Tommikka

You’ve posted up that your intent is to use an Airsoft gun for plinking and have no intent of skirmishing So you’ve literally shot yourself in the foot Even with second hand sales the seller is liable under the VCRA, and the penalty if they were prosecuted is a 51 week custodial sentence and / or an unlimited fine. (If given a custodial then no more than 6 months would be expected to be served) If you’re happy with two tones then there’s no problem. The VCRA only requires a valid defence on the sale/import/manufacture/modification of RIFs Its therefore a matter of identifying a two tone (or >50% bright colour) IF in a forum sale or whether the seller will be willifn to paint a RIF into an IF for the sale The only other matter is are you over 18? Otherwise you can’t be sold an IF or RIF

https://www.popularairsoft.com/news/ukasgb-ukara-aba-proposal-vcr-bill Players, once they have received their license (which identifies them as being a legitimate user), would then be able to purchase Airsoft guns from dedicated Airsoft retailers.

I don’t know this for sure, but there must be girls in 40k gaming. I’ve seen them in fantasy gaming cosplay (not just the ones in an armoured bikini) There are also girls in the gaming sections of comicons I’ve been too ….. and there are also girls in airsoft - I’ve seen them with my own eyes

There ideal is that a UK retailer would import via their normal distributor / supplier channels That way goods would come in at trade prices. Failing that and you may get lucky with retailer to retailer importation, that may also involve some form of trade pricing between them. The ideal for retail is to markup by doubling the price, anything below that is likely to fail to cover business overheads and industries that can’t manage that within a market are full of struggling businesses at the best of times

If depends on what effect you want I’m with @cannonfodder, a good rough & ready field expedient finish. From the moment it goes on it’s showing wear. If you want the standard American look then it’s perfection, after more of the camouflage look rather than a practical camouflage effect. If you’re repainting a different factory finish, such as making the metal look like metal and making a plastic stock look like wood then it’s 90% down to the preparation work and the rest to taking time and well painted layers. A few years back the British Army published (internally) a painting guide for Afghanistan. This concentrated on the preparation to protect components so that you don’t screw up and affect the reliability of working gun, and approved paints that could be fully cleaned off with ease on return to the UK or whenever the armourer chooses to The actual painting was ‘a quick clean then a dash here, a dash there’ (not a direct quote)

Because that was the offence. The distinction of a VCRA IF or RIF is irrelevant to the offence Section 16a of the firearms act: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/16A [F116A Possession of firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. It is an offence for a person to have in his possession any firearm or imitation firearm with intent— (a)by means thereof to cause, or (b)to enable another person by means thereof to cause, any person to believe that unlawful violence will be used against him or another person.]

I’m assuming not, but you never know with online nicknames

I got too annoyed by adverts to make sense of their BB/airgun/airsoft descriptions

I’ve been missing my favourite local Facebook poster during his 30 day ban, he’s just got back and being relatively withdrawn. We also no longer have a bus station in Salisbury and the car park homeless camp was shut down during novichok Got to get the informed and constructive debate from somewhere

12 foot pound low power air weapon - paintball Unaffected by the airsoft joules reduction due to frangibility

Am I allowed to add a footnote that I’m legally allowed to recreationally shoot frangible projectiles at people with my firearms act low powered air weapons at over 16 joules - and still without a licence or certificate?

We have been discussing the painting of an IF into a RIF thus ‘modification’ under the VCRA - which has a maximum 51 week sentence if a crime is committed. Modification by changing parts and increasing the power is a different matter. I’ll get back to that in a minute The VCRA does not care if you can find coloured parts or not. Change a coloured stock to a black stock and you have modified an IF to a RIF which may or may not be illegal based on section 37 defences. You have the option to paint a black stock into an approved VCRA colour which would retain IF status You’ve complained about legal grey areas but keep proposing other grey areas. Now back to increasing the power of an airsoft IF/RIF. Not long ago there was the legal quandary that an airsoft gun was a low power air weapon (firearm) and therefore was strictly speaking not an imitation. If it’s a firearm then the VCRA does not apply and it does not matter what colour it is as it is neither an ‘Imitation Firearm’ or ‘Realistic Imitation Firearm’ (This may trigger another side conversation that an airgun looking like a real steel firearm is both a firearm and an imitation. I shall say it’s not because it’s a firearm, so can’t be an imitation) This contradictory position was removed from the firearms act by adding the statement that a UK compliant airsoft gun within the specified power level and designed to fire plastic BBs is no longer a firearm in the firearms act and falls under VCRA criteria if either an IF or RIF So what if you do modify an airsoft gun and increase its power? It won’t be legal for airsoft skirmishing But it won’t be an illegal firearm Unless it’s power is vastly increased it would now be a low power air weapon Thats a problem in Scotland now with the need for an air weapon certificate, but not in England. It’s just an airgun I have an extensive armoury of low power air weapons which are both realistic and non realistic, but I use them to legally shoot people with UK approved frangible projectiles, and I also have the details from the Home Office stating that’s fine (with an addendum that if a court decided my realistic ones are RIFs then my UKPSF membership will be fine as the skirmisher defence - which certainly wouldn’t stand up in court to scrutiny, however since that statement was made the joules adjustment to legislation was made, and they exceed that power level so are clear of the VCRA and are compliant with approved testing of the frangible projectiles So I’m back with very legal firearms and no need for a firearms certificate By the way - the minimum level of PPE in airsoft is shite. Eye protection that is currently permitted under the law is at the absolute minimum of impact protection, such as glasses with impact protection. Only some airsoft eye protection is adequate to the risk, but as an adult players are permitted to take that personal risk by sites and their insurers. For under 18s it’s recognised as inadequate and they are required to use full face protection (effectively by the insurance industry not being able to offset the sites liability to minors)

