UKAPUI’d like to formally invite our members to The Gaol, in Oakham for the AGM of UKAPU for the period covering the calendar year of 2017.
Should airsofters get behind firearms owners?
Now I’m clearly stating the obvious when I say that airsofters have a keen interest in things that shoot. Nearly all of us will have at least one imitation firearm or realistic imitation firearm in our collections. They are after all, a key component in the ability to participate in our fine sport!
How many airsofters also shoot air guns, shotguns or firearms though? I think it is fairly safe to assume that there are a reasonable number that shoot air guns but that firearms and shotgun certificate holders are likely to be amongst the minority.
Most airsofters will be aware of at least one issue affecting airsoft at any given time over the years. Either in the form of legislative amendments, political challenges, anti-gun groups, media bias and misinformation, through to players being arrested and social media groups being shut down. And for firearms owners the story isn’t any different. If anything its worse! Firearms owners are amongst the most law abiding members of society but they are frequently the most vilified!
Why should this matter to airsofters?
Firstly, we all shoot guns in one form or another. It doesn’t matter if it is a 6mm spring powered pistol, a CO2 powered 4.5mm steel BB air pistol, a 12g O/U shotgun or a .50 cal rifle, they are still all widely categorised as ‘guns’.
Secondly, in an age where shooting sports, firearms and anything generally gun shaped are becoming increasingly frowned upon and legislated against we should all see the obvious benefit that can be gained by helping out our powder burning brothers and sisters! The age old adage, “united we stand, divided we fall” applies perfectly!
The government has been chiseling away at shooting sports for decades now under the guise of ‘public safety’. And we know that it doesn’t just affect firearms owners. VCRA 2006 anyone? And in case they had forgotten, we are the public! Are they suggesting they are trying keep us safe from ourselves? Obvious ulterior motives are obvious but thats another discussion for another day…
And lastly, the fact is that with the way things are going we simply cannot afford to just fight our own corner and then hope others will come to our rescue if the challenge proves too great! Shooters have a long memory and they remember those who helped and those who hung them out to dry. Lets not be the latter!
What is currently affecting firearms owners?
Good question! Well firstly I would suggest you check out the following web sites…
All of the above can be found on Facebook, Twitter etc… so give them a like and a follow and you should be able to stay sufficiently ‘in the loop’.
What can I do?
You can do as much or as little as you feel! The key here is to not stand at the back and do nothing. Many of us learnt that when airsofters get together we can make ourselves heard …As Lord Shrewsbury would attest to… https://www.ukapu.org.uk/amendment-to-be-withdrawn/
Anything from just sharing this post through to joining a shooting group such as The British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) or actively lobbying MP’s, all contribute to making a difference.
Remember to always voice your support for your fellow shooters wherever you feel it is appropriate to do so. Don’t be afraid to share shooting articles or issues affecting shooting amongst airsoft groups and anyone who may be sympathetic towards the plight of shooting sports. Always bear in mind that a growing number of shooters will be fellow airsofters and will do the same for airsoft within the shooting community!
Want to help right away?
For those who want to get stuck in then the current issues affecting firearms owners are…
1. The proposed moving of .50 calibre rifles and certain types of ‘rapid fire’ rifles such as the MARS action (Manually Actuated Release System) to Section 5 (banned basically). There has been no recorded crimes involving either of these types of firearms so the obvious question is why the desire to move them to Section 5? According to the Home Office, there was one recorded theft of a .50 caliber rifle from a Registered Firearms Dealer (RFD). Imagine if they banned airsoft DMR’s because one was stolen from an airsoft retailer!
The Home Office have started a public consultation on offensive and dangerous weapons legislation. The consultation is open for a limited time and closes at 11:45am on December 9th.
Details and links to the public consultation can be found here…
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/offensive-and-dangerous-weapons-new-legislation
2. Changes to legislation surrounding ownership of antique firearms. Again, this is based on a tiny amount of misuse. In 2016 there was one high profile case surrounding a gang in Birmingham* so again, the issue is with criminals and not the law abiding who will be the ones unfairly impacted by any new legislation. There are already laws in place to deal with criminal use of antique firearms and the manufacturing of ammunition for obsolete calibre firearms without a license!
Details of the proposed changes and links to the public consultation can be found here…
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/consultation-launched-on-laws-around-antique-firearms
The public consultation closes at 11:45am on December the 14th.
3. Airgun regulation review. There is to be a review of current airgun legislation and possible implementation of licensing in England and Wales.
