Precision Syndicate, a custom gun manufacturer, has posted a picture on its official Facebook page of a Glock handgun modded to look like the classic NES Zapper, the light gun peripheral popularized by Duck Hunt. The custom model is more compact than the Zapper, given that it is still a Glock, but shares similar gray, white, and red coloring.
However, many people have voiced concerns over the fact that children could confuse this modded Glock as a toy. A commenter named Brian Rainey admits that he "thinks this is cool," but then asked himself, "Do I want my son to think that gun is his toy?"
According to the Christian Science Monitor, "89 percent of unintentional shooting deaths of children are in the home and usually when children are playing with a loaded gun without their parents' consent."
Another commenter on the Facebook page, Matt Sechrest, counters by saying that the person who made this custom model "knows enough about guns to keep it in a safe place away from kids," emphasizing that this is not a production model.
A self-described gun owner and enthusiast in Arizona, Brandon Howard, also commented and believes that "weapons should look like weapons," adding the following in a separate post:
Air-soft guns also resemble real weapons, but they at least have red tips… If you remove the red tip those [Air-soft] guns look real and can be mistaken and have been mistaken for real firearms. This looks like a toy and can easily be mistaken for one.
As noticed by LiveOutdoors, Black Sheep Arms posted the above picture of a pistol that looks far more like the NES Zapper, which should be more of a concern than the one in question.
Precision Syndicate has responded to the criticism of the retro replica, releasing the following official statement:
In light of the 'Nintendo Glock' drama, we feel that the media and our fans need to know that this firearm will not be mass producced nor will it ever be. This is a one off custom build for a friend of ours. [Due] to the thousands of emails and messages we have received in the past 2 days we have been unable to contact everyone in a timely manner, please be patient we will get to you as soon as possible. Thank you for all your support! Oh, and please… keep your guns locked up and away from children, it's common sense.
