Gun Control & RKBA

replicas made for collectors (popular in Japan and a handful of other nations where collecting actual firearms is hard), and inexpensive movie props (much cheaper than blank-firing guns, and you can dub in muzzle flashes in post-processing).

15 USC 5001 covers all toys, but exempts both non-toys (like training replicas and collectibles) and actual weapons (e.g. airguns).

And yes, a Daisy Red Ryder is not a toy; it is a .177 caliber air rifle firing a projectile capable of causing serious injury if misused. They are trainers for real guns, and should be treated the respect afforded real guns, even if the consequences of an accident are sublethal. My son had one when he was younger, and I kept it in the safe and ensured he followed the Four Rules as if it were a .22.

As to *criminals* painting toys to look real or buying realistic looking replicas in order to carry out crimes, we could bring our murder rate down if we convinced more criminals to use nonfiring replicas, no? Yes, it presents an occupational hazard that the criminal using one for robberies might get himself shot in the belief that it was real, but if a career criminal is going to commit armed robbery then I'd much rather they do it with a fake gun than with a knife or an actual firearm. Not many innocent people a year are murdered with nonfiring replicas or Airsofts, and even the suicides-by-cop via replicas are a tiny fraction of suicides by firearms, falls, hanging, or blades, no?