CARSON, CA -- A student who threatened another student with an air gun tucked into his waistband was taken into custody Friday at Carnegie Middle School.

The incident occurred following an earlier dispute over Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards, said P.J. Webb, a Los Angeles Unified School District police spokesman.

One boy believed another stole some of his cards and confronted him. That boy then pulled up his shirt and revealed the air gun.

The other boy, fearing that it was a real gun and he might be shot, punched him in the nose.

School authorities interceded and the student with the weapon was taken to the health office. His nose was bloodied but not broken, Webb said.

He was then arrested for being in possession of a replica gun on campus, a possible felony. The student will face expulsion. (May 3, 2003)

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND -- A bored hotel chef and his teenage friend have been fined for firing an air pistol at a block of flats for more than two hours.

Frightened neighbours telephoned the police when the men fired from a seventh-floor balcony into the residential court.

One pellet hit a wall next to where builders were working.

Hotel chef Campbell Lambert, 35, and Liam MacDonald, 19, were yesterday fined a total of £1250 ($2006.14 -- ed.) for firing the gun and endangering neighbours.

The council workmen, who were installing windows and doors, fled for safety after hearing the gunfire.

Ten officers, including firearm specialists, arrived at the scene in the Muirhouse area of the city and spotted Lambert and MacDonald, who suffers from epilepsy, on Lamberts seventh-floor balcony firing the weapon at a residential block opposite.

When they were arrested, after more than two hours of gunfire, the men claimed to be shooting at pigeons.

Today, Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, Tom Wood, welcomed the sentence and said it indicated how seriously such incidents are viewed.

Defence agent David Nicolson told Sheriff Charles Stoddart that Lambert had purchased the £80 gun at a Leith shop because he was bored. He had set up a paper target on his balcony which he was shooting at from his living room. He then decided to shoot birds, the lawyer said.

"If there was a conviction for crass stupidity he would be convicted of that offence. Initially, Lambert was at a loss to understand why he was in custody. He bought the gun to give him something to do," said Mr Nicolson.

Defending MacDonald, Mark Hutchison described the teenager as being "not bad, but stupid".

MacDonald, of Ferry Road, and Lambert, of Inchmickery Court, both Edinburgh, each pled guilty to recklessly firing the air pistol on July 30 last year from Lamberts flat and endangering neighbours.

Sheriff Stoddart fined Lambert, who has previous convictions for breach of the peace, £750, and MacDonald £500. "I am prepared to accept this was an offence of gross stupidity," he said.

Mr Wood said today: "I hope this substantial fine will teach these men a lesson and discourage others from acts that are not only stupid but hugely dangerous to themselves and others."

The police chief has repeatedly warned that someone pointing replica or air guns at a member of the public or a police officer could be shot by armed response teams.

In January this year, it was revealed that firearms officers in Lothian and Borders Police were being cleared to draw their weapons at least twice a week in Edinburgh after a dramatic rise in the number of gun scares on the city streets. (Jane Hamilton/May 2, 2003)

DULUTH, MN --No charges will be filed against police officers who shot and wounded a man pointing a replica of a pistol at them.

Preston Lee Freeman, 18, was hit four times as four officers fired about 20 shots at him during a March 22 confrontation.

As a result of an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the St. Louis County Attorneys Office concluded that the use of force was justified.

The officers had a factual basis to believe that deadly force was necessary to protect themselves from apparent death or great bodily harm, the attorneys office said, in a statement released Tuesday.

Police said a cab driver had picked Freeman up a London Road motel. The driver reported that Freeman took out a silver plated handgun and refused his request to put it away. He left the cab and was walking toward London Road on 17th Avenue East.

The report indicated the passenger was intoxicated and had done some damage to the interior of the cab. The driver called 911, and four Duluth police officers responded and encountered Freeman walking on the sidewalk.

Police Chief Roger Waller said Freeman was approaching the officers, who ordered him to put up his hands.

They ordered him to put his hands over his head several more times when the suspect pulled a handgun from his jacket and pointed it at the officers, Waller said. The officers immediately fired their weapons at him, striking him, and immediately started first aid on the suspect who was now lying on the sidewalk.

