A "toy"?

You may have heard about the British woman who was shot and killed by police recently. She was waving a "toy" gun around ...

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They're so realistic, the U.S. military uses them for simulation training, but they're all the rage during adolescent play.

Toy guns that are marketed to "make you feel like you're 'packing' the real thing," airsoft guns are also fast becoming a problem - actually mistaken for the real thing - and have many fearing big problems could follow these small-pellet shooting guns.

Airsoft guns are BB-style toy guns that use plastic pellets actually much larger - so less likely to break skin upon impact - than regular BBs. They're sold, over the Internet and in retail stores in some states, in many models, including pistols and rifles, that look just like the real thing.

An alarming concern is when the toy guns are mistaken for the real thing in dangerous situations.

Last month, a Framingham teenager fleeing police tossed an airsoft gun on the ground during chase, and police thought it was an actual weapon. No one was injured. Earlier this month, police nearly shot a teenage boy in California when they found him and two others playing with the toy guns on an elementary school playground, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

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