Airsoft guns are interesting in a lot of ways. While I have no real interest in taking part in them, airsoft games have a certain degree of popularity with a wide segment of participants. They’ll do everything from military simulations to apparently SWAT raids.

And it’s good, harmless fun.

But things get dicier when kids take those guns to school.

Police are reminding parents to discourage their kids from bringing airsoft weapons to school.

On Wednesday, a student in Lafayette was taken into custody after allegedly bringing an airsoft weapon onto the campus of Centaurus High School.

Airsoft guns are considered replica toy guns. Police have released a photo of the alleged airsoft weapon, allegedly found in the waistband of the student.

The police chief says these kids are mimicking what they see others do, but I don’t know that it’s an accurate representation of what’s happening.

My guess is that many of these kids are trying to appear tough for whatever reason and since airsoft guns look pretty realistic but are easy enough for a teenager to get, he went with that.

Yet what many of these kids don’t realize is that because an airsoft gun looks realistic, people will treat it as if it’s a real gun.

The gangbanger you’re hoping to intimidate? He may have a real one, and instead of just fighting you, he decides to play it safe and shoot you.

That guy on the street you decide you want to intimidate? He’s a concealed carry permit holder and he’s not going to take the time to measure your bore diameter to see if you’re carrying a real gun or not. He’s going to light your butt up.

While law enforcement here is warning parents about kids bringing airsoft guns to school, kids need to recognize that airsoft guns being carried anywhere out of context of where they’re supposed to be carried–ie, during airsoft games in locations meant for such things–is a recipe for disaster.

I don’t want to see these guns restricted. I don’t want to see a plethora of new laws enacted designed to prevent just this from taking place.

What I want to see are kids learning about the potential pitfalls and how it doesn’t take a high probability of it happening for it to become an issue. Be smart and leave that kind of thing at home.

Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re seeing from the world around us these days. What we’re seeing are kids being all but encouraged to be idiots because the adults around them will coddle them despite their mistakes. Then they’ll blame anyone and everyone else when they do something stupid like pointing an airsoft gun at someone who doesn’t assume it’s a toy.

No, none of that happened in this case. Thankfully.

Yet the next case may not have so happy an ending for everyone involved. Instead, it will have tears, sadness, and recrimination against people who did nothing wrong.

Do yourself a favor. Make sure your kid doesn’t do something like this instead.