It could be argued that airgun crime is high, and at approximately 3000 incidents a year you may well agree, but looking at the Home Office figures** you can see that their use in violent crime, such as attacks on person, robberies etc… is a small fraction of their overall criminal usage. Now compare those numbers to the BASC estimate that there are over 6 million airguns in England and Wales and the result is less than 0.05% of those airguns are used in crime. There are already effective laws in place to tackle the criminal misuse of airguns and these have proven to be very effective in reducing airgun crime, hence the exceptionally low 0.05% crime rate.
Airgun licensing also has the potential to effect airsoft players. The introduction of maximum legal power limits for airsoft replicas has meant full auto capable RIFs/IFs over 1.3j are prohibited Sec5 firearms and bolt-action and semi-auto rifles and pistols and revolvers over 2.5j would just move to the air weapon category. Currently thats not a problem, but with the introduction of airgun licensing this could mean airsofters with RIFs/IFs, that for whatever reason shoot over the 2.5j limit may then find themselves in possession of unlicensed airguns.
Details can be found here… https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-office-to-review-air-weapons-regulation-in-england-and-wales
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-34936510
**http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7654
It’s not all gun grabbing and totalitarianism!
Now, this might all sound like the whole world is against us but it actually isn’t and neither does it need to be. The vast majority of people don’t wake up in the morning and go to bed at night in fear of being a victim of gun crime.
That said, some politicians and the media like to try and convince those people that certain death at the hands of gun wielding maniacs is a very real issue – usually in pursuit of whatever agenda or political career gains they are trying to achieve.
In response our agenda should be a simple one – Educate and protect!
And don’t forget that members of the shooting sports community are considered as some of the most law abiding members of society. Whats the point in having that status if we don’t tell everyone about it? Law abiding sportsmen and women are not the problem and never have been – they are law abiding so why would they be an issue?
The bottom line is that the more people understand shooting, the less likely they are to be afraid of it and the less likely they are to seek or support bans or further, unnecessary legislation.
Our sports may be different but we share identical goals; to protect and promote our sport so it can be enjoyed well into the future.
Happy shooting!
Check in on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1763013200585912/
Agenda can be found here agm-2016-agenda
See you there!
Matt
We are holding a members only game before the AGM. Please find even details here https://www.facebook.com/events/1763013200585912/
EU Proposal 2015/0269 to amend the firearms directive.
Usual note- 1.this legal issue is not connected to the Policing and Crime Bill, it is a separate legal issue. 2. We are fully affected by firearms directive changes as we’re still in the EU and will still be in the EU when (if) a revised directive is implemented. 3. We, the European airsoft community, have gained astonishing ground (12 months ago this proposal was bringing the end of our hobby, the ban of airsoft replicas in Europe, full stop) but this situation is still not over, not at all.
Our parent association European Airsoft Association has not heard any bad news about airsoft from the trilogue process. Hopefully that means airsoft, replicas and BFGs are still in the clear, as per the amendments from the European parliament which the EAA helped write (some of which was based on feedback from UKAPU members via UKAPU actually).
The trilogues were held last month but it seems that there is still little agreement between the Parliament, Commision and Council. The parliament vote (on the final draft) which was scheduled for November 22nd is suspended. A new date has yet to be set.
There are other talks going on about de-acts and firearms and the EAA will send representatives for airsoft where required.
Catch up on the history of Proposal 2015/0269 here http://www.ukapu.org.uk/category/legal-issues/eu-firearms-directive/
Matt Furey-King,
Chair UKAPU
The minutes section of our website is now up to date, and includes our most recent meeting. We’re all about transparency.
As of the last meeting we’ve filled some more positions, and shuffled a few others;
Ben Simmons has moved to Student Representative.
Steven Morley (aka Wallace) is back on the committee and has taken Ben’s prior position as North England Representative (Wallace is on the committee but isn’t a voting officer of the association due to commercial interests- though his help is still much appreciated!).
We’ve split the role of General Secretary in two, so Lee Dempsey is now Registrar.
Andrew Cade has taken on the new Secretary position.
Tim Haines was elected South West Representative.
Paul Davis was elected East England Representative
Many thanks to the new guys for coming on board and keeping UKAPU running. We’re still after Reps for Wales, Northern Ireland and Midlands. And by the way in 8 years of running UKAPU we’ve never had a female on the committee, which is very poor, and something I’d like to see put right.
Matt Furey-King, Chair
Folks, I’d like to present to you some good news from UKAPU, UKARA and the ATB.
