At least 28 people holding BB or pellet guns were killed by police in US in 2015
The fatalities have prompted some lawmakers to push for tighter regulations on the design of non-lethal guns – which often closely resemble real firearms
Ciara McCarthy and Jon Swaine
GuardianUK
Tuesday 29 December 2015
Police officers in the US have in 2015 killed at least 28 people holding BB or pellet guns comparable to the one Tamir Rice was carrying when he was shot dead in Cleveland, Ohio.
The steady stream of fatalities, recorded by a Guardian investigation into all deaths caused by law enforcement, has prompted some lawmakers and campaigners to push for tighter regulations on the design of non-lethal guns that often closely resemble real firearms.
Announcing on Monday that the officers involved in Rice’s November 2014 death would not face criminal charges, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Timothy McGinty, said: “I want to call on the legislature and the manufacturers of toy guns not to make guns that look so much like the real thing.”
On Friday, a new law aiming to ensure this will go into effect in California. It bars the sale of BB guns unless the “entire exterior surface of the device is white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink, or bright purple, either singly or as the predominant color in combination with other colors in any pattern”, or it is transparent.
The Rest…HERE
