Alpharetta, GA - limits on air gun use

[Steven Mace]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 2.4.2002

Alpharetta puts limits on air gun use

By MICHAEL PEARSON
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

The Alpharetta City Council voted 4-3 Monday night to approve limits on the use and possession of air guns by minors.

The proposal had sparked a debate over how much control city officials should try to exert over parental rights.

"It's all about control," said parent Rich Whalen, who gave his 13-year-old son a BB gun for Christmas. "They should be dealing with the people who are causing the problem, but they don't want to do that."

The law makes it illegal for anyone under 18 to use an airgun without adult supervision.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/0202/0204airguns.html

Steve Mace

[Steven Mace]

Air gun limits trigger brouhaha

Thu Feb 7, 6:14 AM ET

Larry Copeland USA TODAY

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- This Atlanta suburb exploded over the past decade from a sleepy, two-stoplight town into a bustling national model of high technology. Now, it's dealing with one of its growing pains: What to do about minors armed with BB guns and paintball guns.

The City Council voted 4-3 this week to ban the use of BB guns or paintball guns by minors without parental supervision. The vote reflects a change that communities across the USA have made as they have grown. At least nine states limit use of such guns by minors, as do scores of localities.

The Alpharetta ordinance sparked opposition by some gun rights proponents, who see it as eroding Second Amendment rights or as governmental meddling into parental matters.

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said he did not know whether the group would mount a legal challenge.

Neal Boortz, a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host who is based in Atlanta, called Alpharetta ''Nanny City.'' The city recently passed another ordinance requiring everyone -- even senior citizens -- to show identification when ordering alcoholic beverages in restaurants.

The ban on BB guns is playing out in a city that transformed itself over the past decade from a rural bedroom community into one of the nation's high-tech powerhouses. It has attracted such ''new economy'' companies as Nortel Networks, E-Trade and Radiant Systems. At the same time, it nearly tripled in population to 34,854 in 2000, according to the U.S. Census. Today, the mayor estimates the population at 37,000 to 40,000.

''We have 80,000 people who come here to work every day,'' he said. ''Our tax base grew from $300 million in 1993 to over $2 billion now.''

With that kind of growth, it seems only natural that the values of Alpharetta's rural past would brush up against those of its suburban present.

''It's important that people don't think we have banned them altogether,'' Martin said about the BB guns. ''They can still enjoy them without hurting or infringing on others. That's what you do when you live close together these days.''

Indeed, the days of unaccompanied youths plinking BBs at cans and birds is a thing of the past in many places. In fact, Alpharetta's neighbor to the south, Roswell, population 80,000, bans the firing of BB and air guns without a permit from the police chief, city spokeswoman Kelly Tate said. Some local laws go further, banning even slingshots.

The Alpharetta ordinance makes it a misdemeanor, with fines up to $1,000, for unsupervised minors to use a BB gun, air gun or paintball gun in the city. There is an exception for youths at shooting ranges that provide adult supervision.

BB guns and air guns, which fire BBs or pellets, can be powered by compressed air, carbon dioxide gas or a spring. Paintball guns are usually powered by compressed air or carbon dioxide gas.

''I don't think (the ordinance) is right,'' said Judy Jacques, 58, owner of the Picket Fences antique store. ''I think it's the parent's responsibility to control what their children are doing, not the government's.''

But City Councilman Jim Matoney, who sponsored the measure, said it will curtail a problem without trampling on anyone's rights.

''My people were calling me about the fact that children or young people were engaged in paintball gun fights or pellet gun fights around their property,'' he said. ''They weren't hitting their property in some cases, but terrorizing the neighbors so that the neighbors didn't feel safe in their own yards.''

Mayor Chuck Martin, who voted for the ordinance, said only two residents against the ordinance had approached him, and one withdrew her objection when she learned the ordinance was not a total ban.

U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., said: ''I am deeply saddened that a community in Georgia, a state which historically has shown greater respect for individual rights and freedom, is now moving in the direction of irresponsibly and needlessly limiting personal freedom.''

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020207/ts_usatoday/3835527

Steve Mace

[Steven Mace]

from the February 22, 2002 edition

Town's curb on BB guns becomes a clash of values

By Patrik Jonsson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

ALPHARETTA, GA. - Once an icon of Rockwellian America, the lone boy toting a Daisy BB gun as he wanders the woods has a new reputation - that of an outlaw.

