Transporting RIFs/gear in public - AKA don’t alarm the public

Tommikka

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Based on an infomercial, and to avoid being the next player to turn up on the news …..

Transporting your RIFs (and gear) to and from games (and retailers / techs / comicons / your mates house, should include common sense, but there’s always that guy

Link further down from BZ about transporting in a vehicle or on public transport, but here are some of my thoughts (and my experiences)

Bag it and keep it bagged - even stepping out of your door to your car on the drive. Your neighbour might know you and your hobby, but not necessarily the random person passing by

If you don’t have any form of baggage then cover it up - a team mate bought a rifle while we were at a game, too long for his bag, and to make things worse the group had met up at the motorway services and left some cars parked up for the day. That meant on the way back we were dropped off on the other side with the need to walk back across the footbridge. We put it down the leg of a pair of trousers and wrapped around more clothing - just a mildly suspicious package carried across

Don’t lay uncovered guns on the backseat - not only does that mean it’s openly carried to / from the vehicle, but it’s visible through the window to anyone passing (and to the McDonalds drive in windows)

Don’t “solve” the problem of back seat visibility by putting it in the boot - and then opening the boot at the motorway services

Think about the rest of your gear - don’t look like you might a gun nut wandering around in public
Also don’t look like a soldier wandering around in public - you could unwittingly make yourself look like a target (a partially uniformed “soldier” not paying attention to the surroundings is an opportunist target)

A proper gun case or gun bag is a good thing. But is best suited for your own transport. Anonymous baggage is better for public transport

I’ve often used a snowboard bag, typically guns in gun bags which are then inside the snowboard bag. An easy way to carry 2 or 3 gun bags all in one and thrown over my shoulder.

Sports holdalls are great, and work for the rest of your gear too. If they are wheeled then you’re winning

If your gun is short enough or dismantled then a Stanley tool case becomes multifunctional as baggage, seat, maintenance bench
Pistols and SMGs should fit a briefcase or laptop bag
Backpacks work too


Note that a few backpacks (especially paintball branded ones) are capable of strapping a gun under a flap / were marketed to carry in a similar way to skateboards strapped to a backpack
Don’t do that

If you have no other baggage you could just use the original packaging. But think about the box artwork. A box with a picture of a gun is marginally better than just carrying the gun, but consider a bing bag around it



View: https://youtu.be/m4Btqz0kSGI?is=4mj1LDj_h-orqex6
 
All good advice, if yu must use a gun bag or hardcore on public transport mag eit a plain colour rather than camp and don’t plaster it with gun or airsoft stickers or patches. Infact try putting some sport or music stickers on instead. Always be aware of your surroundings while in public with your guns and try to look as inconspicuous as possible.

EDIT: Just watch the BZ Video laughed at the bit about them not letting them in the shop if they turn up with an uncovered gun. Really they should be getting them in a fit as possible and taking the gun off then til they produce a bag for it. As for the PC turning up like that, WOW!
 
All good advice there. One thing I would add is that if like me you use public transport is that while it's tempting to tart up your hard case any stickers or paint jobs with a gun/military theme should be avoided as it only brings attention to what you're carrying.
Just watch the BZ Video laughed at the bit about them not letting them in the shop if they turn up with an uncovered gun. Really they should be getting them in a fit as possible and taking the gun off then til they produce a bag for it. As for the PC turning up like that, WOW!
Unfortunately that could lead to legal problems.

I'm not really surprised the police paid them a visit if an incident with a rif happened nearby. They could be corroborating statements or just letting them know it happened so the shop can help make sure it doesn't happen again wasting police time and resources.
 
I'm not really surprised the police paid them a visit if an incident with a rif happened nearby. They could be corroborating statements or just letting them know it happened so the shop can help make sure it doesn't happen again wasting police time and resources.

