From: RustyBullethole, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This article from the December 2000 issue of Gun Mart
might square the circle on the airsoft story.
Rusty
GunMart December 2000
Toys are not us?
It has come to our attention that Sussex Police
submitted some Airsoft sub machine gun toy replicas to
a Forensic Scientist for testing. The resulting forensic
report caused a solicitor from the Crown Prosecution
Service to advise that he believed the Airsoft guns
satisfied the definition of firearms under Section 57(1)
of the Firearms Act 1968 and would also qualify as
PROHIBITED WEAPONS under Section 5 of the Act (Eds
Note: In other words, he regards Airsoft guns to be
the equivalent in law to REAL sub machine guns and
other banned firearms).
Sussex Police are now advising the Home Office of this
forensic examination, in order that they can decide
what action, if any, to take.
Editor's comment
Whether or not you like Airsoft guns - and I'm no great
fan myself - I think that any sensible person would
realise that they are merely `big boys' toys.
Sophisticated toys, realistic looking toys in some
cases, toys for adults, but toys none the less.
If commonsense had anything to do with this matter,
the staff at the Home Office would be laughing like
hyenas when they received the CPS solicitor's
conclusions. Unfortunately, commonsense rarely comes
into play on gun related issues -even toy guns. So we
now have the very real prospect of a possible future
court case, probably at great public expense, to
determine whether a toy gun which fires lightweight
plastic balls at a muzzle energy of about one joule
is the legal equivalent of a real sub machine gun
capable of firing real lead bullets. Let me save
them the trouble - Airsoft guns are toys, and toys
like them have been available in this country for at
least 40 years (when I was a boy).
One strange aspect of all this is that the CPO advised
Sussex Police NOT to provide details of the forensic
report to the owner of the Airsoft guns. In other
words, they didn't want him to know WHY they regarded
the Airsoft guns as Section 5 weapons. Now why should
this be? If there was truly a matter of public safety
involved here, surely they should tell him the problem
immediately, in order that he could destroy or disable
the Airsoft guns, and inform his customers so that any
previously unknown `danger' could be eliminated. Odd,
don't you think?
It would be interesting to find out how many deaths
have resulted from the misuse of Airsoft guns in Sussex
in the last year I'd hazard a guess that the answer is
none, and there were probably very few serious physical
injuries, if any at all. I would also hazard a guess
that over the same period there have been dozens of
serious assaults - and possibly deaths resulting from
the use by criminals of REAL banned firearms and even
the misuse of everyday household objects such as kitchen
knives, bottles, tools, etc. Perhaps Sussex police have
already successfully caught all the perpetrators of
such crimes. For if they haven't, they could surely not
justify the time, manpower and expense of trying to get
a toy defined as a prohibited lethal weapon.
If you own an Airsoft gun or are an Airsoft skirmish
player or you are considering taking the sport up, please
don't let this story put you off or spoil your enjoyment
of what is, after all, a harmless pursuit. All other
shooting sportsmen and women have had to cope with the
same sort of pressures for decades and it hasn't stoppe
us!
It may interest you to know that similar Police claims
regarding Airsoft guns goes back almost twenty years,
and that written evidence is available from HM Customs,
the Department of Trade & Industry and Home Office
forensic sources, all classifying Airsoft guns as
legal. Where did we get this evidence? From a Sussex
based company selling Airsoft guns.
--
Wasn't it sussex police who got a prosecution on someone
who owned a Crosman revolver some years ago that led
to CO2 powered guns requiring FACs?
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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