Lego Gun almost gets someone arrested.

[simonjedi]

A Toronto designer became a participant in a real-life Flashpoint-style event when police tactical officers showed up at his workplace over a firearms call that involved a Lego gun.

"I've had numerous people either say, 'Oh my God, I thought Flashpoint was just filming,' or, 'This is totally going to be a Flashpoint episode at some point'," Jeremy Bell told ctvtoronto.ca on Thursday. "Yeah, it's pretty surreal."

Flashpoint is a CTV drama, set in Toronto, about a police "strategic response unit."

Late Wednesday afternoon, Bell -- a partner with the digital design firm Teehan+Lax, located at 460 Richmond St. W. -- was assembling a replica handgun made out of Lego that had arrived.

"It arrived yesterday and at the end of the day, I decided to put it together. I literally assembled it, handed it to a co-worker (who promptly broke it) and then put it back in the box," Bell wrote in a posting on his personal blog.

"The SWAT arrived shortly thereafter."

Across the street, Michael Dent was working his third-floor loft. He saw what he thought was someone assembling a firearm, so he took some photos and called the police.

"I don't really like guns right beside me -- and then it turned out to be Lego," Dent chuckled.

But he added, "My girlfriend is moving in with her daughter and stuff, and it looks right into our loft where we sleep, so no, not cool."

Dent said the door of the office was shut, and it never is, so for all he knew, someone might have been laid off "and about to go postal, so that's why I called."

Bell was in his office and then heard a voice yelling his name and instructing him to come into the hallway.

"At first I thought, 'who did I piss off?' I wasn't worried about my safety ... but I certainly wasn't expecting to see an armed officer," he said, adding he couldn't remember what type of firearm was pointed at him.

Bell said he knew he hadn't done anything wrong.

"As soon as I realized they were actual cops and this was not a joke, I was, 'What else could it be? It's got to be the stupid Lego gun I put together'," he said.

Police had him put his hands on his head and walk backwards towards them. "They cuffed me, pulled me into the stairwell and threw me against the wall. They spread my legs and checked to make sure I didn't have a weapon on me," he said.

Bell said he told them where the Lego gun was, they went to check it out and then uncuffed him. He was handcuffed for about 90 seconds.

After seeing the photos, Bell said he can understand why Dent called the cops, although to him, it's still clearly Lego.

"There's like a million pieces on the table," he said, adding, it's not like he waved it around or took it out on the street.

Const. Tony Vella of the Toronto Police Service no charges resulted from the incident, the response for which involved uniformed and tactical officers.

"We have to take all the gun calls seriously because we don't know what we're getting involved in," Vella said. "There's the potential for public risk as well as the risk to the officers' safety."

On his blog, Bell wrote: "The cops clearly don't take this shit lightly."

Dent wondered what his phone call cost the city in taxes.

Source

While in retrospect it does sound pretty stupid, the gun in the image (see URL) does look quite realistic.

[Corvus]

Oh jeez. This is why I dislike people building handguns out of lego. I see them on Brickshelf all the time, and I ask myself, "What's the point? It's a gun."

Although I have seen a neat flintlock made out of Bionicle pieces.

[Big Cam]

That Poloce station would get a piece of my mind if they man-handled me when I was posing no immediate threat.

[Ronan Dragonov]

Oh jeez. This is why I dislike people building handguns out of lego. I see them on Brickshelf all the time, and I ask myself, "What's the point? It's a gun."

Although I have seen a neat flintlock made out of Bionicle pieces.

I agree completely and I like guns as much as the next guy. When I see another one on MOCpages I want to give it a 0 (no smiley face) rating.

[Ricecracker]

That Poloce station would get a piece of my mind if they man-handled me when I was posing no immediate threat.

I don't know where you are from, but here in Toronto gun scares are taken very seriously. Even the person who bought the Lego gun thought it was a good reaction. I also fail to see how anyone was man-handled.

[prateek]

I don't know where you are from, but here in Toronto gun scares are taken very seriously. Even the person who bought the Lego gun thought it was a good reaction. I also fail to see how anyone was man-handled.

Well, yeah, but you always see kids running around with toy guns, so I don't know how this is such a big deal.

[Oky]

The moral of this story: Never give a MOC into the hands of a non-AFOL.

Also goes to show how Americans always get worked up about nothing. But then again, if I wouldn't be an AFOL and would see something like that, I would probably get uncomfortable too...

[RocketClone]

And this is why you dont detail LEGO gun MOCs.

[user]

And this is why you dont detail LEGO gun MOCs.

Yes Why do people make guns out of lego? I seriously don't get what's up with America's obsession with guns it gets really annoying.

[ILikePi]

Yeah, I agree that it's not right to make a gun out of LEGO. LEGO is a toy, and a gun is certainly the exact opposite of a toy.

But looking at the picture, the instructions manual with pictures of the LEGO gun and piece callouts on the desk clearly point out that he's just building with bricks.

