BUT - saying that as a minority we're the same as Muslims is WAAAAAYY off the mark.
Public opinion is a fickle thing and policy is usually governed by opinion and politics NOT pure statistics. Gun ownership is an emotive issue (be it real or imitation) and one that even the boldest of Police Commissioners doesn't want to touch with a bargepole. If the general public thinks that realistic imitation firearms are a real and credible threat to their safety then they will bring the pressure of their narrow minded views to bear in an almost lemming like frenzy to be seen to be "doing the right thing".
Added to that the more that we as a community feel it necessary to voice our objections to a change in legislation that hasn't even happened is MORE likely to make the policy makers sit up and take notice at which point the uninformed politicos that run the show could very easily target our hobby as an easy vote winner and ban them outright.
It is 100% not the same thing, being Muslim and being an airsofter, with the exception of the numerical fact that both are minorities in population terms. However, the fact of being a numerical minority is not by itself a reason to suggest that you should behave subserviently when you are being challenged in the course of law abiding activity. I was objecting to your earlier observation that airsofters should realise they are a minority interest and should behave as such. Criminal law is there to provide sanctions against certain behaviours, not minority interests, whatever they should be.
Public opinion is emotive, but that should not lead to a 'hide and hope they don't notice us' approach. The more people that know about airsoft gaming, the safer the hobby will be from ignorance. The GCN and their ilk exist to pump their propaganda through tabloids, which is why tabloids are not trusted sources of reliable news, something which genpop should be given credit for as well. However, airsofters would be better off with politicos if they would behave and declare with all honesty that there is nothing criminal or unsavoury about airsoft itself, not giving the impression that airsoft is niche and an outcast hobby. LARP used to be considered vaguely strange and fringe, but these days, LARP is mainstream enough to hit the BBC news with positive reporting. Paintball is similar, but now also beyond question as a part of society's broad palette. Airsofting should work at heading in the same direction.
The replies are not about canvassing politicos to do something about a problem that doesn't exist. They are here because Frank issued a challenge to come up with opinions in his open letter.
ps if it would help stop the off-topic spiral introducing Muslims has managed to create, substitute cricket players in there instead, with their devilish cricket bats. I think Muslims have been very hard done by thanks to the 'War on Terror' reporting. Around this time last year, there was some vandalism involving war graves where it was hinted by the tabloids - shock, horror - that some UK based Muslim extremists were behind it all. In the end, it turned to be some feckless 17 year old white male who went on TV to apologise profusely. A lot of wild talk surrounds the topic of Islam and Muslims, thanks to the reporting of extremism and terror in the world at large, cynically linked by terrorists to faith; without the unremitting efforts of people to educate the genpop about Islam, the spiral of sensationalist rubbish would go unchallenged.
), so I don't want to prejudge what has been going on with that.
