I hear what you are saying, but no. The Swedish airsofters are very big fans of realism, and milsim, of which gas powered replicas play a big role.
Almost anyone and everyone who playes airsoft has at least one gas-powered replica in their arsenal, be it primary side-arm, primary system, grenade launcher or fun-SMG gun.
The market is huge and the demand is huge. I say that it is "technically" illegal because GBBs do exist and are in use, fairly wide spread, but importing them and enjoying the full awesomeness of what is GBB and GBBRs is hard here.
As for the market shares, perhaps I see it from a different light being a GBB/GBBR afficionado, those numbers are guesstimates at best but I felt I had to put something in to show how much we are losing out. EDIT: It is in referense to the "gas blow back" segment, where gas-powered airsofts account for 90%, and CO2 for 10%. And 30-40% are for the gas blow back segment in general vs. AEG and spring powered. Maybe I see it differently there, but I had to put something in. And it is in referense to models on the market and not what is actually in use !
There are times for both gas and CO2, we just need the option and variety of models.
It is even as bizzare as, multi-power-option GBBs, ie. those who can take both gas and CO2, are banned as well. If it CAN be powered by anything other than spring, gas or CO2...
And as you say, having CO2 be legal, which is more powerful, and then gas to be illegal, it makes no sense.
I hope I cleared that up a little bit!
More GBBs to the people !