SAN ANTONIO – Across the U.S., police are seeing an increase in criminals using fake guns to commit real crimes.
"There should be common sense gun laws in this country where all toy guns are made in primary colors, for instance, and all real guns are regulated," said John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence.
In 2012, a middle school student in Brownsville, Texas, was killed by police when officers believed his BB gun was a high-powered firearm.
Similar incidents have happened across the country.
Reports of deaths and injuries with fake firearms highlight a long history of foiled legislative attempts to require markings which would distinguish fake guns from real guns.
The Center for Public Integrity found that most proposals are met with strong opposition from gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association.
Since 1989, federal law has required that look-alike or imitation guns be made with a bright orange plug at the end of the barrel.
"Those markings can be removed with paint or any other type of material to cover it up and they can also just be removed, period," said Officer Misty Floyd with the San Antonio Police Department.
BB and pellet guns with a muzzle velocity too high for them to be considered toys are exempt from any markings.
"Officers are trained to treat all weapons as if they're loaded and any weapon is a threat," Floyd said. "Whether that's a fake gun on the other end, it's treated as if it's real."
"We are putting police in a very dangerous position allowing the gun industry to sell toy guns that look real and real guns that look like toys," Rosenthal said. "How will they ever know the difference until someone is dead?"
Floyd advises parents whose children have fake guns to educate them to treat the imitation weapons as if they were real and never point it at someone's face.