Lately I’ve heard a lot of stories about fake guns being used in crimes — for instance, to rob banks or in muggings.  I’ve heard that some of these criminals think that if they get caught, having a fake gun means a lesser sentence, but apparently that’s not exactly true.  Certainly it wasn’t for the guy in the article I just linked to, who was shot by police after waving his guns at them — the cops only discovered after shooting the guy that the guns were fake.

So much for thinking committing a crime with a fake gun was safer.

There are some pretty realistic-looking toy guns on the market — for example, airsoft guns tend to look pretty real.  Airsoft guns are like BB guns or pellet guns — they just use compressed gas or air in order to fire pellets.  Because people use these for realistic games such as MilSim (military simulations) and historical reenactments, they all look pretty real: For instance, airsoft sniper rifles are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing unless you take a close look.

Fake gun manufacturers try to do things to set their toys apart from the real thing — for instance, many toy guns have a bright orange plastic piece on them.  Unfortunately, where there’s a will, there’s a way…  Criminals simply remove or cover up these plastic pieces so that you can’t tell.

Fortunately, getting caught committing a crime with a fake gun is just as bad as getting caught commiting a crime with a real gun.  Either way, you’re pretty screwed.