UKAPUGood luck to everyone participating in the UK’s first official 3 gun airsoft match, at Yorkshire Tactical in Barnsley.
This is a big step forward for organised airsoft practical shooting, as prior to this we’ve only had Pistol matches. Looking forward to reading he after action report, and hope to see the discipline grow from here.
Apologies folks for not posting anything lately, the cogs that make up Team UKAPU are whirring away noisily in the background – as is our wont.
Anyhow there are a couple of members of the committee who will be making their way down to The National Airsoft Festival (Event??) in a purely unofficial capacity.
If any of our members for whatever reason would like to speak to one of us, then I’m sure we can sort something out.
Roll on Friday!
~ David
Good evening members,
Some of you may be aware of the latest Offensive Weapons Bill. It is part of recent attempts to tackle violent crime in the UK. Unfortunately it is not without its issues; namely another disproportionate attack on the shooting community.
If you shoot or are just sympathetic to the plight of all shooting sports in the UK then please give this a read and consider getting involved.
Thanks.
Hello members,
Ever since the introduction of the amended Policing and Crime Bill last year there has been a cloud hanging over HPA RIF users in the UK. Specifically that most full auto capable HPA airsoft replicas could be ‘readily converted’ to exceed the 1.3J airsoft threshold, or could be regarded as ‘capable of’ more than 1.3J in their stock form.
UKAPU have been actively pursuing a resolution for HPA users and as part of this ongoing effort, Vice Chairman Tim Haines, has been involved in discussions with Polarstar to address the aforementioned issue and as a result we are conducting a poll on behalf of Polarstar.
How does this help HPA users? Polarstar are producing a modular regulator, which will allow UK HPA owners to build compliant HPA powered RIFs. Polarstar will be producing piston regulator assemblies for multiple PSI settings, which we hope, will give us the means to ensure that selective fire HPA RIFS can be safely operated under the 1.3J legal limit.
We urge all of our members to share this poll; the greater the number of responses, the better the data.
Have you ever found yourself wondering what the law regarding Airsoft is, and how it applies to you?
Well, I have. In fact, it’s kind of our job at UKAPU to more than just wonder about it.
To make everyone’s life easier (and hopefully quell some arguments that pop up on Facebook every week) I’ve decided to grab some of the important, contentious rules and regulations that affect Airsoft, simplify them down a bit, and stick them into one easy to deal with page.
Something you feel is missing? Give us a shout.
~ David
Ouch! Just a quick heads up for all airsofters – Do not leave green gas bottles in your car during the summer. This time they were lucky but looking at the damage to the ammo box it could have quite easily caused serious injury or worse if anyone had been in the vehicle at the time it went off. Not to mention the damage to your vehicle!
Stay safe folks!
Dear members – or what may be accurate, ex-members:
A mailshot will be sent out later on this afternoon to select people explaining that as we are unsure on whether or not these people with “expired” memberships wish to remain a non-fee paying member of UKAPU, we have decided to take a pragmatic approach to this and will soon be removing their data from our membership books.
“Expired” meaning “renew functionality” not turned on within our management system. Whoops.
Anyhow, if you receive an e-mail similar to this – and you do not wish to remain a valued member of UKAPU by means of not resubscribing or doing nothing, we will do the needful.
If you do wish to resume being a member of UKAPU (which we very much hope is the case!) then follow the links in the e-mail (or look below) to start the membership process. It’s free!
David Weston
UKAPU Chairman
Good evening members!
We are pleased to announce the latest member of the UKAPU committee, Leigh Batson.
Leigh will be taking on the role of regional representative for the Midlands and will be the main point of contact for dealing with issues and queries from UKAPU members in that area.
We hope all UKAPU members will make her feel welcome!
Now to hand over to Leigh herself…
“I joined the world of Airsoft in 2015, originally as a photographer for my partner but, after shooting some of his airsoft guns I became really attached and brought my own, a G19 springer from the market. I only needed to practise until I could afford my pride and joy, a custom internal MP5K AEG PDW variant.
I loved the game for the pure friendship everyone showed each other, both on and off the field. It gave me a way to spend some more time with my partner and to understand a sport I’d never really heard of until then.
Fast forward to now and I am the proud owner of Task Force Stalker Airsoft, based primarily in Leighton Buzzard. I am also the team captain for Bedfordshire in the Inter-County Airsoft Competition.
I volunteered to become part of the UKAPU because it meant I could actually make a difference in the sport and to be a part of something much bigger and more influential within the Airsoft community.
I can’t wait to get stuck in to helping the UKAPU and its members. And as a female airsoft player, showing other girls that airsoft isn’t just for the boys.”
Hello members,
Here we are then! A whole year has passed since the Policing and Crime Act 2017 came into effect; the Earth is still turning and we are all still happily enjoying our wonderful sport.
As a result of the PCA 2017 – and for the first time since airsoft arrived on our shores – it now has a proper definition in law. Airsoft has been referenced in primary legislation and is no longer loitering within secondary legislation. This is rather significant for us as it affords airsoft more protection and actually shows that parliament is happy for it to continue to exist.
UKAPU committee members worked tirelessly towards ensuring that skirmishers didn’t get a bum deal. Our primary goal was to ensure that skirmishers had a voice during the discussion and consultation stages, that we weren’t stuck with a 1 Joule maximum energy limit and that airsoft didn’t get shoehorned into or tacked onto some piece of existing firearms legislation.
It goes without saying that without all the support of our members we really would have struggled. Your donations contributed towards getting committee members to Home Office consultations and meetings, creating and distributing campaign materials and promoting the issue amongst the airsoft and firearms community and press.
Unfortunately after all this hard work we still have some unanswered questions. We are still dealing with a couple of grey areas with regard to the wording and players have been contacting us on a regular basis since the commencement of the PCA, all asking how they can stay legal. The present situation is that we can’t currently give any definitive advice. Trust us when we say this is as frustrating for us as it is for you and getting this situation rectified is still an ongoing priority.
So what can we take away from all of this? Though there are still some unknowns, airsoft is arguably in a much better place both politically and legally than it was before and strengthens our position lest we face challenges in the future.
And finally, to celebrate the first anniversary of the PCA 2017, our chairman David has procured a cake! He said he would share it if he could but, as he can’t he will eat it on behalf of the committee and our members!