It seems to be this "standard pistol" from BrickGun:

Edited December 4, 2009 by ILikePi

[TechnicJuan]

Who are you guys to judge what a person makes out of their Legos? I thought that was the whole point of Legos, to build freely. The model that guy is assembling looks like the one found at www.brickgun.com

I have yet to hear of someone holding up a liquor store with a gun made out of Legos, so it's not like they are being used in the wrong way. Some of these gun models are very impressive.

And besides all of this, when was it not legal to assemble a gun? Whether it is made out of Lego or not?

Yeah, I agree that it's not right to make a gun out of LEGO. LEGO is a toy, and a gun is certainly the exact opposite of a toy.

Have you ever been to a Toys-R-Us? There are Toy guns everywhere.

What is the point of having minifigs with guns? Brickarms even makes custom Guns for minifigs. What is the point of that then?

[Inconspicuous]

Heh heh heh. No, I never made a Lego gun. I'll have to be more careful with mine. From now on, I'll confine it to my room.

[Corvus]

Who are you guys to judge what a person makes out of their Legos? I thought that was the whole point of Legos, to build freely. The model that guy is assembling looks like the one found at www.brickgun.com

Ever seen that MOC of a concentration camp that someone passed off as a set?

Have you ever been to a Toys-R-Us? There are Toy guns everywhere.

What is the point of having minifigs with guns? Brickarms even makes custom Guns for minifigs. What is the point of that then?

Yes, but the toy guns there are green or orange.

Plus, minifig guns are small. They don't look real enough to make a police officer get worried.

I talked to an officer about this sort of thing once. He said that they don't have time to casually ask if it's a toy or not. There are some real creeps out there, and officers have to react, fast.

[Etzel]

Well, I think the whole story is hilarious and can't see that anyone involved has done anything wrong. Just a funny coincidence

[Darth Legolas]

Well, I think the whole story is hilarious and can't see that anyone involved has done anything wrong. Just a funny coincidence

So will you start laughing when you turn around to see the SWAT team or something standing behind you?

I kind of find it funny, as it's all a situational thing, but now I'll be cautious not to continue with that blunt-firing Lego gun I had in mind...

[TechnicJuan]

Yes, I have seen those concentration camp models and yes they are wrong. But that is one extreme in POOR taste. I have also seen naked women built out of Lego Bricks. Is that wrong? I don't see a problem with it, but I am sure that some people may.

But this is the first situation that I have heard of of someone getting into any trouble over a gun built from Legos. That gun model and instructions have been around for at least 7 years now. Most people don't carry around Lego guns out in public looking for trouble. And scale has nothing to do with how dangerous a gun can be. I have a single shot .22 gun that is about as large as a silver dollar that actually fires a bullet.

I have yet to see someone try and use a Lego gun for any other purpose other than display, so where is the harm in that? I have noticed that this site is geared more towards Minifigs and Minifig related models, so I can understand why some of you here cannot appreciate a "Sculptured Model" as much as someone else might.

[Etzel]

So will you start laughing when you turn around to see the SWAT team or something standing behind you?

Maybe not in that very moment, but I sure would afterwards

Really, I think people should build whatever they like, whether it be a gun, a flower garden or a concentration camp. It's your own imagination.

[Ricecracker]

Most people don't carry around Lego guns out in public looking for trouble.

He wasn't carrying it in public; he had it in his office.

I have noticed that this site is geared more towards Minifigs and Minifig related models, so I can understand why some of you here cannot appreciate a "Sculptured Model" as much as someone else might.

That's not the point. The person who called 911 had his family to worry about.

[Tyrant]

Also goes to show how Americans always get worked up about nothing. But then again, if I wouldn't be an AFOL and would see something like that, I would probably get uncomfortable too...

I seriously don't get what's up with America's obsession with guns it gets really annoying.

Either I am misunderstanding something or you guys need to read that just a little closer. It's in Canada which is still to my knowledge not part of the United States. So, I take you are meaning the Canadians are over reacting and have an obsession with guns? Or it's typical, pointless, (and as often as not wrong) America bashing. It gets real tired guys.

As for the "event", all I can say, overreact much? So, after his neighbor spies on him he calls the cops who, from the sounds of things, send in the equivalent of the SWAT team. On the say so of a guy's cell phone pics (of one lone guy putting together one hand gun), they send in the SWAT team. I assume there is nothing close to real crime in this city for them to be able to waste resources like that. A couple of uniformed cops could have knocked this out in a couple of minutes. If he had been assembling say, an assault rifle, I could see the need. As is, the cops can pretty clearly see what he is making.

The lesson here is that guy needs to buy some blinds and his neighbor needs to get a hobby that doesn't involve him spying on his neighbors.

[prateek]

The moral of this story: Never give a MOC into the hands of a non-AFOL.

Also goes to show how Americans always get worked up about nothing. But then again, if I wouldn't be an AFOL and would see something like that, I would probably get uncomfortable too...

First off, it was in Canada, and secondly, he was an AFOL. He bought the gun from BrickGun and he was building it in his office when someone saw from the building across the street and called 911. Real moral of the story: keep your blinds closed

This story really pisses me off, because this guy shouldn't even be looking into the other guy's office, and that my dad had to pay for this (taxes )

Edited December 5, 2009 by prateek

[TechnicJuan]

That's not the point. The person who called 911 had his family to worry about.

