Yeah, he said exactly what I did, except at greater length (amazingly enough) and with a familiarity with the names and dates which I could never have remembered even had I known them in the first place :lol:
If you don't want to purchase a two tone, all you need do is show you are purchasing it for the purposes of making a film (for example), plain and simple (this is even written in specifically, and the definition of what a film constitutes is very liberal). If you want to do away with two tones, stop calling yourself an airsofter and call yourself an amateur film enthusiast.
Exactly, and if you want to be able to commit an act of terrorism in the UK and are concerned that you may not be able to travel from your lair (hideout?) to your chosen venue without being arrested with your weapons, simply paint your real firearms 51% bright orange and wrap them in bin liners or something: you'll be just fine!
UKARA Does not now, has never, nor can ever work flawlessly. It NEEDS changing, to me at least, these proposals are a deregulation of the humble RIF. I agree that they shouldn't be lumped into Firearms, but is having them only sold by people who regularly handle firearms and who can pass on safety knowledge to the consumer really such a bad thing? I mean, how often are there accidents involving firearms? very few. How often are RIFs fucked around with? Very often. Having some of that sensibility can't harm our reputation as a sport.
How is having them only sold by Registered Firearms Dealers
not lumping airsoft guns in with firearms, Dave? People fuck about with RIF's? So what? People fuck about with baseball bats far more often. The point which
really needs to be grasped is that an airsoft gun is
not a weapon, nor can it be used as an improvised weapon as successfully even as a plank, unlike many other items. It may look like a weapon, but using it in such a way that anybody outside an airsoft venue may reasonably believe that that is what it is, was already a criminal offence before the VCRA 2006 changes.
As Frenchie said, there is no problem that needs solving, so no need for any law to solve it. Having some sensibility that an airsoft gun could take your eye out is obviously a good thing, as is having the sense to realise that brandishing it in public may get you shot by the police, but it is not necessary to delegate the responsibility for instilling such sensibility into airsoft gun customers to RFD's. Any retailer who sells airsoft guns ought to be reminding people of that, if for no other reason than to cover themselves from being sued if somebody gets hurt and wants to claim that they didn't know how dangerous the things could be. The same info is also in whatever paperwork/manual comes with them from the manufacturer.
Yes, some people are complete bellends, but we cannot stand for law being framed to try to prevent every instance of absolute bellends getting hurt/hurting others at the unreasonable expense of sensible people. This is not how the regulation of other potentially dangerous things is approached. Cars for eg: every year there are thousands of incidents, despite all the regulations. If we were to apply the same degree of concern to preventing car accidents caused by bellends doing something they have been told not to, which ought to be bloody obvious to them anyway, hardly anyone would be allowed to drive. And let's remember, cars get people killed regularly - there has never yet been an incident in the UK where an airsoft gun has got anyone killed and just because that has happened elsewhere, there is no reason to believe it
will happen here. British coppers are not unemployed soldiers who grew up in a society where, if you see a kid with what appears to be a gun, it probably is...