Bloomberg on Your Barrel

Jacob Sullum | March 21, 2008

In 2006 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed through a law that bans gun coloration kits from the city, punishing anyone who uses, buys, or sells one with up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The Daily News reports that Lauer Custom Weaponry, a Wisconsin company that sells such kits, is taking revenge by offering the Bloomberg Collection of gun paints, which includes Manhattan red, Bronx rose, Brooklyn blue, Queens green, and Staten Island orange. The company also sells a stencil of Bloomberg's face to decorate gun barrels and a Bloomberg Collection EZ Camo Kit, which includes stencils to help you decorate your gun with the image of a brick wall covered by graffiti. Bloomberg had a good chuckle over it, saying, "If you take yourself too seriously, politics will kill you." Just kidding:

An outraged Bloomberg called gun-coloration kits "a tragedy in the making."

"Making a quick buck by coloring a handgun to look like a toy is craven and beneath any honest businessman," Bloomberg told the Daily News. "By coloring these guns, a real one looks like a toy, and a police officer won't be able to tell the difference."

"Imagine an officer who comes upon a teenager pointing a pink gun into a crowd. If the gun is a toy, an innocent teenager may be killed - and others, too.

"Our police officers have a hard enough job as it is, and that's why we passed a law to prevent these deadly tragedies from occurring."

The Daily News seems to accept this rationale, describing Lauer Custom Weaponry as a "company that disguises deadly firearms with bright paints and camouflage" and saying its "products were banned in the city in 2006 because they make dangerous guns look like innocent toys." Which does seem like a pretty disreputable business to be in. Not until the end of the story do we get an inkling that killing kids and cops is not the company's mission:

The bright paints were meant to help rescue workers and range masters locate guns more easily—not fool cops, [company spokesman Toby] Johnson said. They regularly sell the colors named after the boroughs and have even sold "five or six" Bloomberg camo kits, Johnson said.

Women also are big fans of the colors, he added.

"The ladies like it. They fashion their guns after their clothing," Johnson said.

[Thanks to JD for the tip.]

Comments

Episiarch|3.21.08 @ 4:50PM|#

Arrgghh...Bloomberg is such a pompous ass.

emerson|3.21.08 @ 4:51PM|#

I'm in favor of any law that prevents deadly tragedies from occurring. I'm told this one does, and that's enough for me.

The Wine Commonsewer|3.21.08 @ 4:54PM|#

When I was a lad, toy guns often looked almost exactly like real ones. That's why they were so cool. And, cammo guns have been available for a long time, just looked at a Ruger SR9 automatic the other day which is available in Brushed Stainless, Blackened Stainless, or partial cammo.

The Wine Commonsewer|3.21.08 @ 4:55PM|#

But would I own a chartreuse gun? I don't think so.

|3.21.08 @ 4:57PM|#

Guns are scary.

The Wine Commonsewer|3.21.08 @ 4:58PM|#

Ooops, take that back, it isn't partial cammo afterall, it's olive drab and black.

A mind is a terrible thing to go to waste.....

http://www.ruger-firearms.com/SR9/

|3.21.08 @ 4:58PM|#

"Imagine an officer who comes upon a teenager with no gun at all and is all alone. An innocent teenager may be killed."

Now that's closer to the truth.

The sad thing is one of the only people that used these kits in the city was the police academy for training purposes.

Chuck|3.21.08 @ 4:59PM|#

"Imagine an officer who comes upon a teenager pointing a pink gun into a crowd."

Does that happen a lot in New York? Not the pink part, just the teenager pointing a gun into a crowd part. He says it as though this is a regular occurrence. Maybe they should just get less stupid teenagers.

Episiarch|3.21.08 @ 5:02PM|#

Does that happen a lot in New York?

No. And does anyone think a gang kid is going to paint his fucking gat pink in any case?

|3.21.08 @ 5:04PM|#

An outraged Bloomberg called gun-coloration kits "a tragedy in the making."

