Differentiate between toy and real?

[hoepoe]

Hello all

Please read below and see my questions that follow:

Today the IDF shot and killed a 19 year old mentally handicapped male carrying a toy rifle.
The happened when an elite IDF unite entered a Palestinian village to execute an arrest and the deceased approached them saying "leave the village" with his rifle in hand.

Three months ago, IDF soldiers shot dead a 12-year-old boy in the Jenin refugee camp who was carrying a toy gun, also during an IDF arrest raid of the same unit.. The boy was holding a plastic rifle that soldiers believed was a real weapon. One of the soldiers opened fire from inside a jeep and hit him in the head.

In January 2005, a 12 yea old boy was killed in the village of Taysir located east of Jenin. Soldiers from an infantry unit were driving through the village when local youths began congregating and throwing stones at their jeep. Soldiers said the boy aimed a rifle at them that resembled in design and size an M-16 assault rifle. The soldiers opened fire and killed the boy.

Now this is indeed sad, but the soldiers are not at fault. My question is, what are your opinions for deifferentiating between toy and real weapons in a hot zone? Keep in mind, kids as young as 9 have been used to ferry bombs and bomb making equipment as wellas weapons. Kids as young as 14 and 15 have been caught with suicide belts on ready to go boom.

Is it at all possible to differentiate under these circumstances?
Perhaps the parents should not allow their kids to wonder the streets with toys resembling wepaons?

Thoughts?

Hoepoe

[Kyobanim]

Perhaps the parents should not allow their kids to wonder the streets with toys resembling wepaons?

I'd say you hit the nail on the head.

[HOLLiS]

Indeed a sad state of affairs. If the Palestinians loved their children they would, but then they not get a Martyr for a son/daughter, no $25,000 and the PA would loose some really good propaganda.

[Bob1984]

There's no easy way to tell the difference (with the absence of an orange tip) unless you get close enough to tell if the receiver is plastic or metal, and some of the high-end toy (airsoft) guns out there have metal receivers. These kids should have known their toys looked real and they shouldn't have been pointing them at soldiers who will shoot back. I know it's bad, but it's Darwin at work. I personally would never even think of pointing anything remotely resembling a gun at a police officer or a soldier, and I never thought to do those things when I had toy guns as a kid either. I do agree that the parents should've done a better job with their kids in this case and they shouldn't be raising them to be martyrs. I did some research a few weeks ago on the Palestinians and I found an interesting article that stated that there's really no such thing as a "Palestinian" and that most of the so-called Palestinians are actually Egyptians who have immigrated to Israel for the sole purpose of fighting the Jews. It may or may not be correct information (I have no way to verify it), but it is highly interesting. Of course, if anybody has better knowledge of this situation, please feel free to educate and correct me.

[CPTAUSRET]

I think certain Palestinians encourage this type of behavior, knowing full well that an "innocent" life may well be lost.

It serves their propaganda machine to point at the IDF as murderers that kill innocents.

Terry

[bosljeff]

Originally Posted by Bob1984

I personally would never even think of pointing anything remotely resembling a gun at a police officer or a soldier, and I never thought to do those things when I had toy guns as a kid either.

I wouldn't wish such things on my children (if I had them) or any others' children, but I agree: you point a gun at a soldier you will get shot. I'm not going to pretend I can fathom the situation until I have lived it; these are just my thoughts.

When I was a kid there was no such thing as orange-tipped safety guns. The toy guns I had were damn near replicas, heavy as hell, and some even made loud electronic firing sounds; and I found it stupid to even consider pointing them to a person that had the real thing.

my .02