Boy in the Crowd

[seamus finn]

At a run for the local Hospice:

 

[RSL]

Scary stuff, Seamus. That pistol is realistic enough that some cop might pop the kid, thinking he's serious.

[armand]

Scary stuff, Seamus. That pistol is realistic enough that some copy might pop the kid, thinking he's serious.

It happened in my area few weeks ago, stupid kid waving toy replica gun got shot by the police. Lived after being in the ICU intubated and all.

[Rob C]

It's incredible, especially in a land that's already has too much gun experience. If this is Ireland and not Australia.

And it isn't really surprising kids get shot; turns out that kids are being used to import pyrotechnical flares into football matches (illegal) in the U.K. in the same way that women have been known to carry knives and guns for their 'men'. Why not guns and kids? Kids would find that exciting and 'empowering' in modern parlance. Well, they don't call them equalizers for nothing.

Anyway, I understood that back in the 70s it was made illegal for replica guns to be imported into the country; I remember this because I did a male fashion ad for a House of Fraser store, where we had a couple of guys dressed up in pinstripe boutique clothes in a Glasgow alley near Clyde Street, posing with replica sub-machine guns. And I think fake moustaches, too.

Them wus the days, them wus. ;-) - couldn't resist!

Rob C

[seamus finn]

Yes, it's Ireland - a few miles from where I live in Sligo and not that far from the Border. However, despite the history of violence in the North, it's unlikely that a kid like this would be shot by the police in the Republic. For a start, ordinary cops on the beat are unarmed. Shootings by armed detectives are rare and are usually part of a larger operation against organised criminals. I can't remember any case where a boy waving a toy gun was shot by the Irish police.

[Todd Suttles]

Great shot! Fast on the feet you were