CINCINNATI -- Twice in less than four months, police in Ohio have opened fire with real bullets on young people carrying look-alike guns, raising questions about what could have prevented the deadly encounters.
The questions have been raised before: after the death last year of a 13-year-old California boy carrying what a sheriff's deputy thought was an AK-47 assault rifle, after the 2012 shooting in a Texas middle school hallway of a 15-year-old student holding an air gun that resembled a Glock, and after the 2006 shooting of a 15-year-old Florida student with a pellet gun that looked to police like a 9mm handgun.
Such deadly cases, while rare, have led to laws and legislation in states and cities across the country. But some gun and law enforcement experts are skeptical about how effective they are.
Criminals, they say, could disguise real guns. And realistic look-alikes remain popular among youths who use them for both play and competitions, they say.
"Anything we can do to make police and the public safer is positive, but let's not pass laws that provide a false sense of security or are unenforceable," said Sgt. Ed Buns, a veteran weapons trainer for the Police Department in Hamilton, near Cincinnati.
Ohio state Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Cincinnati, said the Aug. 5 police shooting of 22-year-old John Crawford III in a suburban Wal-Mart store and the Nov. 22 police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland make it clear that action is needed. Her bill would require look-alike guns to be brightly colored.
"This bill is but one small step in addressing this tragedy and helping to prevent future deadly confrontations with someone who clearly presents little to no immediate threat or danger," said Reece, who leads the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. Both Crawford and Rice were black.
Associated Press research found at least 20 deaths involving look-alike guns mistaken by police for actual firearms across the country in the past two decades. The most comprehensive national study on the topic was a 1990 federal report that found more than 100 cases in the previous five years in which police responded with force.
National Conference of State Legislatures records show that at least 12 states, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have laws restricting sales or uses of imitation firearms.
The laws' approaches vary: Some require the look-alikes to be brightly colored; others set up stiff penalties for those who use look-alikes in alarming or criminal behavior.
"The two recent tragedies in Ohio are unfortunate examples of a trend we will continue to see unless we change our laws to make imitation guns distinguishable from real firearms," said California Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who sponsored state law signed this year requiring bright colors and fluorescent strips for look-alikes.
Veteran police officers such as Buns say criminals could paint over real weapons, causing officers to hesitate.
Cleveland's police chief, Calvin Williams, pointed out recently that real handguns are made in bright colors such as pink.
Michigan State University criminal justice professor David Carter, a former Kansas City, Mo., police officer, was a co-author of the 1990 federal study of toy-gun involvement in crime and police encounters.
"I've interviewed officers who've been involved in these situations, and they all say the same thing: You're not really looking at the gun, you're really focused on the person's behavior," Carter said.
Carter said the most pragmatic solution lies in education -- more training for police and raising awareness for parents, young people and the general public about the potential danger of look-alike guns.
Information for this article was contributed by Brian Bakst of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/08/2014