Question about the VCRA laws.

[SubtitledPig]

I'm new to airsoft and finding it very frustrating that i can't buy RIF's. To my suprise the ban has not been lifted yet, even though the majority of people debating on forums and such wish for it to be removed. so heres my question: Will the ban be lifted? and what is your (collectors/skirmishers/retailers) opinion on the subject?

I just want to understand it a bit better.

One last thing i would like to add is a quote i found on the BBC website which i found quite interesting:

"Has banning anything ever had the impact intended? Did banning guns reduce gun crime? Has banning drugs reduce drug taking? Do criminals ever obey laws?"

thanks please reply

 

[Matt!]

To my suprise the ban has not been lifted yet, even though the majority of people debating on forums and such wish for it to be removed.

We want to be removed because it affects us

The government wont remove it because it looks good

Will it be removed? Who knows but I highly doubt it will for a long time! your best to just conform to the law.

 

[SubtitledPig]

I also can't see what's stopping anybody from buying a cheap 2 tone, stopping off at halfords and spraying it with paint. To be honest anybody robbing a bank is more likely to buy a cheap poundland gun and paint it black, then to say pay £200 for RIF. Afterall arnt they robbing banks because they need money? Why would they spend more on RIF's?

Didn't mean to direct this at bank robbers btw, I'm sure your nice people

 

[Rock-climby-Dave]

technically there is nothing stopping you spraying a gun black. It isn't like the paint put on TT guns cannot be painted on top of. the law is there to stop people making RIF's illegally and if caught you could face criminal charges (potential jailtime) no-one has been prosecuted as of yet under the VCRA act (as far as airsoft goes) so I doubt its usefulness.

but it is still the law, and I do not wish to be the one person caught spraying a gun black illegally.

I also have the ability to cheat the law legally (I can gift a TT to my elder bro who is UKARA registered) but I don't it isn't worth the hassle for what makes very little difference game wise

 

[Matt!]

I also can't see what's stopping anybody from buying a cheap 2 tone, stopping off at halfords and spraying it with paint.

whats to stop a teenager grabbing the keys to their parents car and driving off without a license or insurance.

Again there isn't really much point arguing about it, just be glad you can still play airsoft.

 

[Hubert]

I'm new to airsoft and finding it very frustrating that i can't buy RIF's. To my suprise the ban has not been lifted yet, even though the majority of people debating on forums and such wish for it to be removed. so heres my question: Will the ban be lifted? and what is your (collectors/skirmishers/retailers) opinion on the subject?I just want to understand it a bit better.

Firstly - I'm sorry if this comes across as either sarcastic or negative it isn't meant to

"Majority of people debating on forums wish it to be removed"

That may be so, but it means nothing. There are plenty people on internet forums and chatrooms who want the dealth penalty brought back to the UK or want to ban R'n'B. That doesn't mean it'll happen. Legislature simply doesn't work that way. Which, in a way is good - considering how many "People Against X" groups there are surfing the net, quite a lot of things would be probably end up legalised or banned. (alcohol, oil, Knives, the internet, eco-friendly cars, Glee, Peter Mandleson's autobiography...)

But, will the bill be repealed? No. Why?

It is about much more than airsoft. No government would remove an entire bill, which deals with knife and weapon crime simply because (lets say) half a million people didn't like 3 sections of a 46 section bill.

I agree with Matt! - just be happy that the sport survives. If the orrigional 2005 draft had gone through, we wouldn't have even gotten 2tones...

2tones are but a small price new and/or younger players have to pay, until they can legally get a RiF.

 

[JerseyRider]

Nicely said Hubert

 

[Wesker]

I think having this lifted is too much to ask or expect. I dont think it should exist in the first place, how many other countries have this? Most countries all you need is the orange tip on the barrel to distinguish it from a real gun, why half the gun needs to be bright red to make that distinction here i dont get. Its pretty obvious anyway its not real with an orange tipped barrel. This country is obsessed with 'health and safety' so it doesnt really surprise me

It annoys me so much because im a collector, not a skirmisher. It affects my ability to buy what are only collectible items for a video game. They sit on display in my room and thats it. No one else ever sees them. Yeah its good that we can still get them at all but its still stupid in that anyone can buy a two tone and spray it so what difference does it make. If retailers are responsible in their selling of RIFs then why not just let over 18s buy them, get rid of this law. I've never heard of an incident in which an airsoft gun was used to pretend it was a real gun so how likely is it to actually happen. Its peoples beliefs that something like that might happen but is much less likely to than actual gun crime. As said above, theres nothing to stop a kid stealing a car and driving with no license or insurance so how is this any different. Its just an excuse, anything gun shaped and theres huge outcry about it. Knives fair enough, they can hurt people. Why not ban real guns why plastic ones? Yeah the inception that it might be a real gun but theres nothing more than that, doesnt stop them banning other things that should be

 

[JerseyRider]

I've never heard of an incident in which an airsoft gun was used to pretend it was a real gun so how likely is it to actually happen.

Sorry to prove you wrong but it dose happen

Just take america for example (i know its a differnt country but hear me out) how meny times have they had to close down a whole campus because some one who carnt take the pressure decides to buy a airsoft pistol, spray the tip and pull it out durning english

Thats a crime in its self

In Jersey (the place with half as much crime as the mainland uk) i know a couple of poeple that has used a sprayed bb gun to hold up a Spar etc. They even had to bring out a advertisment campain about it to raise awareness

Its never going to stop as poeple WILL find ways around the law just for about £80 or whatever they happend to have in the till....

 

[Wesker]

Sorry to prove you wrong but it dose happen
Just take america for example (i know its a differnt country but hear me out) how meny times have they had to close down a whole campus because some one who carnt take the pressure decides to buy a airsoft pistol, spray the tip and pull it out durning english

Thats a crime in its self

In Jersey (the place with half as much crime as the mainland uk) i know a couple of poeple that has used a sprayed bb gun to hold up a Spar etc. They even had to bring out a advertisment campain about it to raise awareness

Its never going to stop as poeple WILL find ways around the law just for about £80 or whatever they happend to have in the till....

Im sure it does happen, i've just never heard of it. A very small minority of people who own airsoft guns would even consider doing something that stupid, the majority of us are responsible anyway. I have heard though of a few people being shot just for holding an airsoft gun. No one used to give a ######, when i was younger we used to walk about the streets with our toy guns playing (that looked real) and no one cared less. Now you get the armed response unit at you. Its blown completely out of proportion

Again what you just said shows the pointlessness of this law. Regardless anyone can spray a gun so why even bother having this law it doesnt stop anyone. If anything it affects the responsible people and not the ones the law is ment to be targeted at in stopping crime. If people want to commit a crime with a sprayed gun then they will do so, this law isnt going to do a ###### thing in preventing that. Its pointless. Yeah its illegal but they dont care. It wont stop the people who its ment to affect, it instead affects us, skirmishers and just collectors like me. The least they should do is review this and make the law a bit fairer. Even if you do get on the UKARA database, say play the minimum no. of games (3 in no less than 2 months) and dont play again, you're only registered for a year and have to keep renewing it annually to stay legal. Even that still affects us. Not everyone can even get to a site to play or even want to just to own a few collector guns like i do. Its frustrating more than anything else