Connecticut senator pushes toy gun bill

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) Senator Richard Blumenthal is urging toy makers to put colorful markings on toy guns to help distinguish them from real guns.

On Monday morning, Blumenthal is introducing new legislation supporting the move. Blumenthal said police have killed 86 people in the past two years, who were carrying toy guns.

“Toy guns can be real killers,” Blumenthal said during a news conference at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford on Friday morning.

Blumenthal said the bill would protect children, the public and law enforcement from needless tragedies. The senator is urging parents not to buy toy guns for their kids this holiday season.

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“Toy guns pose real threats to children, the public and law enforcement. These look-alike guns—virtually identical to genuine weapons—are tragedies waiting to happen. They should have no place on holiday shopping lists. I am introducing new legislation that will require all imitation, look-alike or toy firearms to display bright and permanent colors on their exterior to clearly indicate they are toys. There should be no room for confusion,” Blumenthal said in a statement on Friday.

Blumenthal held Hartford Police Department Deputy Chief Brian Foley, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center President Dr. John F. Rodis, Dr. C. Steven Wolf, who is the chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Saint Francis and Dr. Vijay Jayaraman, who is the associate director of the Saint Francis Trauma Program, also attended the news conference.

“It looks like a real gun,” Foley said.

A 17-year-old is recovering in the hospital right now after pulling a BB gun on the owner of a car he had stolen.

“The car owner, the legal car owner, was a legal firearm owner and shot him in the face,” Foley said.

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That 17-year-old will live, but Blumenthal said for everyone’s safety he wants tougher laws for toy manufacturers.

“Introducing new law clear, bright permanent marking of guns, colors like orange, unmistakable even in dark,” Blumenthal said. “Stop buying toy or imitation or imitation or look-alike guns that could be fatal to their own children or others who may come in to possession of them.”

“As far as marking toy firearms to look more like toys,” the Connecticut Citizens Defense League said it “is something we have not discussed as an organization.”

“Aside from marking toys cosmetically, legislators should have no business telling parents what toys they should or shouldn’t buy for their kids,” CCDL President Scott Wilson said in a statement to Eyewitness News on Friday. “It’s simply not the place for lawmakers to meddle.”