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Mexico may ban toy guns to help reduce crime rate
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Mexico may ban toy guns to help reduce crime rate
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - A ban on toy guns may become the latest of several nontraditional anti-crime measures being attempted in Mexico City, prosecutors said Sunday.
Berardo Batiz, Mexico City's top prosecutor, told the government news agency Notimex that his office is studying ways to ban toy guns, which have been used in several recent stickups, or require toy makers to manufacture them in colors less realistic than black.
"We are studying proposals; we have lawyers looking at some form of ban," Batiz said.
On Saturday, a jewelry store in downtown Mexico City was held up by two men brandishing a toy gun, and in a separate incident, three other men stole a car from its owner on a Mexico City street by pointing a plastic gun at him.
Though criminal penalties for robbery in Mexico are the same whether the assailant uses a real weapon or a toy, thieves using toys can't be charged with illegal weapons possession, a federal crime with stiff penalties.
Mexico City prosecutors have launched several nontraditional anti-crime campaigns, including investigations of bank tellers to see whether they are tipping off robbers about customers who withdraw large sums of cash, and proposals to charge private buses a fee in order to place security guards aboard the vehicles.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/world/3892912.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - A ban on toy guns may become the latest of several nontraditional anti-crime measures being attempted in Mexico City, prosecutors said Sunday.
Berardo Batiz, Mexico City's top prosecutor, told the government news agency Notimex that his office is studying ways to ban toy guns, which have been used in several recent stickups, or require toy makers to manufacture them in colors less realistic than black.
"We are studying proposals; we have lawyers looking at some form of ban," Batiz said.
On Saturday, a jewelry store in downtown Mexico City was held up by two men brandishing a toy gun, and in a separate incident, three other men stole a car from its owner on a Mexico City street by pointing a plastic gun at him.
Though criminal penalties for robbery in Mexico are the same whether the assailant uses a real weapon or a toy, thieves using toys can't be charged with illegal weapons possession, a federal crime with stiff penalties.
Mexico City prosecutors have launched several nontraditional anti-crime campaigns, including investigations of bank tellers to see whether they are tipping off robbers about customers who withdraw large sums of cash, and proposals to charge private buses a fee in order to place security guards aboard the vehicles.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/world/3892912.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
Sun Aug 18, 4:46 PM ET
MEXICO CITY - Mexico City prosecutors said Sunday they aren't just playing around with proposals to ban toy guns, which they say were used in several recent stickups.
Berardo Batiz, Mexico City's top prosecutor, told the government news agency Notimex that his office is studying ways to ban the guns, or require toy makers to manufacture the plastic play weapons in colors less realistic than black.
"We are studying proposals, we have lawyers looking at some form of ban," Batiz said.
On Saturday, a jewelry store in downtown Mexico City was held up by two men brandishing a toy gun, and in a separate incident, three other men stole a car from its owner on a Mexico City street by pointing a plastic gun at him.
In recent days, Mexico City newspapers have taken up the issue, featuring close-up photographs of the muzzles of toy guns commonly sold at street markets here, comparing them to real pistols.
The toys, many of them imports from Asian countries, appeared quite similar to the real thing, a factor prosecutors say plays into the hands of thieves.
While criminal penalties for robbery in Mexico are the same whether the assailant uses a real weapon or a toy, thieves using toys cannot be charged with illegal weapons possession, a federal crime with stiff penalties.
There is no law banning the sale of such toys.
Mexico City prosecutors have launched several nontraditional anti-crime campaigns, including investigations of bank tellers to see if they are tipping off robbers about customers who withdraw large sums of cash, and proposals to charge private buses a fee in order to place security guards aboard the vehicles.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020818/ap_wo_en_po/mexico_toy_guns_1
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878