I will admit, those guns look pretty gay. But "tragedy" is a bit strong.

|3.21.08 @ 5:10PM|#

I dunno, as much I as I think people should be able to color their guns whatever color they choose...the reality is that cops have an itchy trigger finger as it is. I have seen countless stories of kids being shot becuase they had something that "looked like a real gun".

Making real guns look like fake ones seems to exasperate that problem and will likely change a cops' attitude from "shoot if it looks real" to "i just cant tell any more -- shoot if it looks anything like a gun"

Not that the ban is a good solution either

Scooby|3.21.08 @ 5:23PM|#

Imagine someone pulling out a wallet to produce ID as instructed being shot 41 times. Imagine how much worse that would be if the wallet were one of those silly brightly colored ones, instead of a plain black or brown leather wallet.

|3.21.08 @ 5:24PM|#

Making real guns look like fake ones seems to exasperate that problem and will likely change a cops' attitude from "shoot if it looks real" to "i just cant tell any more -- shoot if it looks anything like a gun"

Er, Tom, the cops shoot people for holding a TV remote or a coffe cup. Weapons recognition does not seem to be a strong suit among LEOs. Didn't the NYPD gun down a guy for getting out his wallet a couple of years ago?

|3.21.08 @ 5:25PM|#

Damn you Scooby! ;-)

|3.21.08 @ 5:27PM|#

Sounds like another fine product from Mr. Irwin Mainway.

|3.21.08 @ 5:36PM|#

Also, ChicagoTom, my freedom shouldn't be limited because law enforcement officers are stupid. That's ass backwards.

|3.21.08 @ 5:42PM|#

Also, ChicagoTom, my freedom shouldn't be limited because law enforcement officers are stupid. That's ass backwards.

Randolph Carter...did you miss the part where I said :

Not that the ban is a good solution either

Er, Tom, the cops shoot people for holding a TV remote or a coffe cup. Weapons recognition does not seem to be a strong suit among LEOs. Didn't the NYPD gun down a guy for getting out his wallet a couple of years ago?

J sub D. I know and I agree. But the reality is that if the cops now know that a bright pink toy looking gun MIGHT be real, the situation will only get worse. They will have more cover for when they do things like that -- and public outrage will more likely be more muted.
They will be parading around saying "gun makers make real guns look like toys...we can't tell any more -- it's not our fault" -- and the people will agree with them

And again...i dont think the ban is a good way to solve this...but there is a legitimate concern about the consequences of this product.

|3.21.08 @ 5:47PM|#

I'm told that real guns make a big scary noise, and sometimes even have a bright flash that comes out of the end.

Whereas toy guns do not.

|3.21.08 @ 5:54PM|#

"If you take yourself too seriously, politics will kill you." Just kidding...

I predict a big future in talk radio for La Bloomberg...

Rimfax|3.21.08 @ 5:59PM|#

Per Scooby and J sub D, the real solution is that there outta be a law that everything in NYC must be Richard Simmons pink, except guns. That will make things nice and simple for the NYPD. Shoot everyone who's holding a not-pink thing.

All fixed, easy peasey rice and cheesy.

The Wine Commonsewer|3.21.08 @ 6:00PM|#

....bright pink toy looking gun MIGHT be real, the situation will only get worse...

Before that can be a valid argument I think we have to look at LEO's shooting kids with toy guns from say 1950 through 1970 and see if there was a problem then.

If not, we have to ask why there would be a problem today given that in my day, toy guns looked pretty real (alluded to in my comment at 4:54) and they didn't have that stupid orange tip neither (which for some reason keep vanishing off the ends of all my boys toy guns--he tells me they "broke" but the incidence of breakage seems a little steep fro random chance).

Jen|3.21.08 @ 6:12PM|#

"Imagine an officer who comes upon a teenager pointing a pink gun into a crowd"

Um, I don't know about you guys, but I don't think pink is a popular color in the gang-banging scene. Maybe they're worried about teenage girls with guns and a pink fetish? Paris Hilton? Who are these kids of which they speak.