What EXACTLY does that have to do with people on here saying that they don't understand what the point of building a gun replica is? Are you reading the entire thread, or just bits and pieces?

[Ratshot]

Building a firearm out of Lego is not wrong, it's what you do with it that makes it wrong.

Example: I wouldn't take one out in the street and point it at passing cars.

What the man should have done is taken it into a back room where nobody else could see it.

That Police station would get a piece of my mind if they man-handled me when I was posing no immediate threat.

How do they know that your not a threat. The police cant take chances with anybody.

That's not the point. The person who called 911 had his family to worry about.

That's right.....to an extent. If he would have looked carefully, he would have noticed that it was Lego. Overall he did the right thing even though this could have been avoided.

[lightningtiger]

I can sort of understand the police and the guy who reported it in. Weapons manufacturers actually now use plastic components in guns except for the barrel/muzzel piece which must be made from of course metal to take the heat so to speak.

But since 9/11 law agencies around the world have had the nerves on edge, so it's totally understandable.

Does the guy who got cuffed got a case against the police, I don't know any thing about law so even I can't say either way.

[ILikePi]

The Brother's Brick posted an interview with Jeremy Bell:

I ran across this story on Thursday and thought it was interesting enough to pass along.

Put yourself in Jeremy Bell’s shoes. You’re a creative director at Teehan+Lax, a Downtown Toronto design firm and a lifelong LEGO fan. You’re having a quiet Tuesday afternoon at the office. Hey, you just got a custom BrickGun model kit of a semi-auto handgun in the mail. Why not build it at your desk? (I for one totally understand, I just did the same thing last week with the Space Police Smash ‘n’ Grab.) After you’re done, you show the model to a co-worker, he breaks it, you put it back in its box, then unwind with some co-workers by playing video games.

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/ww...in?size=404x272 (Image can't be deeplinked so I'm just posting a link to the pic)

Photo above courtesy of National Post and Global TV

The problem is, handguns are illegal in Canada, and gun play at work is generally associated with disgruntled employee rampages, rather than good LEGO design. So that afternoon, a person with a condo overlooking Jeremy’s window office saw him assembling the model, thought it was a real handgun and called the police. (He has since apologize via Twitter, Facebook and a handmade sign put up in his window.)

About an hour after putting away the model gun, the gaming was interrupted by yelling in the hallway. Jeremy peeked into the hall and saw members of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force with real big guns pointed at him. He cooperated, got ‘cuffed, told them to check out the LEGO gun in his office, and he was uncuffed in about 90 seconds. Done, right?

It became a slightly bigger deal because people in and immediately around the building were detained, had big guns pointed at them, the street was closed off by half a dozen police cars, a couple ambulances waited nearby, and a helicopter hovered overhead. For details on the basic facts of the story, the best details and perspective are in Jeremy’s blog, but also check out some of the local Toronto online news outlets like GlobalToronto and Torontoist, where I first ran across the story.

Jeremy is now obviously being pestered by media all across Canada, and even by US LEGO nerds like me. He was gracious enough to answer a few questions:

The Brothers Brick: How do you feel about all this attention over a bizarre misunderstanding?

Jeremy Bell: I could do without the attention, but I do find the whole situation hilarious. Don’t get me wrong, guns in the workplace aren’t cool, and I’m aware that people have been killed over similar misunderstandings—luckily this event didn’t turnout the same.

TBB: What form has your LEGO fandom taken? Collector, builder, sets, your own creations, just looking?

JB: I’ve been a fan of Lego since I was a little kid, but it’s not something I spend a lot of time playing with now. That said, I’ll usually assemble actual kits and then combine the pieces with the rest of my collection and build my own creations.

TBB: Was the ordering of the custom gun kit a bit of lark? How did you find out about the kit? Was it any good?

JB: I discovered the BrickGun kit on a design blog (if I recall correctly), so ya… it was a bit of a lark. The kit had about 250 pieces in it, plus some elastic bands. Was it any good? Well, I got arrested… that’s gotta count for something I guess.

TBB: According to the other news stories, you’re the Creative Director at a design company? How has this affected your professional relationships, since this went down at work?

JB: Excellent question about the work side of things… no one has asked that yet. At the moment, all of our clients seem to think it’s pretty humours (although we haven’t heard from all of them yet). We’ll see how this shakes out next week.

TBB: How about your family?

JB: My family’s always known I was a Lego fan, so they weren’t surprised to see what I built. That said, my wife wasn’t so thrilled when she found out.

Thanks, Jeremy!

From looking at BrickGun’s website, they’re a little overwhelmed by the media driven orders because of this story, so if this gets you all excited to order something from them, good luck trying to get it in time for the holidays.

Looks like BrickGun is going to get lots of publicity and money over the holiday season.

[Dennimator]

Do anyone have the instructions to that "standard gun"? I would like to build one, but don´t want to pay just to get the instructions.