Village forbids BB guns in public

Bye-bye, BB guns.

Air rifles and BB guns have been banned for public use in Villa Park due to concerns that they too closely resemble real guns.

To illustrate what Villa Park police consider a problem, officers this week showed trustees a box of black metallic replica firearms. Board members responded by voting unanimously to ban such items.

Compared to the kind with bullets, officer Dan McCann said of the replica firearms, "everything is the same … except when you take out the clip.

"There's a small round opening" for pellets, McCann added.

While the amended village law doesn't make it illegal to purchase or own air rifles and BB guns, it gives Villa Park police the authority to charge suspects with having replica firearms.

Police Chief John Payne said officers recently received a call that teens pointed a look-alike gun out of a car window.

When officers found the suspects, Payne said, there was no existing law to charge them with having the gun beyond disorderly conduct.

The amended ordinance would allow such a charge.

The new ban could also aid police work at Willowbrook High School.

During the past academic year, the school's resource officer, Detective Tim Walsh, said police confiscated two replica guns at Willowbrook.

"Both times were the result of kids coming to the dean and letting him know there was a problem," Walsh said.