Things aren't always as they appear. Some Saratoga teenagers are learning the hard way that making a game appear more realistic than it is can lead to severe consequences, and can even be deadly.
Take, for instance, a group of teens playing a game called "assassin" last summer--a tag-like game popular with high-school students.
According to Santa Clara County Sheriff officials, two Saratoga teenagers drove to a friend's house, and upon arrival one boy pulled two others out of the car at gunpoint in the middle of the street.
He then pointed the gun at one of the boys and marched them both into his house.
A neighbor saw the incident and called 911. More than a dozen officers quickly arrived with their guns drawn--responding to what appeared to be a possible carjacking and hostage situation. As deputies secured the area and surrounded the house, the three teens peered out the window wondering what all the commotion was about.
They were playing the game with a fake gun that's an exact replica of a real one. The boys knew the gun was fake, but none of the officers or the neighbor who saw the incident did--until the teen was apprehended. The only way one can tell the gun is fake is by holding it.
"There was potential for disaster," Deputy Dan Forest said.
He said that if the teenager was holding the fake gun and made a wrong move, pointing it at an officer, the boy would have likely been shot.
"You can't think that maybe the gun is fake," Forest said. "If you do, you will second-guess yourself and get yourself killed."
Unfortunately, officials with the Sheriff's Department at the Westside Substation in Saratoga said events like this are becoming more common here and in surrounding communities.
Surprisingly, many of the teenagers are getting their replica guns from their parents, according to Deputy Ron Breuss.
The replica guns are made en masse overseas in places such as Japan and Taiwan. When parents go on trips, they often bring the fakes back to the teens thinking the gun is an interesting souvenir, Breuss said. Teenagers can also buy the guns through mail-order catalogs.
Breuss' pleas to parents? "Parents, please do not buy these things for your kids, and if you do, please don't allow them to take them out of the house."
Many of the replicas have moving parts, just like their real counterparts. They can even be loaded with a magazine in the handle and filled with small, round plastic pellets that fire from the gun using air compression.
Breuss explains that the guns are widely available in Japan because Japanese citizens cannot own real guns in that country. Instead, the fakes have become prized possessions, Breuss said.
While owning a fake gun is not illegal here, taking the gun out in public and pretending it is real can be, Forest said. Charges can be brought against those, such as the teens in the fake carjacking incident last summer, for causing a false police report to be filed.
Saratoga, California Since 1975
