Man Attempted To Disguise His Gun As A Toy

On December 12^th, the authorities in Southwest Ohio said they arrested a man who had painted his handgun to resemble a toy.

This happened four days after a legislation was passed which requires all “lookalike” firearms to be brightly colored or clearly marked in another way. Ohio legislature took passed the bill after two fatal police shootings of young people who carried fake guns in recent months.

Police officers responded to a call about an armed man and found Orlando Lovery, age 23, with a handgun painted bright red and a small amount cocaine. Lowery was jailed for carrying a concealed weapon and a drug count; as of yet he has no listed attorney.

The bill requires all airsoft rifles, BB guns and air rifles to be made in stand-out color or have a prominent fluorescent strips. The bill was named after the 22 year old John Crawford III, who was shot by the police in a Dayton Wal-Mart while carrying an air rifle. According to police report, they thought he had an assault rifle. Just last month, a boy aged 12 was also fatally shot by the police; he was carrying a pellet gun.

Several other cities and states have similar laws.

Some people opposing the law have, apparently correctly, predicted the criminals would try to disguise real firearms in order to confuse the police. They also expressed doubt that the bill would do anything to actually prevent accidental shootings.

The Hamilton County sheriff, Jim Neil, declined to express his opinion on the bill but said his office would provide facts about the arrest.

“And the fact is right here in Hamilton County, we arrested a dangerous individual who we believe purposefully painted a loaded handgun red to mislead law enforcement into thinking this was a toy gun,” The sheriff said.

Image courtesy of: http://abcnews.go.com/