Line Blurs Between Play, Gunplay

In early June, three teens drove near Lake Braddock Secondary School with an airsoft replica handgun, waving it around and alarming motorists, police said. One teen pointed the barrel at his head.

In Redwood City, Calif., in February, a 10-year-old boy held an airsoft gun to the head of a 6-year-old, demanding his Pokemon cards. In the Chicago suburbs several weeks ago, a 17-year-old shot a juvenile with an airsoft gun as the victim was riding his bike.

And in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, an 8-year-old brought an airsoft Luger handgun to school and later told police that she needed it for protection.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has recommended that high-velocity BB and air guns (which fire projectiles at 350 feet per second or more) not be given to children under 16. Spokesman Scott Wolfson said 20,000 people showed up at emergency rooms across the country with BB and air gun injuries last year, including 11,500 children.

Locally, school districts report numerous instances in which airsoft or look-alike guns have been taken to school -- 30 last school year in Prince George's County, for example, and five in Montgomery County. In one Montgomery incident, a student "horsing around" fired at several other students, said Bob Hellmuth, director of school safety and security.

In Fairfax, there were 27 incidents in the 2006-07 school year with paintball, BB or pellet guns, and in four cases, guns were described as look-alikes. In Prince William County, officials counted three airsoft incidents last year.

For would-be criminals, airsoft guns are easy to get, with cheaper ones sold at sporting goods or discount stores for $10 to $100. Pricier models, selling from about $100 to $300, are available online or at specialty stores.

"I think the bad guys just try to get something that looks real," said Capt. Scott Whitcraft of the Charles County sheriff's office, which has pursued tightening laws for imitation guns.

Realistic-looking airsoft and pellet guns have been used in robberies in Bethesda, said Montgomery police Sgt. Mike Hartnett. Last month, he said, a replica gun was used in a road rage case.

In September 2005, two officers broke up a fight at a Frederick park and chased one of the assailants, Danni Rosales, on his 18th birthday. Rosales fell, and when he got up, he turned and pointed a gun at the officers.

Both officers fired.

Rosales went down.

Later, when his lifeless body was moved, investigators found the gun underneath. It was, they would discover, a BB-firing replica of a Walther PPK handgun.