I can tell you from first hand experience - kids with real looking paint ball guns spells disater.... None of this was a problem many years ago but over the past 10 years or so, kids playing games with "look alike" guns place themselves in real danger.
I can't tell you how many police calls of a "man with a gun" we get because some teenagers are pointing toy (or paintball) guns out car windows or otherwise playing around in areas where seen by other citizens. I CAN, however, tell you that a "man with a gun" call is responded to aggressively and very, very seriously and nothing is assumed or taken for granted.
For some reason, while they are very obediant to rules of the game at paitball facilities, these kids just have to have their guns in the passenger compartment of their cars where they are seen by bystanders (or worse yet, when they point them out the window at people, etc.)
Not saying that they should be able to have them and use them for their intended purpose and fun - just warning parents of the dangers of "kids being kids" when it comes to goofing off in a fun way with a look alike gun.
Sadly, after stopping innocent teenagers at gunpoint, getting them out and putting them down on the ground, with any wrong move on their part courting disaster, because they were seen pointing a gun from within the car - ultimately results in irate parents who come down on the police.
I'm going to stop now and not get into any further philisophical discussion on police tactics - I simply would like to make the point that the parents need to maintain some common sense when it comes to monitoring the carrying/use of look alike weapons by their kids...
enough (maybe too much) said.........