I came across this photo on social media, I assumed it was  Nick Allen (EPD) showing off a new gun. Then I read his caption. My stomach sank. It was a toy gun that kids were pointing at cars. He says:

This is 1 of 3 toy guns we took off a group of juveniles (prob 10-11 years old) who were pointing them at passing cars. Not only does it look real, but the kid started pulling it out of his pocket when we told him not to move.

 If your kid has one like this, throw it in the trash.

I asked Nick more about this gun. How does a kid get ahold of a gun like this?

It’s a toy gun bought at the store that is made of plastic but makes a gunshot sound. It came with the orange cap that was deliberately removed. The other two also looked realistic, but still had the caps. There were at least two separate calls in that area for a report of a person with a gun. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but it easily could’ve ended differently after he started pulling them out of his pants once we made contact. We get calls like this routinely in the south sector because of the number of gang-related incidents that usually involves juveniles.

 I did a little searching and I found several guns online that are very realistic.

On Etsy, I found one that was shockingly realistic...it's scary.

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I found a few on Amazon.com

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I understand that kids want to play with toy guns. Please make sure the gun is clearly marked a toy gun with the bright orange tip. If the orange tip has been removed, throw away the gun.

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