Saturday, July 21, 2007

When Marshmallows are Outlawed...

Hammacher has the ultimate Marshmallow Blaster gun capable of shooting marshmallows 50 feet wide. The pneumatic gun features easy-to-refill bolt action for fast nonstop shooting. The gun has a cool design with silver body and red and black finishing.
Thing is, it's illegal in California, and probably elsewhere. In order to be compliant with state law, "[t]he entire surface must be colored or transparent or translucent."

Per Section 12555.(a) of the Penal Code:

Any person who, for commercial purposes, purchases,sells, manufactures, ships, transports, distributes, or receives, by mail order or in any other manner, an imitation firearm except as authorized by this section shall be liable for a civil fine in an action brought by the city attorney or the district attorney of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation.


Hammacher might want to reconsider where they distribute their puff piece.

Besides, some panicky neighbor will probably call "The Only Ones," who won't be able to tell it's not a real gun. I guess the only upside would be, if they started a Waco-type fire in their dynamic response, there'd be plenty of marshmallows on hand.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Believe you me, the sooner I can be gone of this place, the happier I will be. The sheer amount of idiotic legislature this state alone has is ludicrous... And the only "gun" show within easy distance was nothing more than a gun accessory show... Leave it to Kalifornistan to illegalize something that shoots marshmallows.

David Codrea said...

Oh, you can shoot marshmallows--you just need to make sure the device meets state-approved marshmallow shooter color coordination edicts. But I would look for that loophole to be closed as soon as someone notices they left a door open--banning any sniper/terror marshmallow shooters of .50 caliber and above--and not to forget those easily conceable "junk" mini-marshmallows (derogatorily referred to as "Sta-Puft Specials") that have no legitimate snacking purpose.

me said...

David, are you sure it'd be OK even if it fell within the codified color coordination constraints?

This is merely a means of marketing junk food to children which is now been "voluntarily" done away with. When the first company makes a mistake the laws, already written no doubt, will be in effect within a week or two.