In the boldest of a growing ledger of laws across the country aimed at gradeschool "gunslingers," a new ordinance here makes it a crime to let children under 16 use a BB gun - or its modern cousin, the paintball gun - without parental supervision.

To many, it's common-sense legislation catering to suburbs under attack by roving gangs of "terrorist teens" who lob paintball grenades and frighten neighbors.

But here, in a state where rifles are as popular as bagels in New York, critics see a clash of a self-reliant gun culture with the more genteel behavior of wealthy modern suburbs. The issue is raising questions about how far a city can go in criminalizing what some consider a "rite of childhood." More broadly, it is spurring a debate over whether the town is acting too much as a "nanny," making decisions about a children's activity that should be left up to parents.

"This law puts everybody in an awkward position," says Rick Whalen Sr., a local parent who just bought his son a Daisy BB rifle. "In one sweep, the city council has deemed that my judgement as a parent is irrelevant, and that's distressing."

Alpharetta sits right on the faultline between the creep of gun-wary Atlantans and the kind of red-dirt hollows that Bo and Luke from "The Dukes of Hazard" could call home.

In just over a decade, this city has gone from a sleepy burg of cotton fields to a high-tech 'burb that's home to Nortel and E-Trade. Bond traders doing sushi lunches have largely replaced drawling farmers leaning on their John Deeres.

"You can't find a better example of a space station full of Northerners landing in the middle of the country and changing everything around them," says Walter Olson of the New York-based Manhattan Institute, who wrote about the issue on the website overlawyered.com.

"What you have, on one hand, are vegetarian parents who'd never let their child touch a BB gun. On the other hand are parents who say, 'One day, he'll have perfect aim,' " he says.

The law is part of a growing trend from New Jersey to California, where suburban "edge cities" seem ready to put certain controls on guns - even some that people consider to be toys rather than weapons - in the interest of safety. With 3.1 million BB guns in circulation, 14 states and scores of communities now have some type of restrictions on them, ranging from outright bans to mandatory gun-safety courses.

The BB guns can do serious damage. Alig Jahay's suburban cat is one victim of careless target practice. Last year, Mr. Jahay's pet came limping home with a BB gun wound that cost him $1,000 in vet's bills. Another suburban woman's cat was recently found shot dead by a BB, and a third person had $500 worth of damage done to her car.

Adding to the debate is the emergence of the paintball gun. Not only are the guns, which shoot pellets of paint, being used by teens to conduct mock warfare, but they are also becoming a weapon of choice for carrying out adolescent shenanigans.

A jogger here has been ambushed by paintball gun-wielding teens. In January, residents around Lake Windward complained when youths commandeered a pontoon boat and peppered lakeshore homes with paintballs.

The issue finally came to a head last year when 16 boys bore their paintball guns into suburban woods here. Some residents said they were terrorized by the racket, and wouldn't let their children wander outside. Complaints led City councillor Jim Matoney to propose the ordinance.

"Today, people are afraid to go out in their backyards and enjoy the quiet peaceful enjoyment of their own property because someone is shooting paintballs nearby," says Mr. Matoney. "Terrorism of this type has simply not been covered by many of our existing laws."

The difficulty in these cases has often been identifying the kids who are doing the destructive acts. Consequently the city council voted 4-3 to pass the law with a fine up to $1,000 for kids caught using the guns outside of the presence of adults.

But opponents say that the ordinance unnecessarily clamps down on a playful act of youth. For 14-year-old Rick Whalen, Jr., getting a Daisy Model 840 "Grizzly" BB rifle for Christmas was as exciting as a skateboard. Working his lips over his braces, the teen says he doesn't understand a law that equates cruel misbehavior to his innocent expeditions of plinking ginger-ale bottles.

Similarly, Doug Melton, one of the observers of the controversial incident that brought about the city-council decision, says he feels bemused by the measure. Mr. Melton says he didn't share his neighbor's fear during the fracas. Instead, it reminded him of his own raucous childhood growing up in rural West Virginia. The fact that his brother once shot him with a BB hasn't deterred him from valuing the accident-prone lessons of youth.

