Don't let your kids play with toy guns...

[osok-308]

Sad? Yes. Avoidable? Of course. The kid should have dropped the gun when told and announced it wasn't real. Unfortunately with recent shootings where the perpetrator is under 18, sometimes as young as 12 (NV), police have to consider even young juveniles a threat more so now than in years before. It's a scary world we're living in. And like some of you, my toy guns when growing up were very realistic, had orange tips, and it's not impossible to paint over, or in some cases, even remove the tip. Tragic situation indeed, but kids need to realize that toy or not, when a police officer tells you to put the gun down, you put the gun down. I hate to see kids die tragically and in this way, but I cannot in any way fault the officers for their actions.

+1. It's going to be a much different world when I raise kids than when I was raised. I did grow up playing airsoft with real looking toys (just sold my Echo1 AK). But I also can assure you that I didn't ever try to walk around brandishing it either. It's sad that anyone lost life, but from these officer's standpoint, they did what they thought they had to. It doesn't seem to me that these were the kind of police that you hear about that are shooting people's dogs or anything. Bad situation all around.