In September 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the Imitation Firearms Safety Act (SB 199) that will take effect in January 2016.  Los Angeles City Council passed a similar ordinance in 2013 on the heels of SB 1315 sponsored by California State Senator Kevin De Leon in 2012 that would give the City the power “to enact and enforce an ordinance or resolution that is more restrictive than state law.”

De Leon says that toy guns should be painted bright colors or feature fluorescent strips to make them distinguishable as toys.

De Leon’s comments are not only naïve but jeopardize the safety of the public, at large, as well as all law enforcement officers, CityWatchLA  reports.

Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), adamantly disagrees with De Leon’s logic, and said, “The LAPPL continues to oppose the implementation of a law forcing all imitation firearms to be painted bright colors. Our officers already regularly encounter fully operational firearms that have been painted these same bright colors. In order to maintain the safety of the public, our officers have to assume that any weapon, regardless of the color, is fully loaded and capable of shooting live rounds.”

De Leon’s law certainly gives a criminal incentive to paint a real gun a bright color now. 

Last September, after a two-month undercover operation, Police in San Leandro raided a home where they seized more than 500 marijuana plants, eight pounds of processed pot, $45,000 in drug money and two assault rifles that had been made to resemble toy guns.