Star Wars fan fell force (of the Law) (in Off-topic)

"An Australian movie fan on his way to pose for a Star Wars 30th anniversary photo shoot was arrested by police after his replica laser pistol was mistaken for a more earthly machine gun, media reported on Friday.

The 32-year-old man, dressed in black and carrying a backpack with a replica laser blaster poking out the side, alarmed diners at a food court in central Melbourne.

"It was a replica gun. We weren't sure what we were dealing with," Senior-Constable Daniel Sage told the Herald Sun newspaper. Photographs showed a gun closely resembling the weapon carried by Star Wars rogue Han Solo in the cinema classic.

The man had been on his way to pose for a community newspaper ahead of the 30th Star Wars movie anniversary when he was surrounded by armed police, forced to the ground and handcuffed.

Police said despite being a harmless replica and a close match to a weapon from a galaxy far, far away, the man would be charged with possessing an unregistered firearm."


OK, anyone else think charging the guy is out of line?

Nope, you can still rob a bank with that thing if you wave it around.

he shouldn't be charged, I understand mistaking it for a real gun and for them to arrest him, but then to let him go after it was a fake toy gun from a movie.

A more relevant question is of course "did this wanna-be Han shoot first?"

If it was a working Blaster, I WANT ONE!

Henk has a very good point. He at least should have hidden it better so at least they couldnt just glance in and see it.

It doesn't matter what he could do with it. What matters was his intent. He was travelling to a star wars picture shoot with star wars replica stuff. His story checks out so he never had intent to use his fake gun to hold up a bank. Just to use it as it was intended for a photo op. I believe he will sue and win. That is if he was in the US. Not sure how laws work in other countries though. I do know one thing though. If he doesn't fight this then it sets a crazy precident.

Oh and to ask another question. A person can use a real looking water gun to hold up a bank also. Does that mean that any kid or person walking around on a hot summer day should be handcuffed and charged with possessing an unregistered firearm because of it? I really don't think you would want to open the kind of crazyness that could happen if you let something like this go.. What would be next?

Anyone out in public dressed in Star Wars gear deserves to be shot. I guess arresting him was the 2nd best option...

"It doesn't matter what he could do with it. What matters was his intent. He was travelling to a star wars picture shoot with star wars replica stuff. His story checks out so he never had intent to use his fake gun to hold up a bank. Just to use it as it was intended for a photo op. I believe he will sue and win. That is if he was in the US. Not sure how laws work in other countries though. I do know one thing though. If he doesn't fight this then it sets a crazy precident.

Oh and to ask another question. A person can use a real looking water gun to hold up a bank also. Does that mean that any kid or person walking around on a hot summer day should be handcuffed and charged with possessing an unregistered firearm because of it? I really don't think you would want to open the kind of crazyness that could happen if you let something like this go.. What would be next?"

/Salute

Thanks GL. Never got a salute for one of my posts. I might cry today :)

shoot first! ask questions later. thats just my style

/Target Cylo
/Bow

;)

Charlie Sheen used a candy bar (A Baby Ruth, if memory serves) to hold someone hostage and rob a convenience store in some random movie. Better watch out for all you sweet tooth lovers out there.

Thought it was a butterfinger...

Oh well. This is simply ridiculous. Reminds me of the OJ trial. Everyone knew he was guilty, but he got off on a technicality. That scares me.

I thought that it was still illegal (at least in the UK) to carry an obvious fake with you and that was the reason most now are green or orange.
They used to only have that orange bit on the end but I know it was changed to the whole thing.
If it was a reasonable replica of it (regardless of if it was of a ficticious weapon) then the law (as I remember it) is that it is an arrestable offense.

How can a copy of any fictitious lazer blaster, no matter how good a copy of a fictitious lazer blaster, be prosecuatable as possessing an unregistered firearm?

Is a lazer blaster actually a firearm?

How about a Plasma Rifle? Or a Shuriken Catapult?