According to the attorneys office, the wounded Freeman dropped the gun which broke as it hit the ground. It was later determined the weapon was a BB gun.

Freeman admitted to investigators that he had the gun and was intoxicated during the early morning hours of March 22. He also told an investigator that the police had told him put the gun down or something several times. Freeman is currently recovering from his wounds. (Pat Faherty/May 2, 2003)

KANSAS CITY, MO -- Jackson County prosecutors charged a Lee's Summit man today with third-degree assault on a police officer, alleging he pointed a replica gun at an Independence officer.

Police said Justin McClain, 21, was fiddling with his replica gun in his car Tuesday in the parking lot of the Red Robin restaurant at U.S. 40 and Missouri 291.

When an officer saw the gun, he requested that McClain put it down, police said. McClain then allegedly pointed it at the officer before relinquishing it. Police said the gun resembles a Beretta 92F -- a gun the military uses and shoots hard plastic balls.

McClain's bond on the misdemeanor charge was set at $1,500. (Linda Man/April 30, 2003)

PLYMOUTH, UNITED KINGDOM --It is terrifying how easy is it to get your hands on an imitation firearm, writes Herald Crime Reporter Jayne Freer. Armed with a £5 note I headed into Plymouth to hunt out a supplier.

It wasn't long before I stumbled across a batch of realistic-looking BB guns stacked alongside a girl's hair braiding kit.

After handing over my cash with no questions asked, I was armed with what could have easily been misinterpreted as a real and lethal weapon.

All for the bargain price of £3.99. ($6.40 - not that you'd be able to find one for the that price in the States -- ed.)

It is almost identical to that brandished by Lee Whitting when he stormed into a Colebrook shop on March 14 and robbed the terrified assistant of £250 in cash. The 32-year-old shop worker is still haunted by Whitting's acts that evening.

Currently there is no law against people owning replica guns and, unlike firearms, there is no age limit for buying BB guns - although mine had a 'Not suitable for persons under 14' warning written on the box.

During my time as crime reporter on the Evening Herald, I have reported on countless incidents of young children, pensioners and animals being shot and injured with air gun pellets. And time and time again chief police officers have warned of the dangers of replica guns and constantly called for tougher legislation.

As the law stands people are free to walk into any airgun shop and buy a rifle for less than £100, without any kind of licence or supervision. However, the Government is making some move towards tightening up gun laws with the illegal possession of a firearm punishable by five years in jail. Penalties are also being increased for possession of imitation firearms or air weapons in public.

But Devon and Cornwall's Deputy Chief Constable Nigel Arnold has already warned this does not go far enough. He says it still fails to cover BB guns which continue to be the bane of a firearms officer's life.

Each and every week, armed police squads are called to gun-related incidents, many of which turn out to be children playing with BB guns. (Jayne Freer/April 28, 2003)

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND -- Armed police today swooped on two men in Princes Street Gardens after a prank with a toy machine gun went wrong. The men, aged 20 and 22, were forced to lie face down at gunpoint on the ground in St Cuthberts cemetery while they were searched by police.

The two men were first seen larking about in Castle Street with the toy gun - and worried members of the public called police. Several members of the public believed the weapon they were carrying was real.

The men were seen pointing and waving the gun around at passers-by as they made their way from Castle Street into the gardens. An eye-witness said it was obvious the men were "larking" about and pretending to shoot each other when police swooped.

Victor Zaccardelli, owner of the Piazza Cafe in the gardens, said he was walking through the gardens when one of the men brandished the gun at him and pulled the trigger.

Mr Zaccardelli said: "I could see right away that it wasnt real and when he pulled the trigger it made a noise, so I just continued on my way. I saw him point it at his friend who then fell down on the ground and pretended to die. It was quite clear they were only larking about.

"But then a young girl appeared and went into the cemetery at St Cuthberts and they went in after her. I followed to make sure they werent up to anything and just at that point two police officers came running in followed by a patrol car."

An armed response unit from the force also responded and the two men were searched and then detained by police.

Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood has warned that officers are frequently called to attend incidents in the Capital involving replicas or air weapons and raised his concerns that someone pointing one of those weapons at a member of the public or a police officer could be shot by armed response teams.

