It's called the Super Soaker, it squirts water up to 50 feet and, not surprisingly, it's all the rage with the younger set.
But after one squirt-gun fight escalated into a fatal shooting and people complained they had been sprayed with chemicals, some say the souped-up version of the old water pistol is a hazard and should be pulled from store shelves.Mayor Raymond Flynn sought to do just that in a letter sent to local merchants Monday. He cited the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy after a water gun fight, saying the time may have come "for adults to discourage the use of toy guns to simulate violent activity."
Flynn urged parents and others to discourage children from using the guns, which cost from $5 to $50, to spray "unsuspecting bystanders."
The Bradlees department store chain said it would temporarily remove the guns from its three Boston stores to honor the mayor's request, then consider a permanent ban for those outlets.
"We're dismayed, because these are essentially a toy," said Coleman Nee, a spokesman for the Braintree-based company. "A few isolated incidents are putting a bad light on this."
Other store owners said the mayor is all wet.
"It's the most stupid thing I've ever heard," said Michael Slocum, owner of Slocum's toy shop in South Boston. "There are other items that cause incidents and accidents, such as baseball bats and hockey sticks. Are you going to ban all these things, too?"
The Super Soakers come in five sizes. The largest holds 2 liters of
water and gets its increased power from a hand pump.
Several companies make similar toys, though Flynn targeted the Super Soaker, made by the Philadelphia-based Larami Corp. Al Davis, Larami's executive vice president, said real guns are the problem.
"It's just too much to comprehend that anyone would think the toy did the damage," Davis said. "I'm a father and a grandfather. I wouldn't put anything in their lives that would endanger them."
Still, the toys have been linked with injury and death. Christopher Miles killed May 29 in Boston during an argument involving a Super Soakers, police said.
Last week, a woman told Boston police she and her 4-year-old were sprayed in the eyes with bleach by two youths using water guns.
Davis said the toys were introduced two years ago and are now the company's hottest item.
"Any major retailer has the gun, and if they don't have it then they're out of it," Davis said.