Policy

Upstate New York Teen Facing Weapons Charge Over Airsoft Gun

One more for a trend?

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Reason

Another teenager with an airsoft gun treated like a teenager with a weapon after someone calls the police.

From WKTV:

A Rome mother feels the pain of the Virginia mom whose son was suspended from school for a year for firing an airsoft gun on their own property. In the case of the Rome mother, though, the teenage son is facing criminal charges. 

Naomi Oshel says her then 15-year-old son, Austin Perks, was playing with an airsoft gun in the courtyard of his friend's Rome apartment complex June 1st when police responded after someone reported possible guns in the area. She thought the entire incident ended that night, after she says officers examined the gun and handed the toy back to her son. 

Three weeks later, a Rome Police Officer showed up at her door. 

The mother says the officer who returned told her he wasn't sure why he was there but that there was pressure to charge the teen. She says he was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and that they had an appearance scheduled in family court today.

More on the Virginia case WKTV referred to here and here.

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