In real life the original objective of ‘machine guns’ was to be inconsistent & inaccurate. That meant a high rate of fire and a low level of accuracy was not to deliver a line of bullets in quick succession but a distributed ‘cloud’ which either deny an area suppressing the opposition or hit a wide random selection of advancing opposition. If you’re suppressing then you want a high enough rate of fire to make the opposition hesitate from chancing their ability to run through the spaced out gaps in between them If you have a muzzle velocity of 350fps and a rate of fire of 22rps/bps then each BB has travelled 15.9 feet before the next one follows. (Ignoring deceleration etc) If they are consistent and accurate then your opposition has a gap of almost 16 feet to move in 1/22nd of a second If you’re firing accurately then they just need to keep their head down and dodge that spot

PS where are you getting a 2 years in custody from? The maximum sentence is 51 weeks, which is below one year therefore you would serve half that time, would not be subject to probation and would also get any deductions for time served pending trial. So up to 6 months, which isn’t really enough time to learn a trade & get some qualifications in a Prison Industries workshop There may also either the custodial, a fine or both custodial and fine. The fine is at level 5 fine which isn’t to be sniffed at as this level could now be unlimited in England. Level 5 has previously been £2000, £5000, £10000 9)An offence under this section shall be punishable, on summary conviction— (a)in England and Wales, with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks or with a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or with both; and (b)in Scotland, with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or with a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or with both. http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/PIB extract - Working out how long you will be in prison.pdf https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_scale

What offence has been committed? Painting an IF into a RIF is the same offence as ‘repairing’ an IF by changing coloured parts. (Which would pretty much be changing the body shell) The difference being that painting an IF has paint as evidence. If the intent of the modifier is one of the VCRA defences then no crime has been committed Note that you have referred to grey areas and highlighted that they really are not grey areas. They are an element that is subject to opinion until it’s gone through court. ‘Gifting’ is the grey area. The law details sale, import and manufacture. People have interpreted that giving a RIF/IF to someone under 18 is legal because it is not mentioned. This has not been tested in court. If a court decides that the intent of the VCRA is to place controls on the transfer of RIFs/IFs as opposed to the contractual elements of a sale transaction then gifting a RIF without a defence would be illegal and gifting a RIF/IF to a minor would be illegal That’s the grey area of the VCRA, the section 37 defences are in black and white (taking into account the fact that Airsoft skirmishing is a supplement by statutory instrument)

That prior knowledge could be of a section 36 offence with a section 37 Defence, and therefore prior knowledge that no crime has been committed

Note that I have also (legally) received stolen goods I buy items at auction, some of which are under police auctions of recovered goods I’ve also purchased RIFs at auction without providing any defence, and I have no intent to play airsoft …. The auction may have committed offences …. I have two intents which I have not presented to the auction: 1) act as a seller and will want to see documentation of a defence 2) as an event organiser use the RIFs for players within an insured site

Possession is not an offence The only offence is modification under section 36 of the VCRA, and section 37 covers the defences. The modification in the past could have been fully legally compliant https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/37 It’s not in the same league as ‘receiving stolen goods’ in that the offence can be repeated into the future and by subsequent people The section 36 offences are manufacture (including modification), import and sale They occur at the time and subsequent changing of hands are either a new offence or are not an offence In the original draft of the VCR bill was an explicit offence of painting / modifying an IF into a RIF which did not have the section 37 defences The final VCR act does not have that as a separate offence - only within 36 which has defences in 37

