The weapon he has is a battery powered toy gun that cost £5 - its not a Airsoft gun - its not a RIF its a nerf gun that are sold in every toy shop throughout the country so I don’t see a issue. If children are not allowed toys guns that flash lights and are quite clearly a toy then something is up - if he had hold of one of my RIF’s i could understand but he isn’t
It's a RIF and should not have been sold without a defence provided. In order for it to not be a RIF it needs to be a miniature, or it's principle colour needs to be listed
here, but the gun black and full sized. Having a little bit orange at the end doesn't change it's principle colour.
Whilst i can see why people react i also will reiterate i live on a army estate - and all the kids want to pretend they are like their parents and I’m not going to discourage an innocent 8 year old enjoying dress up
Nothing wrong with dressing up, but just be careful with displaying guns. It's illegal to be in a public place without good reason with an imitation firearm, your front garden is of course private property so it's lawful, but I wouldn't recommend it. If all your neighbours are relaxed and know they are replica's that's good, but anyone could walk past and not know, and then all of a sudden it becomes an incident. Even when armed response realise it's a replica, it still goes on the database as a firearms incident. All these statistics add up and eventually some do-gooder politician puts a magnifying glass on it and then we've all got a problem.
This isn't necessarily against you if your neighbours are fine, but maybe a "be careful" notice to everyone else browsing these forums. Don't give the powers that be a reason to draft up a VCRA 2.0.
For the record, I also used to run around the neighbourhood with replica guns playing "army men", also right next to a military base. The pre-9/11 days were good, but those days have sadly gone.