I really like this line of toys. Have been wanting one of these.
Run and show it to the friendly police officer!
Stephen Bours, 30 - The Homicide Report - Los Angeles Times
Stephen Bours, a 30-year-old white man, was shot and killed by police Saturday, March 20, in the 12000 block of Paramount Boulevard in Downey, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. Bours was wielding and ax and walking north in the middle of the southbound lanes of Paramount Boulevard about 6:30 p.m., said L.A. County Sheriffâs Capt. Ray Leyva.
So context from the very link you provideâŚ
Random guy is walking the wrong way in the middle of a lane of traffic during evening rush hour in Los Angeles with an axe. (On this particular street, at roughly this spot, to be more exact.) Police arrive and repeatedly tell him to stop and drop the weapon, instead he advances on them with the axe raised over his head.
Maybe itâs just me, but that sounds an awful lot like a real case of a person behaving erratically and dangerously, and possibly even an intentional suicide by cop. How exactly does this compare to a child waving a plastic machete around while playing on the sidewalk in front of their home?
Just how exactly is it supposed to be a good idea to encourage a young child to play with this???..I have 3 children and am never comfortable with weapon toys.
(OK, this site is for adults who enjoy may enjoy the zombie film aesthetic, but the picture is of a child, and it is a toy aimed at children.)
Its ratedvages 3+ for white kids, Black children who have a reaction to high velocity lead slugs may suffer adverse consequences.
It doesnât, unless the kid gets shot. It has happened before, and it will happen again.
Ya, no real correspondenceâŚ
meth-addled-iraq-vet with a sharp hammer (Woodworking tool with 3 inch blade) who was previously beat up and tazed by the cops while out jogging (just dropped off at hospital and not charged with anything). Yes, threatening, but I donât think lethal force threateningâŚ
A kid running towards officer friendly with a 12 inch silver blade? I imagine the response will be proportional to the childâs melanin content (with a delta factor for gender).
Most kids when told repeatedly by a police officer with a gun drawn to put the weapon down will do so, and will not instead raise the weapon over their head and advance on the officer.
Youâre absolutely right. And most cops, when perceiving a threat, will back up, assess the situation, and give the threatening person several warnings. But a few will just draw and fire.
Agree. BIG fan of the zombie aesthetic (from way back, btw. Cause, ya know, Iâm cool) but apocalyptic horror and violence are not for kids.
"See Billy, Mamma came home with a fever one day. When daddy was trying to help her to the bathroom in the middle of the night she bit him. Bad Mommy! While daddy was bleeding out she went into the babyâs room and ate your little sister alive, right out of her crib! Good thing the helpless screaming didnât last long! Better get your NERF ZOMBIE-HUNTER MACHETTE ⢠and split mommyâs head right the hell open! EWWW, look at mommyâs brains! GOOD JOB!
UH OH⌠Here comes daddy!"
Iâm with you here. I can recall quite clearly the war games we played as children, and we were quite able to create âreplicaâ weapons out of sticks or garbage bags or whatever. I donât think anyoneâs being done a favor when parents show tacit approval of extreme violence by giving their kids toy weapons.
This is definitely an âit dependsâ thing. One of my really happy moments as a early grade-school kid was my dadâs making me the sword I was sure I needed to complete my princess outfit. It was OK to be a princess knight! Iâve also seen kids for whom it was pretty obvious firearms had become glamorized by the forbidden-fruit effect. On the other hand, some parents do seem to completely normalize everything weapons related. Thatâs not what you want either. As with so much, you have to know the kid and the circumstances.
But again, how is that at all comparable to anything?
Why link to a story about a man with an axe acting crazily who clearly wasnât just drawn and fired on without any warning, being that itâs completely unrelated in pretty much every way to the concept of a kid with a nerf zombie-hunter machete somewhat foolishly showing it to Mr. Police Officer?
Ummmm⌠I didnât.
I wasnât asking you in particular. 
Mostly to annoy certain dead horse beatersâŚ
It was posted because it was the first thing that I thought of when I saw:
As stated, it was a essentially a sharp hammer, not an axe â the point is that cops tend to see what they want to see⌠Often not linked to the reality of the situation.
A situation where some cops get called on a domestic violence call and then see someone running down the sidewalk with a large machete is likely not going to end well.
Heck, even if they donât have anything in their hand, they might end up dead if the cops see what they want to see.
The second thing I thought of was the 13 year old kid that got shot while carrying a BB gun in CA several years ago.
If youâre talking about Andy Lopez, that was just in November of last year. He was 13 when he was shot-and-killed while carrying a BB gun. In Chicago, in 2011, Jimmell Cannon was killed the same way. He was also 13.
They are far from alone. Hereâs an article about 17-shootings that involved fake guns, and this only touches on the number of incidents actually occur. In 2011, when a teen was killed the same way in Los Angeles, Sen. Kevin de LeĂłn (D - Los Angeles) tried to pass a bill that would have required BB guns be painted bright colors. It failed. As a result of the 2013 shooting, the issue was revisited.
De LeĂłn eventually won passage of a measure that exempted Los Angeles County from a state law that prohibits local governments from regulating guns. A proposed Los Angeles city ordinance that would permit the sale of BB guns and other imitation firearms only if they are brightly colored is now being drafted by the city attorneyâs office and may be introduced later this year.
However, I fail to see how this will help if open carry enthusiasts are brightly decorating their guns to look like toys. Some manufacturers even make real guns that look like toys and are designed to be sold as a childâs âfirstâ weapon. How are police supposed to know the difference?
Marty and Chris Welch of Cadillac, Mich., carry decorated Olympic Arms .223 pistols at a rally for supporters of Michiganâs open-carry law April 27, 2014, in Romulus, Mich. The march was held to attempt to demonstrate to the general public what the typical open carrier is like.
