LAUTENBERG CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO SAFETY OF IMITATION GUNS

LAUTENBERG CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO SAFETY OF IMITATION GUNS
NJ Sen. Calls for Examination Into Whether Pellet, BB and Air Guns
Put Children at Risk of Injury and Death

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) released a letter he wrote to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) calling for an immediate investigation into the safety of real-looking imitation guns.  The Senator’s letter follows a news report in the Washington Post on the increasing popularity of “airsoft” guns—assault rifle replicas that shoot lightweight plastic BBs—and other realistic pellet, BB and air guns and the public safety problems they cause, especially for children.

“Of particular concern is the popularity of these imitation guns among children,” Lautenberg wrote to CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord.  “Although the CPSC recommends that these guns not be given to children under 16, children are increasingly bringing these guns to school…Most disturbing of all, young people holding imitation guns have been shot and killed in recent years by police who assumed the guns were real.”

In its  investigation, Lautenberg has asked the CPSC to focus on several aspects of toy gun safety, including:

* The number of injuries and deaths caused by imitation guns;
 
* The number of deaths resulting from incidents where imitation guns were mistaken for real guns;
 
* What efforts, if any, have been undertaken to prevent children from obtaining these imitation guns; and 

* Manufacturer compliance with current requirements for marking imitation guns to prevent confusion with real guns.

Despite requirements that airsoft guns include markings to distinguish them from real guns, the Post story indicates that these markings are often removed or covered.  Without such markings, police officers and school administrators have trouble determining whether a child or adult is wielding an AK-47, M4 or other assault rifle, or an imitation gun.

Sen. Lautenberg is a member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance and Automotive Safety, and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, which have jurisdiction over the CPSC.

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