legal, identificationSuppose I buy a dummy firearm like dummy M-16 rifle (completely legal where I live, while a real M-16 is prohibited). It looks mostly like a full-blown real firearm - all parts have the same size and the weight is the same as of a real one.
Suppose a police officer asks me to prove that it’s indeed a dummy firearm. How do I do that? What will be the visible difference?
In my country, if you have a deactivated gun with you, you are required by law to have a certificate about the deactivation with you. With a “very real looking” dummy, it might be a good idea to have the receipt or a similar document with you. And the police officer might also prefer checking the suspected gun against a paper document than letting you handle it in front of him.
It’s also worth mentioning that not every police officer is expert on different firearm types so while it may be obvious to many that the gun is not real, it might not be obvious to him/her even after explaining the mechanical differences. A paper document might work better.
Otherwise, it’s hard to tell you the visible differences if we don’t the way the dummy was manufactured.
As Daniel already pointed out, the main difference is obviously the inability to fire live ammunition. A dummy is probably missing a chamber (if it’s even possible to open it to look inside) or has it blocked somehow to prevent anyone from even trying to fire a real cartridge. But as I’ve said in the beginning, all this very much depends on your particular dummy gun.
It would depend on the specific one, but a dummy firearm will not be able to fire real ammo. At some level, this will be visible or apparent.
A real M16 can be opened up for cleaning. If the dummy M-16 also opens up, you should be able to see that it does not have a chamber, or that the chamber is the wrong size to accept a round of ammunition, or the chamber is welded up or a steel pin is welded in place to prevent a round from being chambered.
If you’re interested in a particular model, you could ask the manufacturer exactly this question (it certainly is a fair question to ask!).
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