Not again.  Another death involving an airsoft gun is recorded. This time, one of the dreaded and most often discussed situations that will endanger the life of the person holding an airsoft gun --- pointing an airsoft gun at the police. Before you make your own conclusion that the deceased should be condemned for doing something stupid, idiotic, or utterly pointless, there are two important pieces of the news report made by Daily Camera about this incident that happened in Broomfield, Colorado:

1. Man was suffering with schizoaffective bipolar disorder which is a mental disorder; and
2. The family of the man clearly informed the police that he was carrying an airsoft gun.

Those two things would make you withhold judgment and more so, condemn the police responders with excessive use of force leading to the death of a person. Indeed, the man killed was also trying to harm himself with a knife rather than causing trouble to others. What we can gleam from the news report was that the family called 911 for help in order to prevent the person from further hurting himself. If it was really clear that 911 was informed of these beforehand before dispatching the police, then they should've used less lethal ways to pacify the man rather than shoot him as the weapon he pointed at the police is not at all lethal.

But then, others may say that the police had done the right thing, since they have been trained to use deadly force when something is pointed at them that resembles a gun. That the police were right in not relying on the report that the gun was an airsoft one, since the 911 report could've been erroneous, and it was a real weapon after all. There was no confirmation in the news report that the gun in question was an airsoft gun, it was only reported that the brother told 911 that it was a plastic toy gun.

What if the gun was really an airsoft gun? Then the police have used inappropriately deadly force in subduing a person who was clearly suffering from a mental disorder and was only a danger to himself rather than to the community.

Meanwhile the police officers involved in the incident were put into administrative leave pending an independent investigation. We cannot really rely on the news report until an official report of the investigation has been issued, and the story may change depending on witness reports, medical reports and 911 recordings.

It is still best to withhold any conclusion on who is really at fault. But one thing should always be clear: do not point an airsoft gun at anyone, especially a police officer, unless you are in the dead zone of an airsoft field and it's game on. This is a simple thing to do and not following this most important rule in airsoft can lead to situations that will not be welcomed by anyone, and might even lead to being arrested and put into jail for a misdemeanor or worse, being seriously incapacitated or dead. Yes, the consequences of not following that rule are that bad.