The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court is taking a tougher stand against children under its supervision who possess realistic-looking fake guns. An initiative begins this Friday that could take some freedoms away from offenders caught with facsimiles. WKSU’s Kevin Niedermier reports.
Juveniles are using toy guns and BB guns to rob and intimidate people, and in some cases this has led to fatal encounters with police who believe they were real. First assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Duane Deskins is chief of the juvenile division. He says the new rule is an attempt to keep juvenile offenders from becoming repeat offenders.
“Anyone under the court’s, juvenile that is, court’s jurisdiction, whether he be on pretrial release or on probation could not possess one of these realistic, look alike firearms, however they may be described. And they could be subjected to a revocation of bail or probation if they’re found in possession of them.”
Going even further, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office urges state lawmakers to completely ban the sale of replica guns. The push for such legislation intensified after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by a Cleveland police officer who thought the pellet gun he was brandishing was real.