No toy gun is actually a replica of an actual firearm but the law is the law no matter how stupid we think it is.
I don't agree with the law that we aren't allowed ornamental pigs in our windows due to it being a sacred animal to Muslims (they shouldn't be looking in our windows anyway in my opinion) but it doesn't mean that if I do it in future I don't expect to have problems concerning it.
We have to put up with the idiots controlling our countries both in Parliament and the House of Lords, judges don't seem to be any wiser than politicians.

In the US you're supposed to have an orange plug in the end of your barrel or have the tip painted orange if the gun is not real and you're travelling with it. This includes paintball markers and the plastic pellet guns. From a distance an officer probably can't tell if you're holding a glock or a plastic bb replica.

I don't really understand what an orange plug signifies. I can just get a real gun and paint/plug the barrel with an orange plug/paint. That's just stupid. As zog says tho, if the ENTIRE gun were orange/green, then that'd be a difference, but then you could just spray paint your gun. I agree on arresting the man, but not charging him for an unregistered firearm as this makes no sense considering it wasn't a real firearm. Better than that article a little under a year ago or so about a guy making a bomb threat in an airport LOBBY, not even on the plane, and shooting him dead before even thinking about the situation. Turns out the guy was bipolar or suffering from depression or something.

Everyone is a evil doer to some cops .Hang the guy the innocent are all guilty of something . Heck hang me .... NOW !

So Zoglog, at 50 feet, you can tell the difference between a real MP5 and the one made by Airsoft? If you were an officer and it was pointed at you, you'd just let it be and not be extremely frightened by it? Easier said than done I think...

To tell you the truth Tezmac, I don't know which one is real and which one isn't. I'd say the top one is and the bottom one isn't. I'm not a very big fan of guns, not because I'm some peacekeeper or something, but because my father never hunted, never collected guns, whatever.

Replicas of authentic firearms is a seperate matter.

If you couldn't tell the difference between a lethal firearm and a plastic super soaker (well, as long as it's not filled with a lethal liquid..), you've got a problem.

The same goes for a pew pew lazor blaster.

If that is classed as an unregistered firearm, then what isn't? An empty Toilet Roll? A broom handle? A checkout price tag gun?

Replica of Hans Solo's gun;

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/gifts-for-men/personal-gift/han-solo-blaster-star-wars-limited-edition.html

It *could* be confused with something like a luger, no problem with the cops stopping and detaining this guy.

But even after being detained, the fact it has no bullet magazine, no actualy firing capability, how on earth can it be classed as an unregistered firearm?

I can pretty much guarantee that the replica blaster looked like a freakin' pistol from a distance. You're saying you wouldn't mistake this for a pistol in someone's side holster at 10 feet away?

Not got a problem with the guy being stopped, and the situation explained. But to charge him afterwards for having an unregistered firearm.

Preposterous!

Doesn't even need to look like a gun.

What would you charge him with then? You can't just have hordes of people walking around with plastic MP5s/pistols as I'm sure hysteria would ensue. Policemen's lives would be placed in more danger than they already are as the fear of shooting a suspect when he raises a gunlike non-gun would be placed next to the need to protect his/her life. Quite the catch 22. I don't know Aussie law and I don't know the applicable US law either, but he'd have to be charged with something.

"I don't know Aussie law and I don't know the applicable US law either, but he'd have to be charged with something."

Here in the states i think if you were picked up walking down the road with a fake laser rifle strapped on your back the police would, after finding out that it was fake, probably let you go. Now if you used said fake rifle to attempt a robbery or pointed it at the police before they determined that it was fake that may be an entirely different story.

Then you make a new law Tez and charge the guy with "causing hsteria by walking around carrying an item that resembles a firearm".

You *can't* charge someone with having an unregistered firearm, when it's plainly *not* a firearm you have.

I suppose it's the reason Megatron is no longer on sale in his original form;

http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/images~~_toygallery~~g1~~megatron~~DSCF0014.jpg.galleryimage254a966.html

http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/images~~_toygallery~~g1~~megatron~~DSCF0026.jpg.galleryimage254a966.html

;)

:P