Watch it again, there saying a Policeman turn dup with his airsoft gin not in a case. IF this does happen leaving them out in the street is north best plan. They should be taken inside and well and truly blocked and not allowed to leave with it uncovered, By this point if anyone who doesn’t know your noisiness has called the cops there gonna come anyway. IF they do explain calmly what has happened and that you have not let them leave the way they arrived. Wether you sell them a bag or case or just wrap it up for them do not let them leave like that. If they do leave get there details so you can pass them onto Polic if they do attend. If the ARV does turn up they’ll probably guess what has happened but of coarse will treat it as a firearm incident until they can verify otherwise.
 
Watch it again, there saying a Policeman turn dup with his airsoft gin not in a case.
Must've missed that bit. Definitely stupid and they should've known better. Taking someone's legally owned property and not letting them leave could get the shop in legal trouble as a half decent lawyer could argue that's theft and false imprisonment
 
Whatever it is it must be bloody short to fit in that little bag with what looks like an AR15 style adjustable stock attached. Also considering the location I'm surprised none of the coppers are carrying.

Edit: bloody hell there's some bell ends in the comments
Screenshot_20260918-222314.webp
 
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It was a bit over a year ago but that scene at 2:00 is very similar to something I saw at a shop. A kid open carried an assault rifle RIF into the shop as I was there. The most damning thing was that his dad was with him. One of the staff at the shop gave them a reprimand and plastic bag to keep the gun in when they left the shop until they got home. The lad did a silly thing but the dad was utter tool in not being a half responsible adult. He got a small but very much deserved lecture about the risk of an armed response unit being called on him and his son if a member of public had seen them. There was an active business opposite the shop as well. The staff probably had a good idea what was going on there but customers may not have been in the know it sold airsoft gear.
 
Watch it again, there saying a Policeman turn dup with his airsoft gin not in a case. IF this does happen leaving them out in the street is north best plan. They should be taken inside and well and truly blocked and not allowed to leave with it uncovered, By this point if anyone who doesn’t know your noisiness has called the cops there gonna come anyway. IF they do explain calmly what has happened and that you have not let them leave the way they arrived. Whether you sell them a bag or case or just wrap it up for them do not let them leave like that. If they do leave get there details so you can pass them onto Polic if they do attend. If the ARV does turn up they’ll probably guess what has happened but of coarse will treat it as a firearm incident until they can verify otherwise.
The turning away segment could be for “dramatic effect”, but they are between a rock & a hard place

Many stupid people don’t learn, so covering it for those won’t necessarily stop them doing it again
They are on a industrial estate, so might have a slight chance of working by turning away back to a car to find a way to cover up

Not letting someone leave or with a gun is a hard one. The potential offence of carrying openly in public is under the firearms act
(Note that compliant Airsoft RIFs and IFs usually get exempted from the FA these days but IFs get an explicit inclusion to section 19)
But to get to the point “reasonable excuse” includes going to the shop for a service/repair - the act doesn’t allow for stupid


Section 19
A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (the proof whereof lies on him) he has with him in a public place
(a)a loaded shot gun,
(b)an air weapon (whether loaded or not),
(c)any other firearm (whether loaded or not) together with ammunition suitable for use in that firearm, or
(d)an imitation firearm.]
 
Any page or group with a national flag in the profile picture and the word patriots in the title is going to full of knuckle dragging morons
To be honest it popped up on a reel/short, & they dont tend to show much in the way of page info etc until you go deeper, or in this case, share it lol.
But my only interest was the actual content, I never look at what people are saying, there's too many divs out there trying to add their own narrative.
 
Don't worry, I wasn't lumping you in with the knuckle draggers. YouTube has a habit of recommending things which are obviously of no interest.
 
Since they introduced the hype function on the mobile app YouTube keeps recommending me shit that Goebbels would find a bit too on the nose.
It's happening so much I'm starting to think it's deliberate. Negative emotions tend to give a bigger reaction so users are more likely to reply and engage with the platform
 
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