Virginia Beach Police Offering Tips on Safe Use of Air Guns

The Virginian Pilot reports today that in an attempt to reduce the chance they mistake someone with an air gun as someone who intends to do harm with a real one,  the Virginia Beach Police are holding seminars for parents and kids on their proper use:

Just this year, a student at Lindsay Middle School was charged after police found a pellet gun in her locker. In December, a Deep Creek High School football player was sentenced to six months of supervised probation and 50 hours of community service after he tried to shoot middle school students with a pellet gun.

Fake guns made national news in 2014 when 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by police in Cleveland after wielding a plastic airsoft gun. Children stared wide-eyed Wednesday as Beach officers held up real and fake guns in the middle of the library, prompting them to guess which was which. Many giggled and compared the guns to the ones in video games or that their parents own.

But few knew the difference.

“We have to assume that it’s a real weapon,” Master Police Officer Chuck Wolfe said.

The Virginia Beach Police stress to those attending the seminars to treat the air gun like a it was a firearm.  That's something that parents should already be doing,