City considering ban on imitation and replica weapons

The city of Frederick is considering banning imitations and replicas of firearms.

Frederick police Sgt. Michael Murphy said imitation guns have been used in crimes, can seriously harm people, and escalate interactions between civilians and police because they look real.

At the July 17 Mayor and Board of Aldermen workshop, Murphy presented research that Frederick police did about replica and imitation weapons.

“It’s clear that this is a public safety and public health concern,” Alderman Kelly Russell, a former police officer, who introduced the proposed ban ordinance, said.

The proposed new law aims to close an enforcement gap for FPD. Currently, Maryland’s wear and carry statute does not specify if replica weaponry is included among “dangerous weapons of any kind,” the category of weapons banned for carry and use in public spaces.

FPD’s presentation showed data and testimony from medical professionals showing that replica guns do present a danger to people and that these weapons are used in the service of crimes. This included screenshots of the weapons’ warning labels that say “this is not a toy” and “can cause serious injury or death” and a video of a surgeon who operated on children shot by imitation guns.

If FPD gets a call in which a person is seen to have a gun in public but is actually holding a BB gun, Murphy explained, “we’re getting that gun, saying don’t do that again, and, in many cases, giving it back to them.”

The proposed ordinance says it is “for the purpose of regulating the owning, wearing, carrying, displaying, transporting, discharging, or possessing air guns, air soft guns, B-B guns, imitation firearms, paint ball guns, pellet guns, replica or look-alike guns, or weapons in the City of Frederick.”

The proposed penalties range from a fine of up to $100 to prison time of up to 3 years for the most serious offenses.

First violations for improper possession, sale or transfer of these weapons would be “punishable by a fine not exceeding $100 for each violation.” Further violations would be “punishable by a fine not exceeding $250.” These are municipal infractions.

Wearing, carrying, transporting, displaying, discharging and allowing, as well as removing or obscuring markings that indicate weapons are not firearms, are misdemeanors.

First violations for wearing, carrying, transporting, displaying, discharging or allowing would be “punishable by imprisonment not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding $1,000 or both.” Further violations would be “punishable by imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or a fine not exceeding $2,500, or both.”

First violations of removing or obscuring markings would be punishable by imprisonment not exceeding 30 days or a fine not exceeding $500 or both.” Further violations would be “punishable by imprisonment not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding $1,000 or both.”

The data presented by Murphy showed that Frederick police encountered an average of 21 incidents involving BB guns and crime annually from 2020 to 2024, ranging from disorderly conduct to assault.

In addition to the public safety and health concerns, the possibility and consequences of an officer shooting someone were a major theme in the workshop.

Murphy cited a 2005 case in Frederick in which two plainclothes officers shot a teenager.

In the case in question, Officers Michael Weaver and James Martin pursued 18-year-old Deni W. Rosales after they saw Rosales fighting another man. Rosales fled, then turned and brandished a pellet gun that looked like a Walther PPK semi-automatic pistol, authorities said. The officers then shot Rosales, who died at the scene.

Rosales “lost his life from making a bad decision with a BB gun,” Murphy said.

A Frederick County grand jury ruled that Weaver and Martin’s actions were justifiable as self-defense.

Murphy suggested that the new law would further protect FPD officers in future similar situations.

He also showed a video of police officers in Utica, New York, shooting a teenager who had a BB gun while fleeing a crime scene.

“That could be all of us at one point in time, dealing with something like that,” Murphy said.

FPD plans to discuss enforcement practices with the State Attorney’s office.