Personally, I think the color kits should be banned because those are some God-awful fugly colors. Anyone who would do that to a perfectly good gun deserves to be fined IMO.

Geotpf|3.21.08 @ 6:53PM|#

I don't have the link handy, but I came across a website awhile back that (amoung other things) featured a couple of 10 year old girls posing with their pink AR-15s. Fairly surreal.

economist|3.21.08 @ 6:57PM|#

Toy guns? You mean like BB and pellet guns?

|3.21.08 @ 7:38PM|#

As long as Nanny Bloomberg continues to wipe my bottom and tickle my footsies, I guess it's okay.

Someone Who Doesn\'t Want to L|3.21.08 @ 7:40PM|#

As long as Nanny Bloomberg continues to wipe my bottom and tickle my footsies, I guess it's okay.

Her silk scarves are sooooo soft.

|3.21.08 @ 8:09PM|#

Doesn't the coloring actually make the guns easier to see? Thus, wouldn't this make it easier for police to see the gun and thus potentially stop a crime?

Especially if the cops know that real guns could be colored like that already?

Cops need to take any real threat seriously, whether someone is wielding a black gun or a pink gun. But you can still buy toy guns that are black or silver, so the logic does not follow...

|3.21.08 @ 8:13PM|#

The market will sort this out. Colored guns are ugly. If colored guns are more likely to get you killed, people will quit buying them, and manufacturers will quit making them.

Is this where someone is supposed to shout DEMAND KURVE!!

CB

|3.21.08 @ 8:14PM|#

By the way, the company also sells "glow in the dark" paint. Really, wouldn't requiring that every gun must be glow in the dark seriously stop some crimes? Harder when everyone can see the gun in the night. If anything, Bloomberg should be praising this company.

I kind of like the yellow. It's like a sports car...

alan|3.21.08 @ 8:19PM|#

What Bloomberg should be concentrating on is cleaning up the steroid problem in the NYPD. Those big fat guts and massive arm mass combinations are as obvious as Barry Bonds' huge head. Once that problem is taken care of the officers will have an easier time disseminating reality where differentiating real and imagined threats is part of their job.

|3.21.08 @ 9:30PM|#

Here you go

http://www.riflegear.com/blogimages/KittyRifle.jpg

Bingo|3.21.08 @ 10:31PM|#

So by banning pink guns does that mean that cops can shoot kids with squirtguns because they could possibly be an illegally colored pink weapon?

But black squirtguns are okay... right?

Is there anything you can hold and not get shot by a cop?

Someone Who Doesn\'t Want to L|3.21.08 @ 10:58PM|#

the sky?

PhillyBoy|3.22.08 @ 5:38AM|#

What's new. New Yorkers like big government and that's what they get. They sure didn't mind quartering British troops during the American Revolution.

Chromepulse|3.22.08 @ 8:54AM|#

Right. A gang banger is going to spend sixty bucks and mail order a custom weapon paint set so he can carefully degrease and airbrush his rifle. That sounds a lot more likely than spending three bucks for a can of spray paint.

|3.22.08 @ 10:47AM|#

I thought a gun coloring kit was an Onion gag, like the smoke alarm that emits sounds of the rainforest.

J. P. Carlo|3.22.08 @ 11:58AM|#

Gun coloration kit.

Never heard of it, probably won't see one anytime soon considering they're illegal now in my city.

But what they do sounds a lot like... what's that stuff... the name evades me... oh yeah, paint.

Why not outlaw paint too, since it can do exactly the same thing? Clearly we the people are not intelligent enough to safely use paint, so we need Nanny Bloomberg to keep us safe.

|3.22.08 @ 12:48PM|#

You ask and I deliver. From my home town of Las Cruces, N.M. Saaaaalute!

