Iowa police seeing more calls about toy gel guns

Police in Eastern Iowa are seeing an increase this year in calls for service related to toy guns, especially gel blasters — fake guns that shoot small gel balls, sold under names like Orbeez and SplatRBall.

The gel guns have been growing in popularity for a few years, but online trends have increased their use in public, with young people recording themselves shooting on the street or from moving cars.

In a June 26 Facebook post, the Cedar Rapids Police Department said it took between 80 and 100 calls about toy guns within 90 days.

“We’ve had people call in saying that they’re being shot at, and our dispatchers are relaying that information to officers. … We have to assume that they’re being shot at by a real gun because that’s what they’re saying, so that can generate a large police response,” said Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Bryson Garringer.

“As police officers, we're always want to be cautious, and we don't want to assume that a gun is real or fake when we don't have all the information, so we want to be cautious.”

In Cedar Rapids, it is illegal to discharge any air operated pellet gun, including gel guns, in a public space. It also is illegal for anyone under 18 to carry a gel gun or other air operated gun unless supervised by an adult.

But the law can be difficult to enforce. People causing disturbances with the guns are usually gone from the scene by the time police officers arrive, Garringer said.

“I think a lot of it would start at the home with parents being mindful of their children, if they have these types of weapons that they're using. If these are things that have been purchased by the parent, I would ask them just to be cognizant of what their kids are doing,” Garringer said.

  Buy Photo

Police in Iowa City also have had a difficult time reducing the usage of the toy guns, which are not currently illegal under the city’s code.

It is illegal in Iowa City to carry or discharge any toy gun “out of or by which any leaden or other dangerous missiles may be discharged,” the municipal code states.

City Attorney Eric Goers said at a City Council meeting in June that gel pellets would not be considered a dangerous missile in court, meaning the current city code does not cover gel blasters.

The topic was brought to the council by Iowa City Police Chief Dustin Liston, who proposed amending the code to prohibit throwing or shooting any projectiles in public spaces. The punishment for breaking the proposed measure would be a citation and a $50 fine.

“I would hate to see tragedy happen when somebody mistakes one of these guns for a real gun. That’s the thing I’m worried about. Without this ordinance change, we don’t really have anything to do, any enforcement or action we can take, unless they commit other crimes,” Liston told the council in the June 4 meeting.

Liston said that while the ordinance would allow officers to write citations for use of the toy guns, they’d focus on providing education and giving warnings.

“If it’s a group of kids in a park that are playing with one another, that’s a perfect opportunity for education. That’s where we’d talk to them, let them know — if the ordinance changed — that we can’t do that in public places,” he said in the meeting. “If that doesn’t work, then we would have the option to seize the guns, and we could have the option of writing the citation. But as you know we always lead with education first.”

The proposed ordinance was rejected after council members expressed concerns with the broad language and the possibility of giving kids criminal charges for a minor offense.

“This would criminalize literally skipping stones at Terry Trueblood. This would criminalize throwing a rock onto a sidewalk, as it’s written. I think if we’re going to criminalize acts in our community, it needs to be very narrowly tailored to address specific behavior,” council member Laura Bergus said at the meeting.

Iowa City faced some issues in 2023 with a group of young people attacking others with the gel guns, but it mostly was resolved through a group violence intervention initiative in which officers and community members met with youths involved in the incidents.

This year, however, the use of the guns has increased, and incidents are no longer reserved to a small group. There also have been instances of people freezing the gel pellets before putting them in the guns in order to cause more damage, according to Liston.

As of the June 4 council meeting, Iowa City had 60 calls related to gel pellet guns, 30 of which happened in the previous two months.

Liston said the proposed ordinance was modeled after similar ordinances in other Johnson County cities including North Liberty and Coralville, where the toy guns already are illegal.

“Across the county we are seeing a rise in the use of these Airsoft and Orbeez guns. Occasionally individuals are ‘responsible’ users, however the majority of our interactions are folks using these with the intent to harm one another,” said Kyle Nicholson, the community relations officer for the Coralville Police Department.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com