"Toy Gun Robber" Topic

Someone has sent me a link to a news story about a robber:

link

I presume, sadly, that this involves a wargamer?

Not sure why you say it would involve a wargamer.

Unfortunately, many robberies have happened with toy guns. I've even known of one done by a guy with just his finger in his pocket. The salient point is that the victim believes it is – or even just might be – a real gun.

I think the saddest line in that whole report, and the comments beneath it, is: "The clerk put £8,800 into the bag, but was so terrified by the ordeal that she has no memory of it."

Like so many crimes, the victim's ordeal is minimised, and everything revolves round the 'poor hard-done-by' offender. The clerk's life could be changed by her terrifying ordeal … the fact that it was in the end just a toy gun will not necessarily negate the effects of that terror.

Old news.

TMP link

He is the bloke who made the 'Last Valley' terrain, he took a lot of money from people who never received their terrain.
As for the toy gun, my CO19 colleagues have shot people dead for pointing toy guns at them, English law states that if you put a banana in a bag, point it at a cashier and say 'This is a gun, give me the cash', you get treated exactly the same as if you waved a Uzi in their face.
I will keep my sympathy for the cashier, especially as I am married to one!

Came across this news item earlier in the year on other forums. I believe the arts and crafts the offender sells is wargaming terrain. For the life of me I can't remember which company it was though now.

Edit: Too slow :)

Perhaps he should have been shot dead then – robbing someone because you are desperate to make ends meet instead of dealing with the problem in a constructive way is tramatizing for the victims – including this idiot's children!

Thanks for clarifying that, LondonCopper … I thought it was a reference to the fact that because it was a 'toy' gun, it must've been a wargamer.

Same law applies here in New Zealand, and I suspect in most other places: it is all about what the person who is being threatened thinks it is.

We had a case here in NZ several years ago where a guy was shot dead by the Armed Offenders Squad for brandishing an iron bar like a rifle. The officer who shot him believed that he himself was going to be shot.

Most Criminal law statutes of the Western world read "Is armed or pretends to be armed"

He is the bloke who made the 'Last Valley' terrain…

I remember now. Thanks.

Yes very desperate to make ends meet, that's why he used some of the money to buy an Ipod and laminate flooring.

Is it me, or did every one of the people who wrote comments walk out of 4th grade when they were 16 and learn to type with their thumbs only?

The comments were badly spelled and barely articulate, yes. At least, as far as I could bear to go. They might have improved some.

Ahhh… another senseless crime that could have been stopped by some sensible toy gun control. Perhaps if we just register toy guns, issue toy gun permits after background checks, and required 24 hour 'cooling off periods' after the purchase of a toy gun, this whole tragic chain of events could have been avoided. I also think that it would benefit public safety to limit the toy guns in civilian hands to AA batteries or smaller. No one but police or the military need a toy gun using D cell batteries.

On a more serious note, one of the last comments on the article was apparently made by the guy's daughter. He ought to do hard time just for putting his family through the whole affair. But of course, the article outlines his laundry list of excuses as to why it wasn't really his fault.

SOmeone tried to rob me with a toy gun once. Two unfortunate things happened.

1- I saw the interior plastic end cap.

2- I have a concealed weapons permit and pulled my very real HK USPc in 45 ACP.

Held him for the cops. He received 8-10 for armed robbery. Hs lawyer tried to argue since I knew the gun was fake then the prosecution could not claim that I was scared. The defense instead tried to spin it around that *I* scared the criminal by pulling a real gun.

Jury didnt buy it and convicted him.

But yes- here in the states, all of the states have the same law. A finger in a pocket is armed robbery if the victim or witnesses believe there is a weapon involved.

Is it ever a criminal's fault? Seriously, this attitude is infectious and detrimental to the welfare of society. Can someone answer the question as to when personal responsibility became as antiquated an idea as making your own sausage, ordering coffee using only no more than 3 words or actually talking to someone instead of insulating yourself in your own dream world with an ipod?