Airsoft update

[graafen]

Since the Violent Crimes Reduction bill threatens to slowly kill the sport of Airsoft I've decided to start saving for the worst. If it does go through I want to be able to at least buy two more rifles and a pistol before the ban on the sale/importation/manufacture of replica firearms takes effect.

I aim to purchase two more G36c's and a H&K SOCOM/USP, with one G36c being converted into a G36 LMG and the other being converted into an SL9.

I start saving at the end of this month. Here's hoping I don't have to rush buy all the rifles. :/

Comments

[southpaw1805.livejournal.com]

Time for some cold hard facts (courtesy of the Home Office):-

The provisional number of recorded offences involving imitation firearms (primarily BB guns) in England and Wales for 2004/5 was 3,332.

This is an increase of 55% (1,186 offences) on 2003/4.

Clearly, this suggests that something needs to be done. In its current form, the Bill only covers new Sales and Imports, it has nothing to say about existing realistic imitation weapons, though I suspect there are those who wish it did.

At the end of the day, I fully expect that when/if it achieves Royal Assent, Airsoft Clubs will be permitted to apply for a License giving them an exemption from the provisions contained therein, presumably with a similar rider to that for the legislation relating to "real" Shooting Clubs, namely that the weapons have to be kept securely on site, and probably signed out and checked back in again...

The other option, of course, is to just buy Airsoft weapons that *gasp* don't look like the real thing. Okay, you lose the realism, but you're perfectly within the law (assuming you're 18 or over), and it doesn't change the game mechanics, you're still firing BBs at other folks...

But like I say, I've never participated in an Airsoft event, so what do I know?

[rallicat.livejournal.com]

Firstly, your research on the statistics is accurate, but incomplete. In order to interprete them correctly, you have to look to a Home Office/National Statistics publication entitled 'Crime in England & Wales: Quarterly Update to December 2004' and dated 21 April 2005. In comparing firearms offences for year 2004 versus year 2003, this document includes the following comment:

"New, more explicit guidelines for the classification of weapons may have increased the recording of firearms offences, particularly those committed with imitation weapons"

This means that the apparent massive rise in figures are affected, at least in part, by a change in the way these figures are recorded.

We have been given no information about whether or not Airsoft retailors are likely to be granted an exemption, other than that we would have to 'make a strong case' (according the Hazel Blears MP and Charles Clark MP). It is prudent therefore, to continue a campaign, in anticipation that we might at least 'get a mention' at the Standing commitee when they meet in October.

The option to make Airsoft guns unrealistic has various pitfalls.
Firstly, it has been suggested that Airsoft guns be painted with coloured bands (as in America). In America, criminals have allready fooled police into thinking that their real guns were fake, with the result being that some Policemen were shot dead. Safety colour-bands are not a viable option in my opinion, as the confusion could be easily maintained.
Criminals wishing to threaten people with replica guns, would also find it a simple job to remove the 'safety colours'.

Painting a gun all over, would have serious implications for the dynamic of the game. As things stand, holding a large black gun does not make you stand out if you are trying to be stealthy. This is in stark contrast to how easy to spot you would be if your gun was bright orange, as the Gun Control Network have suggested.

Ultimately, if the appearance of a gun is the problem, then consider how the appearance of a cricket or baseball bat changes in the hands of a criminal - suddenly it's a threat. In the same way, the appearance of an airsoft gun in the hands of a responsible sportsman to me is perfectly safe, and if we can find a way to keep replica guns off the streets without affecting airsoft, then it's appearance to people like me is all that needs to matter.