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Comment by analog31 | Hacker News Reader

>>> What if Waymo thought the guns were real, called the cops, and the cops screwed up and shot one of the kids? These sorts of escalations aren't imaginary; they happen, and they end in tragedy.

I take this seriously, but I think this a problem with the cops. Even regular people hesitate to report problems if they think the police might overreact.

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Please do not encourage your children to carry and brandish replica guns. This is never a good idea. Unfortunately I see this more frequently than I like. Kids don't just carry, they aim and pretend to shoot. Even in an open carry state like Florida brandishing a gun is illegal.

I know, it's a different world. I'm 62. As a kid, my friends and I chased one another around the neighborhood with toy guns for hours, raising a racket. My kids are 24 and 26 now, but it would have been unthinkable to let them have toy guns.

I'm in my 50s and did the same. But even then the toy guns were often bright orange.

Nerf guns are the modern equivalent of our dart guns and kids run around with them today all the time. They are pretty unmistakeable, I'm sure by design.

Clearly toy guns. Gun-like, but nobody with the slightest understanding of guns would think they were real. I have no problem with kids having toy guns. I do have a problem with kids in public having realistic replica guns. Bright orange isn't enough.

I think the answer is that other than in organized events realistic replicas should be subject to the same restrictions on actions that real guns are.

Toy guns back then: https://i.imgur.com/2DQnhNC.jpeg

Never saw those, but from the picture that looks too small to be a real gun.

How about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbYlrSRhsZk

> Even regular people hesitate to report problems if they think the police might overreact.

I can’t think of any instance I would call the police except to satisfy the requirements of an insurance claim. I was in a car accident in an Uber last year and left before the cops came.

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