By Jessica A. York
VallejoTimes-Herald
VALLEJO, Calif. — For gun lovers and criminals alike, replica gun manufacturers’ trend toward ever-more realistic-looking guns is a boon.
In California, while “Airsoft” guns are sold with bright orange muzzle markings, full-body colored paint or clear, BB and pellet guns are exempt from special paint requirements, because, manufacturers say, they are not toys and should not be marked as such.
Three retail store owners in the greater Vallejo area contacted for this article in recent weeks said they no longer carried the realistic-looking guns. Two others declined requests to be interviewed.
In Vallejo, twice in less than four months, police have fired — fatally — on people allegedly carrying and/or wielding such replica guns.
The most recent, involving the Sept. 2 death of Vallejoan Mario Romero, 23, has caused a public backlash not seen at the same level in officer-involved shootings in recent years.
Two police officers who stopped to investigate Romero and passenger Joe Johnson while they were parked in front of their family’s Lofas Street home opened fire in what they claim to be self-defense because they believed Romero was reaching for a gun.
The gun, which police said they found later inside the car, turned out to be a realistic-looking imitation, a pellet gun manufactured by Beretta.
Vallejo police Sgt. Jeff Bassett, the department’s spokesman, said hyper realistic-looking replica guns are a problem for law enforcement, but not unusual.
“It’s common for us to run across ...( people) using these (replica guns) to dupe victims, for street robberies, especially,” Bassett said in a recent interview. “They’ve even happened in convenience store robberies.”
Bassett said he has observed a progression in the pellet and BB guns’ development over his career, including the addition of unnecessary parts molded on to add realism.
“It is somewhat new,” Bassett of the increasingly realistic-looking guns. “When I first started (in the police force) there was this common little pot metal spring-loaded gun. It didn’t look as real as this one ... so detailed.” He was referring to the one Romero purportedly was carrying.
At a press conference days after Romero’s shooting, Vallejo Interim Police Chief Joseph Kreins stressed the dangers of replica guns.
“At times it’s nearly impossible to distinguish between replica firearms and real firearms,” Kreins said.
Kreins added that people often carry replica guns to appear armed, to conduct criminal and drug activities, and to avoid added criminal charges that come with violating probation and parole by carrying a gun.
“Individuals who commit crimes with a firearm know that there are very serious consequences, by way of criminal enhancements, that might add five or even 10 years to a prison sentence if they’re convicted in the commission of a crime by using an actual firearm,” Kreins said.
“We’ve seen many such cases throughout the city of Vallejo, where we’ve taken many other replica firearms from individuals within our community.”
In Romero’s case, where police reported seeing what appeared to be a handgun in his waistband when he allegedly exited his vehicle upon police arrival, family contend not only was there no gun, but that he never left his car.
“Why would he need a fake gun to swing around? He loved himself. He wouldn’t commit suicide,” Romero’s mother, Cynthia Mitchell told a large crowd protesting outside Vallejo police headquarters on Sept. 4.
“The first thing they want to say is, ‘Oh, he had a little pellet gun,’ ” Mitchell added. “Do you know, if he was going to have anything, it would have been a real one.”
Romero was on probation on a felony weapon charge, according to Solano Superior Court records.
The replica gun occurrences raise concerns not unique to Vallejo.
Late last month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law legislation enabling Los Angeles County to enact stricter local laws on how replica guns are identified, such as with colorful paint. Last year, a similar statewide bill died in an Assembly committee. It would have folded BB and pellet guns into existing legislation requiring the state’s toy gun manufacturers to identify the replica guns with brightly painted or transparent bodies.
Both this and last year’s bills were authored by state Sen. Kevin De Leon at the request and backing of Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.
Vallejo gun activist Scott Schappell said legislators could make better use of their time than regulating replica guns, but acknowledged some possible benefit to the bill’s passage statewide.
“I know people who are licensed to carry concealed weapons in the state of California, and I know they would hate it ... if someone presented an Airsoft (pellet gun) that looked realistic and they used their real firearm to defend themselves, and they find out it was just a fake gun,” Schappell said in a recent interview. “It can happen to police officers, it can happen to citizens with open carry licenses. So, my opinion on this (legislation) is I don’t see the harm in this. I think it’s silly, but I don’t think it’s necessarily malicious and harmful.”
Opponents of such legislation say BB and pellet guns are not toys, and can be harmful. Bright coloring similar to that on toy guns could be misleading, not to mention aesthetically displeasing.
BB and pellet guns are already illegal to sell to minors, in a nod to the guns’ potential safety issues.
“A BB gun or an Airsoft isn’t going to kill you,” Schappell said. “It could blind you ... nothing that fires a projectile, with the possible exception of a Nerf gun should be considered a toy... Sure you can get hurt by them, but you can’t get killed by them.”
Schappell also raised a different concern, saying, what if a real gun were painted to look fake or like a replica?
“Some criminals are stupid, and some very, very clever,” Schappell said. “From that viewpoint, my thinking is make everything look real and just have more training... When it comes to firearms, nothing’s simple.
“This might sound cold and callous, but ... at some point and time, the person instituting the action has to be accountable for the action he’s taking,” Schappell added. “And if he wants to come across as having a gun and threatening somebody with it, and that costs him his health or his life, that’s the risk he took.”
California replica gun law:
• Fake guns, called ‘replica’ guns, are illegal to make, sell or buy in California unless they are for:
• Theatrical production use
• Athletic events
• Military/civil defense use
• School public displays
Exclusions to the law include:
• Replica guns whose exterior surface is one of several bright colors, or clear
• BB and pellet guns with small-caliber projectiles without use of combustibles to fire .Federal law still requires these replica guns to be shipped, transported and sold as clear, brightly painted or with a bright orange barrel blaze or muzzle plug.
• Antique nonfiring weapons
Recent Vallejo Officer-Involved Shootings reportedly involving fake guns:
• Mario Romero, 23, Sept. 2 (fatal) Beretta Cougar
• Peter Mestler, 53, May 24 (fatal) Beretta Cougar
• Dennis James Merrida, 37, Dec. 30, 2009 (nonfatal)
• Richard Lindsey III, 18, June 14, 2009 (nonfatal)
• Christopher M. Brown, 30, Dec. 17, 2002 (fatal) Crosman pellet gun
Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Newspapers