Quote of the week from my mate....

[Dannn]

He wants to start airsoft and we were talking about guns...

" we spend 6 months at a time in the sand pit throwing lead at allybaba's from half mile away and we have to have some stupid permission to have a toy gun that spits bits of rubber, wtf is this country turning to"

I thought that was so funny, I removed all the swearing too lol!

 

[M_P]

If he walked down the road carrying his real rifle every day then it'd make sense.

The public are afraid of guns so it's not as nonsensical as it may appear.

 

[Baz JJ]

Yeah but they dont get to take the lead throwers home with them ! lol

I take his point and it does seem strange that people with firearms certificates cant be trusted to own a toy airsoft gun unless they attend three games, but the law-making in our country doesnt have a lot of consistency or balance.

As I said in another thread, at least we have the freedom to own toy guns.

Ive got mates in other countries who love it when they come here and see the liberties we have.

Some of those are scared of getting shot by their police when they play airsoft, have to pay two or three times what we pay for airsoft guns or just cant play legally in their country.

The Aussies call us whingers - quite rightly so I think (except they are bigger whingers lol)

 

[Dannn]

I tried telling him we weren't in 'nam anymore... Wouldn't listen haha

 

[BrightCandle]

The law is inconsistent really, you can walk into a gun shop today and buy yourself an air rifle or air pistol that can seriously hurt someone and do so with a basic age declaration and a fake name/address. Yet to buy a considerably less harmful toy gun you need to prove you use it for the right things and wait two months.They both look like real guns but only one of them is actually dangerous and yet its the safe one that is covered by the requirements. I do think that is inconsistent, especially the fact that we associate more harm to the look of the item than to its actual capabilities and danger level. That is all based on histeria of the public, they do not like guns despite the banning of them hasn't actually reduce gun crime as a percentage of crime, its just reduced the legal uses of them.

Personally I am for basic handguns and shotguns for personal protection and I would like to have available sport shooting with automatic weapons at gun ranges. But I am a gun nut and I love shooting. For now I limit myself to bolt action 22 and 7.62 like the rest of the sport shooters in the UK.

That aside beyond the basic distortion of the sales market caused by the UKARA requirements I don't actually think they are overly cumbersome. I would like to see a change to allowing people to validate across multiple sites for their first games and that would solve most of the issue I have with the current set-up that overly promotes bad behaviour by the retailers associated with airsoft sites (like wolf armouries and bunker 51 and their hire purchase schemes).

 

[Baz JJ]

Despite the fact that I principally play with one company now, I am opposed in principle to having to play with the same site organisers three times a year to keep my UKARA valid.

For all their other alleged faults, BAC did try to address this but it all got very political.

I have no real issue with UKARA but IMHO it should be transferable between sites in any 12 month period. After all the requirement to play three games shouldnt be site specific.

That aside beyond the basic distortion of the sales market caused by the UKARA requirements I don't actually think they are overly cumbersome. I would like to see a change to allowing people to validate across multiple sites for their first games and that would solve most of the issue I have with the current set-up that overly promotes bad behaviour by the retailers associated with airsoft sites (like wolf armouries and bunker 51 and their hire purchase schemes).

Click to shrink...

 

[Colonel Kurtz]

I get the sentiment, but fortunately one thing this country isn't turning into is a free fire zone

Def agree that anyone with real firearms licenses (and that these should be more easily available to those who've served) should be able to use this as a defense for RIF too.

In terms of buying lethal stuff, the big inconsistency is archery, for air-rifles you still need proof of address and ID. I was able to purchase a crossbow capable of nailing someone to a wall without any proof of address/ID or any recording of my details, and this is the norm. I'd need more to buy a knife, but a crossbow featuring arrows that could be used by hand more lethally than a knife are all good it seems, even arrows with a blade rather than point on the end!!!

So tell your mate he can buy a bow and arrow and go Rambo at his local sheriffs without any pesky bureaucracy

 

[shortman]

You say that but my mate when suffering with ptsd had an incident with a hand gun and intimidating a civillian while he was a serviceman. (I know he wasnt himself at the time) but all people are wired different and just because you serve doesnt make you any more or less responsible than any one else in a given moment. The ukara although floored at least has a "one rule for all" point to it. Which in the long run is fairer id say.

That said it is as mentioned daft when you think of buyin a knife, crosbow, airgun etc

 

[Colonel Kurtz]

Agree, and anyone who was perfectly responsible when they got a firearms license / ukara could potentially have a hard time and go bit nuts later too.

Equal opportunities is always good though, just be nice if people trained to use guns professionally could bypass bit of the paperwork for firearms license, maybe the referees could just be someone in the military who can check your records and verify you've not gone section 8, as checking referees seems to be the biggest delay in the proceedings. Although having said that waiting for the army provide the police the paperwork requested on your behalf might take longer than them checking up on a referee lol.

Having been in the armed forces should definitely be counted as a valid defence for RIF though, as there's a clear sentimental link there.

 

[shortman]

Totally agree. Any serving person and ironically firearms police should surley get a faster tracked system. It does seem a little bizare. And i also agree just because you have a ukare it doesnt mean you may not have a moment of action you may regret. As has been said they are of course a replica and to any normal person look like any other gun.

Just greatful we have a means to be able to use rif's in the sport even if it isnt quite a perfect system.

 

[Lozart]

I have a good mate that served in 3Para in Afghanistan and is now full time reserve. He had a look over my gear one night when he brought over some DDPM kit to sell. I said he should come along sometime but he declined on the grounds that he might well start getting flashbacks and get "a bit enthusiastic".

You just never know...

 

[Baz JJ]

I find ex mil personnel tend to fall into two camps with airsoft. They are either enthusiastic or they think its a bit silly and pointless after doing the real thing. Perhaps he was just being polite rather than disrepect your chosen pastime ?

I have a good mate that served in 3Para in Afghanistan and is now full time reserve. He had a look over my gear one night when he brought over some DDPM kit to sell. I said he should come along sometime but he declined on the grounds that he might well start getting flashbacks and get "a bit enthusiastic".

You just never know...

Click to shrink...

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

I find ex mil personnel tend to fall into two camps with airsoft. They are either enthusiastic or they think its a bit silly and pointless after doing the real thing. Perhaps he was just being polite rather than disrepect your chosen pastime ?

Click to shrink...

Or maybe he has a bit of PTSD and doesnt think being in a place where there are flashbangs going off and people aiming real looking weapons at you is a good idea.

 

[Lozart]

Little from column a, little from column b.

He was impressed with my WAS based load out and the m249para (which was his weapon in the squad) but very scathing of walts. Well aware of the huge difference between the average airsofter and a Walt though.

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

Little from column a, little from column b.

He was impressed with my WAS based load out and the m249para (which was his weapon in the squad) but very scathing of walts. Well aware of the huge difference between the average airsofter and a Walt though.

Click to shrink...

Everybody is scathing of walts except other walts.