[FrankNakata]

Alrite heres wut happened!
Me an my friend went to Wizard World. We wanted to check it out plus we saw alot of u luvable Acen con-goers there!We glomped a Rukia!!XD
It was a good weekend until i was comin on my way back home from downtown.(i needed to get on the south shore train) I dressed up as a swat squad wit the vest an had two bbguns i bought at the con! Fyi they had the orange tip so they were legal! I put the guns in my back pack for safekeeping an no confusion with the authorities!
On my way back i got stopped by a cop an he told me to put my hands on the wall, said i looked suspicious. He dumped by backpack on the sidewalk an confiscated the bb guns from me! I even told him i was comin bak from a convention but he was an butt!

For those of you goin to soycon i would lay off the bamboo swords, bokens, wooden weapons, bb guns an swat vests!
The cops are really bein dicks downtown an the last thing Soycon needs is a few felonies!

[this_chick25]

It was kind of silly for you to go out in the streets (outside of a con) dressed as any kind of an officer.

Although you probably weren't actively impersonating an officer, impersonating an officer is indeed a crime, and it would not be a far stretch for a cop to make that assumption--especially if you were alone at the time (I'm pretty sure if you were in a group of costumed people you would have gotten little more that a funny look or a few questions).

If you carried a backpack and knew you going to be alone, you should have had at least a shirt to change into before you left to allay any such suspicions.

Soy has already made rules pertaining to weapons that obviously look real or are real, and expects people to adhere to them.

There are people coming who are going to be carrying giant prop swords and guns (just like last year at the ACen Aftermath Photoshoot), and as long as you exercise good sense and stay with the group, there shouldn't be any problems like the ones you experienced.

This post has been edited by this_chick25: 03 July 2008 - 06:34 AM

[opimus.rm]

BB and airsoft guns are ILLEGAL to carry and own in Chicago. You were lucky that you were not arrested.

[Jam-Kiske]

Hmm... I guess there's a special law about guns that I don't know about.
Though in the past my brother has ridden the train decked out with full wooden swords and staffs...

[simonsaz3]

But what about the orange tips...?
=?

[this_chick25]

I think that's for gun replicas (like those "rat-a-tat" AK47 toys that make noise but don't shoot, and water pistols that look real).

I don't know about gun laws, but I'm sure it doesn't help that a teenager walking around dressed like a SWAT team member has any type of faux firearms in his backpack.

[simonsaz3]

this_chick25, on Jul 3 2008, 11:33 AM, said:

I think that's for gun replicas (like those "rat-a-tat" AK47 toys that make noise but don't shoot, and water pistols that look real).

I don't know about gun laws, but I'm sure it doesn't help that a teenager walking around dressed like a SWAT team member has any type of faux firearms in his backpack.

Hmm, makes sense...
=)

[Jam-Kiske]

simonsaz3, on Jul 3 2008, 11:26 AM, said:

But what about the orange tips...?
=?

The point is to make a fake gun distinguishable from a real one, particularily if the fake is somewhat realistic.

My silvery plastic gun [it shoots caps] has one... they're kind of obnoxious but their purpose is understandable.

[simonsaz3]

Jam-Kiske, on Jul 3 2008, 12:36 PM, said:

The point is to make a fake gun distinguishable from a real one, particularily if the fake is somewhat realistic.

My silvery plastic gun [it shoots caps] has one... they're kind of obnoxious but their purpose is understandable.

Hmm... yeah, I can see why.
=P