Fracas over fakes.

• Author: Frazzini, Kevin
• Position: TRENDS

Fake guns don't kill people. But that doesn't matter much to police officers when someone points a very real-looking imitation weapon at them.

Even the most experienced officers have trouble distinguishing a facsimile firearm from the real deal. Matters only get worse when an officer has just a fraction of a second to react, a suspect is moving or visibility is poor--or all of the above. Such circumstances can lead to tragedy, the latest being the fatal shooting by police in Columbus, Ohio, of Tyre King, a 13-year-old who pulled a BB gun that looked "practically identical" to the firearm officers use.

Since the late 1980s it's been a federal offense "for any person to manufacture, enter into commerce, ship, transport or receive any toy, look-alike, or imitation firearm unless such firearm contains, or has affixed to it, a marking approved by the Secretary of Commerce." An orange safety tip at the end of the barrel of some guns was adopted to help officers recognize a fake, but it can be removed or tampered with fairly easily.

Since 2011, officers have shot and killed at least six people brandishing real-looking fake guns. Research by The Associated Press found that, over the last two decades, at least 25 deaths nationwide involved...