As the OP is over 18 the ‘normal’ get out clause of gifting isn’t required as the separate offence is selling either an IF or RIF to someone under 18 He could legally be sold an IF or RIF The offence of modifying / painting occurred in the past, and may or may not be defendable due to the fathers intent to play airsoft at insured sites. The OP does not need an explicit UKARA membership etc to have the intent to play airsoft at insured sites, but it is up to the seller to be able to defend against VCRA prosecution for that. As it’s father and son then its fairly reasonable for the father to be able to believe or not believe what the sons intent is. Summary: Modification occurred in the past - if there is an offender then it’s the father Transfer of a free gift - legal grey area / get out clause Sale to someone over 18 with the intent to skirmish/play at an insured site = VCRA compliant

The PayPal rules vary internationally by region. For a while the PayPal rules internationally prevented almost anything gun related but were revised to what is legal in each region. When in a dispute involving a PayPal payment you should raise the issue through the dispute process, the first stages are still just communicating with the seller but it sets the timeframe. Its common for people to email back & forth then attempt a PayPal dispute finding out the time limit has expired There will only generally be rule problems once a PayPal human (or possibly PayPal AI) get involved, in which case they would withdraw from providing the protection services The likelyhood as mentioned above is that the seller refused the refund and complied with the process as far as PayPal were involved

Exactly that. When it goes into the accounts it will be an internal Polish sale at €100 item value €23 Polish VAT, (€123 total) and a UK export sale of €123 item value, €0 Polish VAT, €24.60 UK VAT (€147.60 total) Label on the package I would hazard a guess Especially as it doesn’t get paid by transaction at the time, but on a (quarterly?) account Unless someone sits in the depot checking HMRC reference numbers are valid they will fly past Then does the sellers registration actually exist, or will their ledger have every transaction on it? Remember Asian traders ‘customs insurance’? You either bought your item and later found out if the package and declaration pass through without you getting picked up with a charge and handling fee, or you paid for ‘insurance’ and they would still put on a dodgy ‘sample value $0.01’ declaration but offer to pay you back any charges

You say that in jest….

There is another factor in MTP if it’s the right material. There is a bit of science in the design which ‘absorbs’ the environment and the nearest colours in the pattern are enhanced to the human eye. It also depends on where those two pieces of material are in their life. A surplus unissued smock will be dark A surplus DPM smock that has been used for years and been through thousands of Army washing machine cycles or contract wash cycles is faded. A particular surplus DPM could have been a lighter or darker shade depending on what contract and what era it was manufactured in. Photos comparing patterns will also tell you too much. They show you the difference seen by a light sensor and what it is to look at that image The human eye sees the world differently - which field craft concentrates on. Without the human eye element and whether you are truely looking, we have extensively used an automated sentry gun and found MTP very effective against other materials even in woodland. It still performs the key function of ‘disruptive pattern materials’ which is to break up the human form The AI did show a preference for heads, which aligns with the head not being in MTP and the human bodies natural ability to keep a head steady - plus the AI began its lessons up against a football, with the head being similar-ish The AI needs to identify, track and predict where it’s valid target will be next. With MTP it had a clear preference for headshots, without MTP it swayed a little more back to the ‘easier’ target of the torso (Not only the part of the target it aimed at, but the AI image analysis saved in its log)

VAT export reclaim is for when you actually pay their VAT Buy remotely as export and the invoice will either say they charged UK VAT or no VAT Even if the top item figure was the same inclusive price originally If Polish VAT is declared on the invoice on an export sale then you can deal with their tax export rules and claim if valid

Gold and black would be ‘two tone’ in the sense that they are two colours. Legally though there is no such thing as a requirement for ‘two tone’ the law requires the IF to be clear or over 50% one of the designated bright colours: Sizes and colours which are to be regarded as unrealistic for a real firearm 6.—(1) For the purposes of section 38(3)(b) of the 2006 Act and paragraph 6(3)(b) of Schedule 2 to that Act, the size of an imitation firearm is to be regarded as unrealistic for a real firearm only if the imitation firearm has dimensions that are less than the dimensions specified in paragraph (2). (2) The dimensions specified in this paragraph are a height of 38 millimetres and a length of 70 millimetres. 7.—(1) For the purposes of section 38(3)(b) of the 2006 Act and paragraph 6(3)(b) of Schedule 2 to that Act, a colour is to be regarded as unrealistic for a real firearm only if it is a colour specified in paragraph (2) or if the imitation firearm is made of transparent material. (2) The colours specified in this paragraph are— (a)bright red; (b)bright orange; (c)bright yellow; (d)bright green; (e)bright pink; (f)bright purple; and (g)bright blue.