Quite simply, there is no federal law that I could find that prohibits the modifying of a firearm to look like a toy. I would say that would include painting the tip orange or any other color. There is a federal law and case law that prohibits cosmetic changes to toys in order to make the toy appear to be a real firearm. Such case law came from children that were killed because a law enforcement officer was in immediate danger and was not able to take the time to determine if a gun was a toy or real while it was being pointed at him, and also from the trend across the country which involved people committing armed robberies with toy guns made to look real. Early in that trend, defence lawyers were able to at least have the charges reduced because the individual admitted to using a toy gun instead of a real one.
So the moral here is don't point a fake gun at a legally armed person. They will win and you will loose both in criminal and civil court. Don't commit robbery with a fake gun. You will get charged the same as you would with a real one (then again I take that back... if you're gonna rob someone by all means use a fake gun
).In short:
Fake guns can't be made to look real.
Real guns can be made to look fake.
Your electorate at work while spending your hard earned tax dollars.