"If we're going to have the Second Amendment, then we've got to let children learn about safety, respect, and responsibility, even when they're away from their parents," says Mr. Melton.

By contrast, Councilman Douglas DeRito says he's loathe to let any of his three kids ever get close to a gun. But he says the new ordinance will put to the test his oath to uphold not just local laws but the US constitution. "By trying to legislate every parental right in this city, we are venturing down a very dangerous path," he says.

Still, even some gun-rights advocates say BB guns and paintball guns fall into a category of their own, a nebulous netherworld between toy and firearm.

"Frankly, I don't have a problem with" restricting BB guns, says James Moses, the president of the Alabama State Rifle and Pistol Association in Huntsville. "It's part of the expansion of suburban values as opposed to rural values, and that's an issue that we're going to contend with for the rest of our lives."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0222/p01s01-ussc.html

Steve Mace

[Steven Mace]

BB Guns Targeted by Anti-Gun Forces

Sunday, March 3, 2002

WASHINGTON — Urban legend has turned to reality in a suburban Georgia community where fun and games that led one child to lose an eye has forced local lawmakers to curb horseplay with BB guns.

A recent ordinance passed in Alpharetta, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, has outlawed the use of BB guns, pellet guns and paint guns for children under the age of 16 unless under adult supervision.

Supporters say kids have been roaming the neighborhoods, killing cats and maiming each other with the so-called toys. Detractors complain that this is just another step closer to a total "nanny state," where the government tells its citizens how best to run their lives.

Jim Matoney, an Alpharetta City Councilman who introduced the ordinance, said he has no problem with parents allowing children to play with BB guns in their own backyards or at licensed facilities. But outside that scope, in a community that has grown substantially in the last decade due to the influx of high-tech companies, the council is compelled to intervene.

"If the damage is only being done within their own household, that’s one thing. It’s another thing for parents to let their kids go out of the yard and shoot the guns in the neighborhood," he said. "We had one child who lost an eye in this neighborhood. That’s not something that can be compensated with money."

Opponents to such laws say the Alpharetta council has stepped beyond its purview in trying to legislate good parenting.

"It’s about the legislators insisting that they know how to be better parents than parents are," said Dave Kopel, a research director for the Independence Institute in Colorado.

"My response is, a BB gun is to a real firearm as a pencil is to a knife," said Colorado State Rep. Mark Hillman, who recently failed to get a bill passed easing the designation of BB guns as a "deadly weapon" after a boy caught with one had to serve several days in jail before pleading to a lesser charge.

In most states, BB guns, pellet guns and paint ball guns are not considered firearms because they employ CO2 cartridges, springs or pump action to shoot projectiles through compressed air, rather than explosives.

But regardless of their labeling as "toys", twelve states regulate their use in some way.

In October, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission filed a suit against the Daisy Manufacturing Co., which has produced the Model 856 and Model 880 BB guns since 1972. The agency says both models are defective and are responsible for at least 151 serious injuries and 15 deaths. The suit is still pending.

The commission also claimed that in 2000, 17,896 injuries related to the use of gas, air or spring-operated guns were reported.

Matoney said his ordinance has received national attention, but had barely been debated on the local level. The council held five hearings, but no one showed up. At the meeting in which the new law was passed, three residents spoke in favor of it, three against. Currently, 30,000 people live in the town, according to the latest census.

"A lot of people are saying they’re afraid to use their own property because these kids were shooting their guns," he said. "I went into the store myself and found that the packages on these guns (paint ball, pellet) said they are harmful, cause injury and should be used only with adult supervision."

Pat Bratton, a member of the Single Action Shooters Society and Libertarian Party of Georgia, agrees that these types of guns aren't taken seriously enough, and convey the message that "pointing weapons at each other is a game."

But he doesn't think more laws are the answer.

"I certainly don't think that either paint ball or BB guns should be an object of legislation, but a public awareness of proper safety when using these devices is justified."

The National Rifle Association has refused to take a public position on the issue, but Hillman says the debate is more than just the role of government in restricting Second Amendment gun rights.

"I think it’s the paranoia of the nanny state liberals who are concerned that anything that could conceivably look like a gun is dangerous. It’s the mindset that the state has to protect everyone from themselves," he said.

http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,47016,00.html

Steve Mace