California Sen. Barbara Boxer Calls for Toy Guns to Be Painted Bright Colors
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US Senate(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., sent a letter to the Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, urging him to review a California law that would mandate all toy guns be painted a bright color to ensure they are not confused for actual weapons.
The death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland last month is just the most recent example of what can happen when a police officer mistakes a play weapon for a real firearm, Boxer wrote. In the November shooting, police mistook a toy airsoft gun that Rice was playing with for a real gun. Some reports indicated that the orange safety tip meant to identify the gun as a toy had been removed.
“We don’t need another child’s death to remind us that we need to change the current laws regulating imitation firearms,” Boxer urged. She proposed that toy guns be painted white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright pink or bright purple.
The California law was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September.
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