Proposed Bill Would Ban Realistic Toy Guns

SF Gate Toy guns made to look like the real thing would be banned in California under legislation announced Friday in Sonoma County, where a sheriff's deputy last month shot and killed a 13-year-old boy after mistaking his replica AK-47 pellet gun for an assault rifle. The bill, to be introduced by five lawmakers, would require pellet and other toy guns to be brightly colored or translucent so they are easily recognized. Federal law requires the replica guns only to have an orange mark on the tip of the barrel. The legislators held a news conference in Santa Rosa, a few miles from where Deputy Erick Gelhaus shot and killed Andy Lopez Cruz on Oct. 22 as the boy walked with a pellet gun near his home just outside the city. According to police who are investigating the killing, Gelhaus pulled up behind the boy and ordered him to drop the gun - which did not have an orange tip - and then fired eight times when the boy began to turn. The shooting prompted street rallies and a lawsuit filed by Andy's family. State Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, one of the sponsors of the new legislation, introduced a similar bill two years ago after police shot and paralyzed a 13-year-old Los Angeles boy with a toy gun. That bill stalled in committee.