Why carry a replica gun on the streets of Rochester? Fear, crime, legal loopholes involved
A 46-year-old man fatally shot by a Rochester police officer last week might still be alive if lawmakers had tightened restrictions on BB-gun designs, experts said.
From personal protection to committing crimes, reasons abound for some people to carry realistic-looking fake guns. Yet those motivations would disappear if the faux weapons looked starkly different than real firearms.
That is why New York lawmakers last year required toy guns and similar imitation weapons sold in the state be brightly colored or transparent. But state and federal laws still allow for sales of BB guns made to replicate much deadlier firearms.
This loophole seemingly contributed to the death of Todd Novick, an unhoused man who was holding a BB gun and running away from Rochester police when he was fatally shot by an officer on Christmas Eve morning.
“It’s like school shootings; if you don’t do anything, it’s going to happen again,” Peter Moskos, a John Jay College professor and former cop, said of police shootings linked to BB guns.
Why carry a replica gun in Rochester?
Thousands of crimes committed using fake guns — as well as hundreds of police shootings linked to them — prompted lawmakers in New York and other states to ban realistic toy guns over the past decade.
But the reasons New Yorkers used those imitation weapons still apply to BB guns that mimic firearms, according to Moskos and two other policing experts at John Jay College.
Among those reasons:
Cost. The BB gun that Novick had sells for about $60. In contrast, the real handgun it mimics costs nearly $700 bought legally.
Easy access. The BB gun also offered free shipping, with the only restriction in New York being a ban on sales to minors. Getting a real handgun requires background checks and a state licensing process. New York City also requires some permitting for BB gun sales.
Guns bought illegally on the street can cost hundreds of dollars, while bringing the added danger of black-market deals.
Rochester shooting: Man shot by police officer displayed replica gun; identity released
In Rochester and other cities struggling with gun violence, replica guns are also another weapon in social media-fueled turf wars as gangs post videos and images of their crimes.
Victims of those same crimes often turn to fake guns, too.
“Sometimes it’s just for protection,” said Felipe Rodriguez, a policing expert and former New York Police Department cop. The explosion of fully functioning “ghost guns” made on 3-D printers, he added, only fans the flames of their gun-related fears.
But those making ghost guns likely don’t deal in replicas. “They make more money selling the real deal, it’s not worth the plastic,” Rodriguez said.
Telling the difference between replica and real
Bodycam footage showed Novick pulls the BB gun out while running away from police. He does not turn back toward police, the video shows.
The officer yelled once for him to drop the gun then immediately fired five times while still yelling, striking Novick once in the back, all within about three seconds.
“There’s no way at that speed and how quick the incident happened for the officer to know if it’s real,” said Rodriguez after watching the video. He called the Crosman C11 BB gun that Novick had a striking replica of the real Ruger LC380 handgun.
You can tell from the video that Novick never pointed the gun back at officers.
If it had been a real gun — it only takes a fraction of a second for someone to point and shoot it. Police face challenges of tunnel vision while making life-and-death decisions, said active shooter and emergency response expert Warren Eller.
“It all bodes worse and worse for the individual fleeing with the replica gun,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Why carry a replica gun on the streets of Rochester? Experts weigh in
