PCS Bail Bonds (www.PCSBailBonds.com), Fort Worth, Texas’ most trusted bail bond service, is weighing in on the Arlington Police Chief’s call for legislation on fake guns.
There has been a spike in crime involving fake guns and Lieutenant Christopher Cook of the Arlington Police Department is calling for some kind of legislation. In his argument, he notes that the cost of not managing these weapons could be someone dying that doesn’t need to.
(Source: Owens, R., “Fake Guns? Real Crimes… New Worries In North Texas,” CBS DFW web site, April 28, 2016; http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/04/28/fake-guns-real-crimes-new-worries-in-north-texas.)
“It’s very difficult trying to distinguish a real gun from a fake one,” says Paul Schuder, owner of PCS Bail Bonds. “People across Arlington have been victims of crimes in which they have been threatened with a fake gun. But no one is going to risk their life, so they do what these criminals say.”
Two recent incidents in Arlington stand out. In one case, a man was carjacked with a fake gun pointed right at him. The suspect was later found and a search warrant determined the gun was not real. A second incident involved a police officer knocking a fake gun out of a teenager\’s hand. The officer did not know the weapon was fake, but was close enough to where he could disarm the suspect.
“Both of these incidences are just the tip of what’s been happening with these fake guns,” Schuder warns. “With the case of the teenager in particular, think of what could’ve happened if the officer drew his weapon believing his life was in danger. That\’s why there needs to be some serious thought put into whether or not fake guns have any place in this society.”
Anyone brandishing a fake gun should know that the legal repercussions are the same as if the gun was real. Texas law states that the victim only needs to believe that the gun is real; once that is determined, the same rules, charges, and sentencing applies.
“If someone thinks they’re going to get a lighter sentence because they used a fake gun in a crime, they’re absolutely wrong,” Schuder concludes. “The suspect in the carjacking is facing charges of aggravated robbery, which is a felony charge. That’s because he used what the victim thought was a real gun.”
PCS Bail Bonds has been a part of the Fort Worth Community for two decades and continues to serve the Fort Worth community by offering bail bond services to its residents.