n June of 2001 an Akron Police Detective, Jack Gilbride, came - as he put it - "within a heartbeat" of shooting a 14-year boy brandishing what appeared to be a 9mm pistol. The detective ordered the juvenile five times to drop it. Finally, he did. As the Akron Beacon Journal reported at the time, the detective said he would have shot if the boy had moved the weapon. As it turned out, the teen was holding a cigarette lighter made to look like a gun. Two weeks later, Akron passed a law making illegal to sell "look-alike firearms."
Though some question the effectiveness of such laws, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson proposed a similar law this summer to ban the sale of "replica firearms." Police Chief Calvin Williams said today no gun is a toy
In Canton, police earlier this year reported a rise in crimes with BB guns and pellet guns, particularly by teens. Captain Dave Davis told the Canton Repository that's "probably because they are easier to get."