12 year old arrested

[Pixxie7]

Do you think the police acted appropriately given that they had a tip off that a boy was waving a gun around.

I watched the interview with the mum and the boy on channel 4 news, and I have to say that yes, the response was extreme and the family must have been very scared, BUT the kid did not look 12, the photos PP have posted must be old. He could have easily passed as 14/15. Also the mum kept stating in the interview that it was a "toy" gun, like it was an obvious toy, but then the reporter stated it was actually a BB gun, so it looked real and can hurt someone.

The police need a hard response to gun crime, if they didn't they wouldn't be doing their job. in fact I've seen a thread on here recently of someone complaining of their window being shot at and all of the advice was to call the police.

If you play around with real looking guns in London in plain view of the public then expect police presence.

I think this case alone is a perfectly good reason to ban the sale of all toy and replica guns. Children do not need to play with toy guns.

Of course they did the right thing.

Who on earth buys a BB gun for a child 🤦‍♀️. My cat was shot by a BB gun and nearly died.

Irresponsible parenting.

*I do think the govt should ban/make it illegal to own toy/bb guns that looks real. So black and grey colour should be out completely. High visibility colours preferable.

If having a toy/bb gun for play is what people like about it, then there should be no problem still getting them but it may deter some whose main purpose is owning something that looks real (because they can't own the real one) for sinister purposes or to gain "cool points"*

THIS /\ .
Why make a 'toy' that looks real?...
A shop near us used to openly sell 'fake' guns as well as real shotguns..
But this was long before the more recent issues...The shopkeeper said many women bought them as 'self defence' to scare off a potential home invader.

A BB gun is NOT a toy gun -it is a gun a type of air gun. End of. Not a plastic toy.

Just seen a pic of it.....
Here:

Get a fucking grip, that is NOT ok, the photo of the gun in the article doesn't look like a real gun

Looks like a gun to me. Given it was seen through a window, I can totally understand how it was taken as a real gun.

Ban all toy guns and children will make gun-like objects out of sticks, umbrellas, Lego, Meccano sets, and much more, KeyWorker.

@mathanxiety

Ban all toy guns and children will make gun-like objects out of sticks, umbrellas, Lego, Meccano sets, and much more, KeyWorker.

I agree my dd made his first gun out of toast.

@Bemorechicken
Agreed...My DS wanted ''A BB'' gun I asked what a ''BB'' was...He said ''Ball Bearing''....
Mum said NO.

Yes they did the right thing, the gun looks real.
I would never buy my 12 year old a bb gun

A bb gun should not be easily accessible then and should be treated as a real gun (license, etc) or as I wrote earlier, give it a distinct colour to differentiate it from a real gun and a toy gun.

A gun made of toast or Lego, or a stick isn't going to be mistaken for a real gun 🙄
Doubt police would turn up for a brandished stick.

That was in reply to @Bemorechicken's post

I think the police didnt have a choice and I dont think colour was relevant. This is not a toy gun in the way the mum is trying to portray. I can see why she would be upset and it was a bad experience but she was pretty naive.

I guarantee anyone, of any age/race/gender WILL have police called on them if they are waving what looks like a real gun around..

Who wants to be the first to test this hypothesis?

Ban all toy guns:

I personally agree, but it's kind of impossible, when school and clubs promotes water gun fight and nerf wars and there are many films that attracts children with gun fighting.
I think they don't need to ban it, just don't make it so realistic. Most of them aren't. And parents to understand that bb guns aren't really a toy, and shouldn't give it to a child. Simple.

@hadenoughbleach

If this turned up on my doorstep in the middle of the night, I'd be terrified.

It's a good job the boy didn't open the door with the toy in his hand, or we'd likely be reading very different headlines right now.

While I don't disagree that the police should have investigated, of course they should, I do think their response was disproportionate and racially biased.

I have some retired family members (so in their 60s, white and who live in a very posh little village) who had armed police do a raid on them at 3am while they were sleeping (it was a case of mistaken identity - the village doesn't have house numbers, only names and another house reportedly had a gun) but they acted exactly the same as in this case. They were very heavy handed and the man was arrested and taken to the police station and the woman wasn't even allowed to put any clothes on without the police officers (female) watching.

It was pretty terrifying for them, but my point is that it absolutely happens to non-black families and the police can be equally as heavy handed.

I'm not suggesting for a second that race doesn't make a difference in how people are treated, and there have of course been many instances where people have been very unfairly treated because of their skin colour, but it's a difficult one here, because at the end of the day they had a report of someone who appeared to be holding a real gun. If they didn't act and it was real they'd be accused of dropping the ball, but when they do act, they are automatically accused of racism. If the passerby had just said 'a male holding a gun' I would be interested to know if they would have reacted the same way, as that's the only was to know if their reaction was racially motivated or not.

www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q327.htm

This link explains that BB guns may or may not be classed as firearms depending on how powerful they are. But that if do you own one, be prepared to be challenged on it. The more powerful BB guns can kill or injure.

I agree that children often make their own guns from toast, Lego etc, but that’s different than buying them an actual BB gun. Considering the number of young people lost to violent crime it’s beyond me why anyone would let a 12 year old have a BB gun.

A friend of mine had left a toy water pistol on the backseat of her car and it was seen and reported by a passerby. Police smashed the window in to get it. They apologised profusely afterwards and repaired damage.

Someone else I know had another similar experience where they were filming a media project and had decorated nerf guns to make them look more realistic. Neighbour saw and reported it. Armed police came.

The police dont mess about when it comes to guns and in the experience ive had it was nothing to do with race...

The police will have a process for this.

If someone has called in and reported seeing a gun then the call handler will have escalation points and a set process to follow.

As will the armed response.

So long as they followed process then I think the police are right to have raided.

watched the interview with the mum and the boy on channel 4 news, and I have to say that yes, the response was extreme and the family must have been very scared, BUT the kid did not look 12, the photos PP have posted must be old. He could have easily passed as 14/15. Also the mum kept stating in the interview that it was a "toy" gun, like it was an obvious toy, but then the reporter stated it was actually a BB gun, so it looked real and can hurt someone.

*The police need a hard response to gun crime, if they didn't they wouldn't be doing their job. in fact I've seen a thread on here recently of someone complaining of their window being shot at and all of the advice was to call the police.

If you play around with real looking guns in London in plain view of the public then expect police presence* {quote}

Spot on.

@HowLongCanICallitBabyWeight

Age of criminal responsibility in this country is ten, the police don't create the law they simply enforce it

When it suits them

The people reporting it thought it was real, with the murder rate rising again, the police had to act like this. It is OK whining, but criminals often get others, often young, to hold guns for them

Well once the police had gained entry ( and I accept that would have been in a way that was potentially very scary to an innocent family or person) and they ascertained that no one in the house was.armed, they could have searched the house and questions the 12 year old in way that was less aggressive and scary for.him and his family.

I have less of a problem about the way they came in with guns and more.about how they scared and handcuffed an unarmed 12 year old based on a passerby's report. It could have been anyone saying what they saw, even someone with a grudge.

A PP has described another situation with an adult male practising an act with a sword . He was not arrested.

Once the police gained entry ( and I completely accept they had to do that in a way that protected themsleves) and ascertained there was no immediate threat as everyone in the house was unarmed..They could have talked to the family in their own house and found out the reason for the call without further terrifying a young boy.