‘Senior assassin’: why authorities are concerned over this toy gun game

Police, educators and state officials across the United States have warned the public about a teenage trend called "senior assassin", saying that it could result in someone getting injured, or worse. But, what is the game all about?

Not as violent as it sounds, ‘Senior Assassin’ is basically a water gun fight where highschoolers seek an unsuspecting friend out off school grounds to water them down. Although some teens are also  using paintball and airsoft guns, according to Fox News.

Photo: James Fitzgerald/Unsplash

“If the young person on my property had been holding a bright orange water gun instead of a grey one, it would have been a clear signal to me that my family was not in danger”, Alaimo wrote.

Photo: Kolby Milton/Unsplash

In the article, the proffesor suggests that lawmakers need to pass legislation to stop allowing toymakers to make play guns that look like real ones.

Photo: Lavi Perchik/Unsplash

Alaimo recalls that after seeing the teenager with the gun, she took a picture and sent it to her neighbors, who told her all about the teenage trend. However, a lot of people may not react as calmly and as rationally as Alaimo.

As authorities have warned, someone who thinks they’re in danger from an actual gun, might meet a kid playing this game with deadly violence, specially as it’s happened before in the US.

Just last year, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was fatally shot in upstate New York by a homeowner after she and three other friends accidentally turned into his driveway, mistaking it for a friend’s house.

Moreover, the US is the country with the highest civilian gun ownership. More than 40% of American adults have a gun in their household, and 72% of gun owners say a major reason is for protection, according to the Pew Research Center.

Accidents involving kids and guns are actually common in the US. So much so, that in 2020 and 2021, firearms were the leading cause of death of children ages 1-17 in the country.

According to USA Today, ‘senior assassin’ has resulted in many calls to 911, car crashes, school evacuations and confrontations with actual gun owners. Unsurprisingly so, it seems a game like that in a country with a deep rooted gun culture, is a tragedy waiting to happen.

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