Real-looking replica guns a concern for police

Chatham-Kent police officers encounter several firearms in the line of duty with many of them being replicas, but they definitely look real.

Police firearms examiner Const. Robert Tobin brought examples of replica firearms to a recent Chatham-Kent Police Services Board meeting to highlight the level of sophistication with current models. One of the more startling examples was an Airsoft model AR15 semi-automatic rifle made of metal giving it an exact appearance and similar weight.

The difference between the replica and the real rifle — the weapon used in the Feb. 14 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla. — is the replica only shoots plastic balls through a narrower barrel. Another weapon on display was a Model 1911 U.S. Army .45-calibre pistol that was seized from a Chatham-Kent residence, after a parent found it in a teenager’s room. Tobin said this weapon has virtually all the same features as the real weapon, right down to the beavertail safety device.

“You can take firearms accessories, like a scope that fits on a specific picatinny rail, and those real firearm parts will fit on the toys,” he said. Tobin estimated that between 30 to 35 per cent of weapons seized in drug raids are Airsoft replicas or pellet guns. Possessing a replica firearm is not illegal, but there are stiff penalties if it is used while committing a crime, Tobin said.