Police: Play With Airsoft Guns Was Too Realistic

Airsoft guns look like real guns and that’s how six teens got in trouble with the law on Friday when a passerby called 9-1-1 after seeing the boys playing with the realistic-looking toy guns in Livingston.

The boys, ages 13-16, were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and causing a public alarm when they were found playing with five assault-type rifles, a shotgun, and five handguns in the woods behind Horizon School on Old Road, according to Det. Sgt. Anthony Dippold.

Airsoft guns fire small plastic bullets and are designed for games like paintball, target practice or simulated combat. The guns the Livingston teens were playing with “all looked realistic other than the orange tip at the muzzle,” Dippold said.

The teens were released to the custody of their parents pending further conference with the Livingston juvenile division, Dippold said.