Gun-shaped belt buckle nearly gets teen shot

[Hazcat]

A 17-year-old learned the hard way that a belt with gun-shaped buckle isn't the best thing to wear when sheriff's deputies are responding to a call.
 
 
Photo BY CAMMY CLARK
cclark@MiamiHerald.com

A gun-shaped belt buckle that looked a little too much like the real thing nearly resulted in the shooting of a teenager when Monroe County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call about a possible kidnapping near Key West.

Three officers with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office answered the call and confronted student William Morales, 17, in a parking lot Tuesday on Stock Island.

Morales -- wearing a ''gangster-style'' white tank top and baggy pants, according to the Sheriff's Office -- initially put his hands up, then lowered them to put down his cellphone and keys.

He reached toward his waistband toward an object that looked like a shiny, black .25-caliber Beretta semi-automatic handgun.

''The hair stood up on my neck and I was squeezing the trigger when he went for the 'gun,' '' Detective Donnie Catala said Wednesday. ''I ordered him to put his hands up -- with a few cuss words -- or I would shoot. His hand was about six inches from the `gun' and I was within milliseconds of shooting.''

Morales told officers it was a belt buckle -- but then raised his hands again.

The officers tackled and handcuffed him. No shots were fired.

''We didn't know it wasn't a gun until we actually took the belt off,'' Catala said.

Morales was detained while officers checked out the report that a teenage girl wearing a pink sweater had been forced into the blue vehicle Morales was driving. The girl was found, and she told officers she voluntarily got into the vehicle with Morales, her boyfriend.

Morales was released, minus his belt buckle.

Such realistic looking gun-shaped belt buckles have resulted in other law enforcement incidents.

In San Diego last year, police surrounded a Wells Fargo Bank branch after a tip that a man was inside wearing a gun tucked under his shirt. It turned out to be a belt buckle.

In 2007, another gun-shaped buckle spotted in Edmonton, Canada, sent police storming into City Hall after a caller reported seeing a man with a gun at his waist in the bathroom. And in the United Kingdom, armed police surrounded a teenager's birthday party when revelers mistook one of those gun-shaped belt buckles for a real revolver.

''It would have been awful . . . if he was shot,'' said Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. ``It's stupid kids who think [the belt-shaped guns] are cool. But they're not cool. They really are scary.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/991516.html

PICTURE OF BUCKLE AT LINK

[MikeBjerum]

Maybe it is time for a law similar to "toy" guns and require orange markings on all belt buckles.

[tombogan03884]

It IS pretty realistic looking, but didn't any of these cops wonder what was holding it up ?

[fightingquaker13]

It IS pretty realistic looking, but didn't any of these cops wonder what was holding it up ?

At the time they got called to a potential rape and kidnapping, saw a kid dressed like banger and saw what looked like a gun. I'd never seen a buckle like that before, they might not have either.

fq13

[Hazcat]

Tom,

If I put the pocket clip (yes, CLIP ) on my P3AT, I could clip it on to my belt and it would look pretty much the same as this buckle.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Tom,

If I put the pocket clip (yes, CLIP ) on my P3AT, I could clip it on to my belt and it would look pretty much the same as this buckle.

 Those CLIPS (    ) attach under the grip don't they ? On second look I stand corrected.

[fightingquaker13]

Tom,

If I put the pocket clip (yes, CLIP ) on my P3AT, I could clip it on to my belt and it would look pretty much the same as this buckle.

Not a bad idea. Add a little "its a toy" orange paint around the muzzle and you've got the perfect concealment option.
FQ13

[Hazcat]

Those CLIPS (    ) attach under the grip don't they ? On second look I stand corrected.

They go on the side just under the slide.

http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/cart2/product_info.php?cPath=3_25&products_id=52

[TAB]

That looks way to close to real to me.  If he had is hand next to it holding his pants up, I'd have shot him too.

[Big Frank]

Maybe the weapon belt buckle of choice of gang bangers needs to be regulated.