Two tone guns and paint wear

[emilianoksa]

If say a pistol with a red slide starts to lose most of its paint, is the owner required to repaint it?

 

 

[colinjallen]

No; just let it turn itself into a RIF.

[Cr0-Magnon]

12 minutes ago, colinjallen said:

No; just let it turn itself into a RIF.

 

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, emilianoksa said:

If say a pistol with a red slide starts to lose most of its paint, is the owner required to repaint it?

 

Well, that's sent me off down a rabbit hole of yeahbuts.

 

I think the pragmatic answer is no, of course not, because nobody will ever know or care.

 

Legally, I have absolutely no idea how it would be interpreted.  I mean, the IF hasn't just lost the paint itself, just sitting there.  One one hand, it's been lost through the actions of the owner, so they modified it.  But on the other hand, there was - probably - no intent, or mens rea.  On the gripping hand, anyone who had deliberately removed paint could say "Yeah, it just wore off, legit."

 

Like so much airsoft legislation, I doubt we'll ever know, unless you can somehow persuade the police and CPS to prosecute you.

 

Fun story, I asked a copper chum to report me to the Fiscal for wearing a flip-front motorcycle helmet flipped up, to settle a spat over the statute and interpretation, but she didn't want to do the paperwork.  Spoilsport.    That's a £100 FPN tariff and no licence endorsement through, I'd hate to be a test case for anything toy-firearms related.

[EDcase]

I doubt the authorities would care unless its used in a crime...  Then they'll start asking questions

[Rogerborg]

10 hours ago, EDcase said:

I doubt the authorities would care unless its used in a crime...  Then they'll start asking questions

 

I'd be astonished if they prosecuted for it, if they have any Firearms Act charges to bring to bear.

 

The amount of ignorance on display even at the prosecutorial level is staggering.  Remember the chap in Falkirk who got swooped on in public by armed response, uniform, undercover, and the copper chopper, for posting a video of a RIF in a Facebook airsoft group full of such videos.

 

Having realised what a monumental foul up ScotPlod had made by clearly thinking they were dealing with a real firearm, the Fiscal did a volte-face and quickly changed the charges to a Section 127 "menacing" communication, while trying to stitch him up by removing the airsoft context from it.

 

This is why I'm very circumspect about posting images of myself with a RIF.  The State patently knows next to nothing about either airsoft or its own laws, and we can't expect anything like rational, reasonable behaviour from it.

[Tommikka]

On legal specifics - no one cares unless an offence occurs or you come to the attention of the police for some other reason 

 

 

Possession of a RIF is not illegal, (possession in certain circumstances could be an offence - such as possession of land balaclava and a RIF in the bank)

Under the VCRA the paint mattered at the point of sale

 

’wear’ would be some worn paint and it no longer covering >50%
(Bearing in mind there appears to be a lot of two tone pistols  with only the top coloured then they may not be VCRA compliant in the first place)

A clean RIF is highly unlikely to be the result of wear - but I wouldn’t throw you in the dungeon for tidying up excessive wear

 

For thread diversion ‘funny’ stories on motorbikes, I used to wear a full face helmet with flip visor open and ‘biker’ wrap sunglasses

On a few occasions I would get stuck at a particular junction, it’s now replaced by the roundabout at the Stonehenge visitor centre, but it used to be part of the route used by long convoys of USAF transports either carrying something of interest or just a diversion/exercise.

A police roadblock would appear and I’d be stuck for half an hour to an hour for a few parts of the road to be closed, the convoy to pass through and for them to have cleared far enough away

 

Depending on what I had at the time I may have been on a ‘proper’ motorbike or on a bright orange Suzuki FZ50 with a granny basket on the front and Snoopy Red Baron stickers on the sides

The basket typically contained a bottle of Polish pure spirt (no longer sold in civilized countries but can sometimes be found in home brew versions if you know the wrong people)

 

I would then be sat waiting around with either the police or RMPs also waiting bored …. And looking at me & whatever I’m carrying

One night the police decided to ‘observe’ my black wrap sunglasses and consider how effective they are in allowing me to see at night, and beginning to consider whether polish pure spirit could contribute to my night riding skills …… just as the barriers were being removed & I’m waved off

[EDcase]

3 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 

...Reminder the chap in Falkirk who got swooped on in public by armed response, uniform, undercover, and the copper chopper, for posting a video of a RIF in a Facebook airsoft group full of such videos...

I'm not 100% on the details but I believe some vengeful person (family) with a grudge called the plod on him saying he was armed/dangerous so their response was due to that false report.  I think his facbok post was just confirmation of their false information (IF they even saw it)

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by EDcase

[Rogerborg]

30 minutes ago, EDcase said:

I believe some vengeful person (family) with a grudge called the plod on him saying he was armed/dangerous

 

That's my suspicion too, but I never saw a single word from the chap himself or anyone else that would suggest it was true.  I can't see that ScotPlod identified anyone who was being "menaced" or mentioned a complainant - their victim seemed absolutely baffled as to why he'd been selected out of everybody posting in that group.

[EDcase]

I think he did post his side in this forum but I'm not even going to try to find it 🙄

[Groot]

17 hours ago, colinjallen said:

No; just let it turn itself into a RIF.

[Ebeneezer Goode]

To answer the OP... no.

 

I'll admit to repainting my 2 tones following purchase. There, I said it. I'm a naughty boy and the UKARA Polis will be hammering doon the front door within the hour.

 

The way I see it however, I'm not waving them in front of the neighbours on the street, I keep them hidden away indoors all the time, I do target practice in either the back garden or the garage (I've told the neighbours either side that I do airsoft and have replica firearms so as to make them aware and not not panic if they see me with something that looks like a gun), the only time they go beyond my property is on skirm days and even then they're well concealed away from noseyparkers so that nobody thinks I'm some radge on the loose with a shootah. Get dahn, Ernie! It's the filf!

 

Many airsofters I know have done the same as me, nary an eyelid batted. 2 tone is for the benefit of purchase without valid defence. Strictly speaking, the VCRA does say its illegal to manufacture a RIF and painting over 2 tone with non 2 tone paint could be construed as breaking the law. However, my view is that there's bigger fish to fry and someone will only take notice if a much more serious offence is committed...