Buying a RIF advice

[superwok]

MY UKARA expired a while ago and due to work changes I can not always visit a site 3 time in 3 months, is there other way I can buy a RIF without having it 2 toned. 

[Cannonfodder]

The 3 games don't have to be within 3 months, just over a period greater than 2 months (56 days) 

[Oneshotscott]

As well as the above valid point by @Cannonfodder, you cannot breach these rules.  You'll just have to attend 3 games over a period greater than 56 days (which goes by very quickly).   On another note by the time you gain your ukara number hopefully the UK retailers will be able to offer a greater stock list of options for you.

 

 

[EDcase]

You don't need to do 3 games to get UKARA renewed.

Talk to the site you got it and ask to renew. (You'll have to pay £10 or so)

You may have to do one game there but that's it.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by EDcase

[BigStew]

3 hours ago, EDcase said:

You don't need to do 3 games to get UKARA renewed.

Talk to the site you got it and ask to renew. (You'll have to pay £10 or so)

You may have to do one game there but that's it.

 

there are no steadfast provisions for getting your UKARA registration renewed. some sites may renew after one game but some may expect you to play your 3 games in no less 2 months. A site actually has no obligation to register you on the UKARA database no matter how many games you attend. I would contact the retailer you are consider buying from and asking if they will except your game booking confirmations as proof you are a player( if you are looking to import i wouldn't try this method).    

[EDcase]

10 minutes ago, BigStew said:

there are no steadfast provisions for getting your UKARA registration renewed. some sites may renew after one game but some may expect you to play your 3 games in no less 2 months. A site actually has no obligation to register you on the UKARA database no matter how many games you attend. I would contact the retailer you are consider buying from and asking if they will except your game booking confirmations as proof you are a player( if you are looking to import i wouldn't try this method).    

Yeah, granted it may not be a written rule but I would think most sites would accommodate a player renewing, especially after the recent difficulties.

If not I'd suggest to find another site 🤔

 

I certainly wouldn't risk importing with an expired UKARA.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by EDcase

[Rogerborg]

UKARA is really just a way of recording site membership, so I'd agree with talking to your site(s) and seeing what they're prepared to do.

 

I'd 100% agree with not trying to import a RIF without a defence at the moment.  But within the UK, it is not, and never has been, an offence to buy or attempt to buy a RIF.

 

So: buy privately from someone who wants to sell. It's entirely up to them.

 

And truth to tell, there are some retailers who will sell to anyone, which is dropping a huge turd in our punchbowl.  However, if you have a history of playing or membership, you can always ask retailers if they're willing to sell to you - they are in the business of doing that.

 

Given the stocking issue at the moment, your first challenge is to find something for sale.

[BigAl]

Rogerborg summed it up perfectly.  UKARA is simply a convenient method of proving your defence, your site membership is your defence.  So whatever you need to do to renew your site membership is al that matters.  As long as you are a site member a retailer can check you out with the site.

[Rogerborg]

And to be crystal clear, yes, it really is membership that matters.  That's the condition in the Home Office circular that actually defines airsoft as a "permitted activity" VCRA defence.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-violent-crime-reduction-act-2006-commencement-no-3-order-2007-firearms-measures

 

Quote

 

For airsoft skirmishing, the Association of British Airsoft is putting in place arrangements to allow retailers to check that individual purchasers are members of a genuine skirmishing club or site. The key elements of these arrangements are:

• new players must play at least 3three [sic] times in a period of not less than two months the two months[sic] before being offered membership
• membership cards with a photograph and recognized[sic] format will be issued for production to retailers
• a central database will be set up for retailers to cross-check a purchaser’s details
• a member’s entry on the database will be deleted if unused for 12 months.

 

 

I've never had a membership card, mind, although one site did capture my soul on camera while starting the clock running on membership.

 

Note the curious condition on the central database entry (UKARA or similar) expiring: if it's unused (for purchasing) for 12 months, not if the player hasn't renewed membership. That's not how it's played out in practice, and it's clear that all of this is merely suggestive - what matters is a "genuine skirmishing club or site", i.e. one with third party liability insurance for airsoft activities (also as per this circular).

 

tl;dr version - ask your ex-sites.

[EDcase]

Specifically regarding international purchases:

I've never had site membership so I can't comment on that but for importing into UK I'd rather use a UKARA number because that's the most common identifier for customs officers to recognise.

This is why many Eastern retailers have a specific entry for the UKARA number.

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by EDcase

[Madhouse]

Personally I don't have UKARA yet (will meet the criteria at my next visit).

 

But, of the two retailers I have physically visited, both have said that as long as I can provide proof I am engaged in Airsoft activities (bookings etc) then they were happy to sell me something without UKARA.

 

Obviously you won't be able to buy online / import stuff and you're limited to what you can get locally but it's worth a visit to a retailer if only to look at shiny new stuff and pick up a few consumables.

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Madhouse said:

Obviously you won't be able to buy online

 

You can ask.  As I noted, there are a couple of retailers who don't actually give a stuff about defences (although I'm sure they'd get all huffy and high-horsey if it was put to them in those terms), and even the good ones can make their own judgement calls on a case-by-case basis, as they have to do with the valid non-UKARA defences anyway.