PRESS RELEASE
September 8, 2016
Yep, the above font is ‘Chiller’, and that is what Bedford County Deputies called the situation in the county last week after they encountered an adult male, threatening suicide, with a handgun in his hand. The male suddenly turned on them and advanced on the deputies with weapon still in his hand and what appeared to be an elevation of the hand with the weapon toward the deputies. The deputies assumed a defensive position and before the hand with the weapon could be raised any further the subject was Tazered by one of the deputies, whereby averting a tragedy…the weapon in the subject’s hand was a BB gun.
This near tragedy underscored the need to clamp down on the sale of replica and pellet guns that often look nearly indistinguishable from actual weapons.
BB Gun from front
BB Gun from the side
“We train these officers to make split-second, life-or-death decisions,” said Sheriff Mike Brown. “When they have a gun pointed at them, there is no time to think, ‘is that real or a toy? Is the guy 15 or is he 25?'”
I would hope that BB gun manufacturers see the need to put bright colors on certain parts of the toy weapons. This could, hopefully, avert this situation from playing out in other parts of this country where other individuals, not as fortunate as this individual, have lost their lives.
