Iowa town reviewing measure mandating carry cases for all toy guns

Authors S.H. Blannelberry

An Iowa town is currently reviewing a measure that would outlaw both the open and concealed carry of toy guns in public, local media reports.

Due to the fact that toy guns, airsoft guns, BB/pellet guns, paintball guns, replica guns, etc., can sometimes resemble the real thing, city council members want owners of these items to keep them locked away in cases when they are not being used.

“It’s a proposal to conceal these guns in a proper case,” explained Burlington Police Chief Doug Beaird. “They make those cases at all the department stores and whether you’re walking or in a vehicle, you would be expected to case these guns.”

iowa-town

Telling the difference between a real firearm and a toy gun is not always easy when one is at a distance. (Photo: WQAD)

According to the Burlington Police Department, there were 26 reported cases of individuals toting guns that turned out to be toys in 2013, up from 19 reported cases the previous year.

“The idea was, if the problem continues, it’s gonna be a matter of time until we actually end up with a confrontation with somebody that has a gun, that’s maybe not real,” continued Beaird. “We can’t make those kind of decisions that fast.”

It appears that Mayor Shane McCampbell is on board with the proposal.

“It’s not saying that nobody can have one,” said McCampbell. “It’s saying that they need to be in a proper carrying bag, so that you’re not running around with a BB gun that may or may not look real.”

The city council approved the measure on Monday during a preliminary hearing. The ordinance will likely go before the city council two more times before its fate is decided.

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  • Doug White July 21, 2014, 1:40 pm

    They are eating too much of that altered corn, I think.

  • william m quirk July 16, 2014, 1:52 pm

    I really like Willie’s term to describe Liberal’s ,, Libtards ty ,Willie hope u don’t mind that I use it ?

  • DaveGinOly July 15, 2014, 2:04 am

    “The idea was, if the problem continues, it’s gonna be a matter of time until we actually end up with a confrontation with somebody that has a gun, that’s maybe not real…”
    The only reason this is a “problem” is because people have been conditioned to fear guns and people carrying them. Years ago, boys carried real guns to school so they could hunt and plink on the way home. School shootings didn’t happen and nobody blinked an eye. Today the sight, or even suggestion, of a firearm drives people into a senseless tizzy.

  • Russ July 14, 2014, 3:31 pm

    Exactly! +1 Jim
    Get skills you under trained scared cops.
    Maybe watch a few old episodes of ‘Rifleman’ for your mannerisms and tactics.
    Be diligent and arrest when a current law is broken, not make up senseless new ones.

  • Anthony Alexander July 14, 2014, 1:17 pm

    Iowa represents a good example of where liberals go to escape the high taxes and poor quality of living to a location where taxes are low and quality of living are good…….UNTIL they move in and the same mindset and liberal thinking and voters start change the location of places like Iowa (through voting in liberal politicians and making liberal laws that these same liberals vote and support) the same laws they created and escaped from….This pervasive invasion changes places like Iowa to where it becomes JUST LIKE THE SAME CONDITIONS THEY LEFT…so wherever they go they ruin what was once good…..This is the liberal neurosis…a mental disease….it ranks up there with Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases. It has been the mainstay of the liberal mindset since the 1960’s which these people come from, embrace and subscribe to.

    The liberal agenda’s principles violate the rules of ordered liberty, their most determined efforts to realize its visionary fantasies eventually fall short. Yet, despite all the evidence against it, the modern liberal mind believes his agenda is good social science. It is, in fact, bad science fiction. In spite of all the data that shows their visionary fantasies are all failures, they persist in this agenda.

    The liberal also always has scapegoats for their problems, far flung theories, distortions and above all LYING, to blame others for their lack of intelligence, prop up and keep their mindless fantasies moving, and when the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains, speaks of conspiracies and credulous statements seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious.
    Liberalism IS a disease, common sense is the cure. But as Ron White the comedian says……there ain’t no fixin STUPID in this case the same applies……………… There ain’t no fixin liberalism.

  • John July 14, 2014, 12:44 pm

    Well, there goes my Cowboys and Indians shootout with MY grandkids. This whole police thug state is getting out of control. Have people completely lost their good sense? I’m almost afraid to be around a cop anymore. My Harley was robbed while I was eating at a restaurant several years ago and a cop was in the parking lot so I tried to get his help and he told me to get away from him. I have been done with the assholes ever since. To protect and to serve??? Bull shit… To shoot first and ask questions later id their mantra now.

  • Jim July 14, 2014, 12:10 pm

    That’s what we need. More laws about something that never happened.

    • Lars July 21, 2014, 9:01 am

      Wait a minute. Isn’t it already mandatory for ALL toy guns painted orange at the tip, so they can’t possibly be mistaken for real guns, even from a distance, by a cop? WTF? Where do these anti-gunners get their ideas?

  • MORRIS July 14, 2014, 11:44 am

    DAAAAAM–I WONDER IF THIS INCLUDES HOPALONG CASIDY CAP GUNS?
    WHAT A SAD STATE WE ARE IN.
    WILL MY GRAND KIDS BE ARRESTED FOR HAVING A CAP GUN FIGHT OUT IN A FIELD OR POSSABLY SHOT BY SOME BRAINLESS COP.
    HERE IN COUER D ALENE,ID LAST WEEK ONE OF OUR SO CALLED FINEST SHOT A LAB IN HIS OWNERS CAR WHILE THE OWNER WAS HAVING BREAKFAST IN A LOCAL EATERY ,WINDOWS DOWN AND IN THE SHADE.
    THE COP SHOT THROUGH THE WINDOW, THE DEAD DOG WAS HAULED OFF AND WHEN THE OWNER FOUND OUT WHAT HAPPENED THEY SAID THE DOG WOULD BE FROZEN AND THEY WOULD RETURN IT TO HIM OR THEY WOULD DISSPOSE OF THE REMAINS.
    THIS COP IS ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE–IN OTHER WORDS A PAID VACATION.
    I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MEAN LAB IN ALL MY YEARS–I’V SEEN A FEW THAT WOULD “LICK YOU TO DEATH” BUT THAT IT.
    ITS A SAD DAY WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS—OH! I KNOW–THE COP THOUGHT IT WAS A PIT BULL!!!! WHAT A MORON

  • D. Hicks July 14, 2014, 11:08 am

    This is a stupid idea.

  • Willie July 14, 2014, 10:15 am

    Besides real or not the cops shouldn’t be harassing people with any gun. If someone with a gun threatens a cop or anyone else then you take them out. If I don’t have malicious intent then I’m not a threat. If I have malicious intent then I’m going to take out a cop every time I encounter one. Only professional hit men would carry a gun without going off on cops and you probably wouldn’t know they are carrying anyway. Some looney tunes with a gun is going to shoot anyone who stands in his way. No logic with these libtards.

  • pete July 14, 2014, 9:23 am

    Chief sounds like a nazi control freak obama supporter- a coward

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