Police:Avoid publicly displaying weapons

Costa Mesa police are reminding people not to publicly display air guns or anything resembling a weapon after someone on Saturday reported a gun in a car that turned out to be a BB gun.

Police received a call around 1 p.m. that someone had a gun in a car on the San Diego (405) Freeway at Bristol Street, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Bob Ciszek said. “We ended up finding the vehicle and stopping the vehicle and performed a high-risk car stop, which involves taking people out [of the car] at gunpoint,” he said.

Police determined the reported gun was an air gun and confiscated it temporarily, Ciszek said. No charges were filed.

Brandishing an air gun in a threatening manner can be a misdemeanor, Ciszek said, adding that in this case someone saw the gun but it wasn’t being waved around. But even having the gun could cause problems if people think it’s real, he said.

“We don’t want any citizen getting hurt because they’re legally in possession of an Airsoft [air] gun and somebody perceives it as something different,” Ciszek said.