By Jeff McKay

CNSNews.com Correspondent

February 07, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - An effort Thursday by the Libertarian Party of Manhattan to give away toy guns to children at a Harlem school infuriated both parents and city officials, who expect to vote on a proposal that would ban the sale of toy handguns altogether.

A New York City ordinance says toy guns sold in the city must be brightly colored and constructed entirely of transparent materials, but some children find ways around the rules - using black tape to conceal the transparency and other methods to make toy guns look authentic.

The recent death of a 17-year-old boy in Harlem -- killed when police mistook his toy gun for a real one -- prompted the bill banning toy guns, including water guns - a move the Libertarian Party calls extreme.

Playing with a water pistol is one of the most cherished rites of childhood, said Libertarian Party spokesman Jim Lesczynski. We want to give that experience to New York's children before the spoilsports in City Hall take it away permanently.

The Libertarians' Guns for Tots campaign was designed to bring attention to the city council's proposed toy-gun ban. The Libertarians say a sales ban would violate parents' right to choose what toys their kids play with.

I don't want the government telling my child what kind of toys she can play with, added Lesczynski.

The City Council held hearings on the matter this week, prompted by calls from City Councilmen Albert Vann (D-Brooklyn) and David Weprin (D-Queens).

Weprin and Vann first introduced a bill in October 2002 making it unlawful for any person to sell, possess, use or give away any toy or imitation firearm that can reasonably be perceived to be an actual firearm.

We shouldn't be glorifying guns by giving them to our kids as toys, says Weprin. If you spray paint a toy gun black, it will look like a real gun. That could place a child in danger. It's easy to mistake a toy gun for the real thing,

At a press conference, Lt. Eric Adams, co-founder of a group called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, said police officers don't have the time to examine a gun in the heat of the moment.

You have four to five seconds to make a determination to save your life, your partner's life, or the life of an innocent person. You don't have the opportunity to feel a toy gun to see if it squirts water, said Adams.

The proposed New York City law is a part of a national movement by anti-gun group to place limits on children's toys, the Libertarians say.

On Thursay, school administrators at P.S. 72 in Harlem told children not to accept toy guns from the Libertarians unless their parents were with them, and the New York City Police Department was also at the school Thursday when members of the Libertarian Party arrived to give away toy guns.

The effort backfired. Angry parents jeered the toy gun giveaway. Some parents called the giveaway racist, and they demanded that the Libertarians to go back downtown.

from CNSnews.com