Dennis the Menace may want to stay out of South Portland.
If an ordinance change debated Monday night is ultimately approved by the South Portland City Council, the perpetually mischief-making comic character, usually depicted with a slingshot in his back pocket, could find himself running afoul of the law.
The council voted 6-1 Monday to approve an ordinance amendment prohibiting the use in public places of non-lethal weapons such as slingshots and BB and pellet guns. People who use such a weapon in, say, a public park or forest would be guilty of a civil offense and subject to a summons and a fine.
In doing so, the council chose the softer of two options. The alternative would have prohibited possession of the weapons anywhere in the city, even during transport, which would have bordered on unconstitutional and been thoroughly unenforceable in a city dotted with stores that sell these items.
The idea for the weapons ban came while the council was working on bringing the city’s ordinance in line with state regulations, something that required only minor housekeeping changes to the ordinance. Instead, it has become an example of a well-intentioned council making unnecessary laws seemingly counter to the public’s wishes.
Councilors in favor of the proposal said the approved change would make public places in densely populated South Portland safer, and could potentially prevent dangerous confrontations between police and people with toy guns that look much like the real thing.
Residents at Monday’s meeting decried the plan as an affront to civil liberties, and argued that parental responsibility, not stricter laws, are the solution to the issue.
While these arguments are not without merit, it is difficult to rely on parental responsibility in all cases when public safety is at issue, and it is hardly safe to have children roaming the city streets with pellet guns. However, BB guns and other toy weapons do not seem to be enough of an issue to warrant council involvement, and the approval of the ordinance change smacks of government overreaction to a relatively minor problem.
South Portland police Chief Edward Googins said his department responded to 33 calls regarding pellet guns in 2009, and 11 through July of this year. Police must approach all calls regarding a discharged weapon with caution, so these are likely more stressful than the average call. But it hardly seems the city parks are turning into the OK Corral.
The worries about police confrontations do not hold up to scrutiny, either, as the ordinance change would not help avoid these situations in any substantial way. Those are heat-of-the-moment situations, and police responding to a call regarding a weapon still may not know the type of weapon. An ordinance would not make it any easier for an officer to tell a rifle from a Red Ryder.
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