids, have some imaginative fun, and not shelter them to the point of retarding their social growth.

I just don't like to read blanket statements that lead me to believe some people think we should ban "toy guns".

I agree to most of the things you say. Boys will be boys and there is no reason to stop them but we can do things to protect THEM.

If one of those kids was shot by Frisco PD that would be very bad for everyone.

a larger orange tip would be a start. I understand the fun of having an airsoft gun that looks as much as possible to the real thing but if the end result would be that a kid will get shot then they can take it. I don't say ban airsoft guns just stop making them look so darn realistic looking.

Also, according to the article the Frisco kids BROKE THE LAW. Playing with airsoft gun might be a kids game but once it's outlawed by the city, this is breaking the law for all matters. If they were playing with fireworks would it still be a kids game? smashing cars windows? where is the line?