By: Teresa Mull

If you’re looking for Christmas gift ideas for the youngster in your life, you may want to reconsider wrapping up a toy gun.

“The Sioux City [Iowa] Council tentatively approved an ordinance … that would ban pellet and BB guns,” the Star Tribune reports. “The proposal wouldn’t ban Nerf or squirt guns, or guns that shoot suction-cup darts.”

Sioux City Police Capt. Mark Kirkpatrick said his department has had a few run-ins in which a fake gun created confusion and a dangerous situation.

“What we’re trying to do is potentially prevent a tragedy. We encounter these BB guns and replica weapons far more frequently it seems,” Kirkpatrick said.

According to the Sioux City Police Department, police encountering people with toy firearms results in “more than 50 deaths” nationwide each year.

Under the new ordinance, improper use of a toy firearm would result in a misdemeanor violation. The ordinance requires two more hearings and further voting at future council meetings before it can become Sioux City law.

Teresa Mull is editor of Gunpowder Magazine. Contact her at [email protected].