(c) Any person who owns, manages or operates a place of business wherein aerosol spray paint in cans is sold, shall secure said spray paint in a locked or other display area inaccessible to the public, such as behind a counter.

(d) Any person who violates this section is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
(Code 1988, § 21-263; Ord. No. 1663, 5-18-98)

Granted, this only requires merchants to keep spray paint under lock and key but still...I was utterly baffled the first time I ran into it.

|3.22.08 @ 1:55PM|#

Kudos to Steve Lauer!!! He not only understands that making a dollar is more important than the welfare of his fellow-man, he lives it! ...I wonder how fast he would yank his product off the market if one of his children were accidently shot by a policeman because he thought the childs toy was real? I wonder if he would still be amused with his publicity?

|3.22.08 @ 5:55PM|#

The Staten Island orange would probably sell well in East Tennessee.

Go Vols!

don\'t ask, don\'t tell|3.22.08 @ 9:56PM|#

Is there anything you can hold and not get shot by a cop?

LarryA|3.22.08 @ 11:51PM|#

Typical. Black rifles are bad because they look mean. Pink rifles are bad because they don't.

BTW, this isn't anything new. A lot of the competition shooters have synthetic or laminated stocks that aren't brown or black. Red, white, and blue seems popular (in the U.S.), as are team colors and several other variations. A quick look turned up McMillans.

"Imagine an officer who comes upon a teenager pointing a pink gun into a crowd. If the gun is a toy, an innocent teenager may be killed - and others, too.

It takes a lot of imagination to be for gun control. No matter what the gun folks do, you have to come up with an outrageous reason why it should be illegal. Apparently the MSM hasn't noticed that out of dozens of predictions over the last two decades, the hoplophobes are still batting zero.

Isn't there already a law to solve this problem? It mandates an orange muzzle for any toy gun.

I'm in favor of any law that prevents deadly tragedies from occurring. I'm told this one does, and that's enough for me.

Please cite one such "deadly tragedy" involving one of these firearms.

"Imagine an officer who comes upon a teenager pointing a pink gun into a crowd."

Does that happen a lot in New York?

It used to. Well, not the "pointing into a crowd" part. But when I was in high school teenagers in NYC would carry their rifles on the subway going back and forth to school, where they participated in high school shooting programs. Of course, that was before gun-free zones made everything safer.

Making real guns look like fake ones…

Like they made real (black) phones look like fake ones? Once colors become available they'll become common, and then will no longer "look fake."

I don't have the link handy, but I came across a website awhile back that (amoung other things) featured a couple of 10 year old girls posing with their pink AR-15s. Fairly surreal.

About halfway down.

If colored guns are more likely to get you killed, people will quit buying them, and manufacturers will quit making them.

Most of these guns will show up on shooting ranges. There pretty much isn't anyplace you're less likely to get shot.

jtuf|3.24.08 @ 9:59AM|#

If I vandalized a subway with paint from these kits, would the Brooklyn Museum of Art still condone it as outsider art?

tommyboy|3.27.08 @ 12:50PM|#

ALL ANTI GUN PEOPLE (I USE THAT TERM VERY LOOSLEY) SHOULD LIST TO LARRY THE CABLE GUY. GUNS DONT KILL PEOPLE, HUSBANDS THAT COME HOME EARLY DO. WHY DO LIBERALS FIND IT SO OFFENSIVE WHEN A MAN FINDS A LEGAL WAY TO MAKE A LIVING. MAYBE WE SHOULD LOOK AT BANNING THE MANUFACTURING OF THE BAD PEOPLE WHO MAKE TOY GUNS INSTEAD. THIS WOULD MAKE SENSE TO ME, AS I DO NOT LET MY KIDS PLAY WITH GUNS (THEY SHOOT THEM) . I REFUSE TO LET THEM RUN OVER PEOPLE WITH THEIR TONKA TRUCKS TOO. MAYBE WE SHOULD BAN TONKA TRUCKS TOO.