He said today: "Guns, both real and fake, are a menace on the streets of Edinburgh. More and more young people, who tend to be in their late teens or early 20s, are carrying guns because they think it is cool. They are becoming a very dangerous fashion accessory.

"The reality is that the replicas are indistinguishable from the real thing and soon, someone somewhere is going to be shot in possession of one of these weapons."

The incident comes during a month-long nationwide gun amnesty, prompted by an increase in the number of people carrying fake, replica or offensive weapons. The Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, said anyone handing in illegal guns would not be prosecuted under the Firearms Act 1968.

The last nationwide gun amnesty was held after the Dunblane massacre seven years ago. Earlier this month armed police swooped on an Edinburgh bus after three teenagers brandishing airguns were seen boarding it.

The Lothian bus was stopped on Comiston Road following a 999 call from a pedestrian in Morningside. Witnesses said at least four police cars surrounded the number 11 on the busy road opposite Riselaw Place in Comiston before swooping on the bus.

Minutes later armed police arrived at the scene as the male youths, two aged 15 and a 14-year-old, were being questioned by officers. The boys were later released without charge and warned in front of their parents. (Jane Hamilton/April 24, 2003)

LOS ANGELES, CA -- A British tourist described how over-zealous security staff at LAX confiscated the two-inch-long plastic rifle from a G.I. Joe toy soldier she was taking home as a gift for her grandson.

Judy Powell, 55, bought the doll in Las Vegas as a gift for George, seven, and packed it in her hand luggage. But when she passed the bag through an X-Ray machine at Los Angeles International Airport, security staff spotted the tiny replica Armalite rifle.

Powell, from Walton on the Hill, Surrey, in the United Kingdom, told reporters, "I was simply stunned when I realized they were serious."

Security "examined the toy as if it was going to shoot them and looked at the rifle", she said.

They then told her that if she wanted G.I. Joe to keep his rifle, she would have to check in again and put the toy in her suitcase so it could go in the aircraft's hold. Eventually, she agreed.

Powell added: "I was really angry to start with because of the absurdity of the situation. But then I saw the funny side of it and thought this was simple lunacy."

George was "really upset" his toy was incomplete, his mother Becky, also from Walton on the Hill, told reporters.

A spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said: "We have instructions to confiscate anything that looks like a weapon or a replica. If G.I. Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him."

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Friends of an actor shot by a policeman held a candlelight vigil late Monday outside the West Los Angeles police station, where the officer is assigned.

The officer who fired after Anthony Dwain Lee, 39, allegedly pointed a replica handgun at him during a Halloween party early Saturday morning had "little choice," said Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks.

  LAPD Officer Tarriel Hopper shot Lee when he pointed what appeared to be a gun at officers who had responded to a call about a loud party in a mansion in the hills surrounding the Los Angeles basin, police said.

Parks said on Monday that the officer, who fired nine shots at Lee through a glass door, had "no time" to determine whether the weapon was real or to shout a warning.

"The tragedy is we've lost a life because of someone having access to what appears to be a weapon and putting an officer in a situation almost instantaneously to make a decision that the officer believes that he was in danger and others were in danger so he had to take action," Chief Parks told reporters.

Parks showed reporters the replica semiautomatic pistol, which was made of gray rubber. The chief also dismissed suggestions that race played a role in the incident. Both Lee and the officer who shot him were black, Parks said, and things happened so quickly that the officer had no option but to fire.

LAPD Sgt. John Pasquariello said the two officers were called to the costume party about 1 a.m. (4 a.m. EDT) and directed toward the rear of the house to talk to the owner or person responsible for the party. When they were walking along an outside walkway to the back, Hopper, 27, saw three people inside a small room.

One of the men saw the officers and then "produced what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it directly at Officer Hopper," Pasquariello said.

Witnesses told reporters that Lee saw a light shining at him, apparently thought it was a joke, and joked back by pointing his fake gun at the light.

Hopper fired several rounds and hit Lee, who was pronounced dead at the scene. After the shooting, Hopper said, "Why did he have to pull out that gun?" according to witnesses.

Hopper is now on paid leave, which is standard procedure for officers involved in shootings. He has been on the force for three years. (CNN/October 31, 2000)