To quote the Chairman Matt, from our Facebook page:
We have some great news for UK airsoft this morning. Lord Shrewsbury of the GTA has voluntarily decided to withdraw his amendment in regards to the airsoft exception from the Policing and Crime Bill 2015/16. This is the best possible outcome for UK airsoft. Lord Shrewsbury tells us he better understands airsoft now that he is properly informed, and that he is extremely keen to work with us and move forwards as a part of a unified firearms community. Please get word out and apply the brakes on this campaign, there’s nothing we need to counteract right now, the airsoft exception is not being questioned, and we certainly don’t want at this stage to create fruitless hassle for our valuable new ally. So to clarify, tweets emails and letters to Lords and Lord Shrewsbury should stop now.
When asked to contribute to this campaign the response from the UK airsoft was phenomenal. You should feel proud of the good work you’ve put in. There was a tiny element that was abusive and even threatening towards Lord Shrewsbury and needless to say, this is totally unacceptable behaviour and counterproductive, we condemn this behaviour unreservedly. Those individuals have been reported to the Police and we hope that such individuals are subject to the full weight of the law. But on the whole we saw an overwhelming positive response. I even saw some Mums writing to representatives to say tell them that airsoft had been a huge force for good in their children’s lives. I’d also like to make you aware that the 3 UK airsoft associations have done a colossal amount (most of it behind the scenes) to get us this far, and will continue to work for you over the coming months, so please keep supporting them in turn. Another group which gave us huge support was real firearms shooters, and grass roots shooting organisations such as Firearms UK. There wasn’t anything at stake for real firearms people and yet they leapt to the defence of airsofters. Bear that in mind should you see the firearms community facing hardship in the future.
Things are not finished with the PCB by any means. We still have concerns that, even with the exception in place, if you unwittingly import a slightly hot fully auto AEG, or have your HPA or GBB replicas are tested at maxed out pressure and heavy ammo you could face section 5 firearms charges (5 years mandatory sentence), which would be wildly disproportionate and unacceptable, even if it only ever happens to one of us.
So we ask everyone to keep up to date with this Bill for the next few months and keep discussing it.
If you are still receiving replies from MPs and Lords, please continue to post them on the group so we can ‘map the ground’. This group is very well informed and a useful asset in itself. https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKairsoftlobby/
Be sure to Like UK Airsoft Players Union to keep up to date https://www.facebook.com/UKAPU/ but more importantly players should join UKAPU, so we can keep doing what we do http://www.ukapu.org.uk/join/
Airsoft Trade Body will have its website online soon so get involved if you run an airsoft business and want to safeguard it http://www.atb.org.uk/
Retailer membership of old stalwart UKARA is of course available from their website http://www.ukara.org.uk/index.php
Please like, comment and share.
Kind Regards,
Matt Furey-King, Frank Bothamley & Tim Wyborn
On behalf of UKAPU, UKARA & ATB
What is the Policing and Crime Bill (PCB)?
This is a wide ranging bill looking to tie up numerous loose ends from previous legislation ranging from police complaint, alcohol licensing to maritime enforcement.
You can view information about it here http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2016-17/policingandcrime.html
Which part affects airsoft?
The difference between a firearm and a non firearm is whether the device is lethal.
Section 6 part 3 essentially creates a lethal threshold of 1 joule, meaning any barrelled weapon above this becomes a firearm. Note that after meetings and representation we managed to obtain section 5 which increases this limit to 1.3 Joules for automatic airsoft guns and 2.5 Joules for single shot.
But airsoft guns aren’t lethal
There is a difference between what most people consider as lethal, able to kill, and the legal definition of lethal which is along the lines of “able to inflict more than a trivial injury”. Regardless of what we think there needs to be scientific evidence to back up our position and testing from 2011 supports our position.
So what happens to an airsoft gun over the lethal limit?
If it is a single shot rifle or semi-automatic pistol then it just becomes and air rifle or pistol, the limits here are roughly 8 Joules for a pistol or 16 Joules for a rifle. Just bear in mind no insurance company will cover people shooting “lethal” air weapons at each other.
In the case of an automatic airsoft gun its bad news. We end up with an automatic air weapon which is prohibited through the 1968 firearms act.
Section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 (as amended) contains various descriptions. Any firearms (regardless of kinetic energy) that fall within any of the following definitions are prohibited weapons. 1. Any firearm which is so designed or adapted that two or more missiles can be successively discharged without repeat pressure on the trigger. [Section 5(1)(a)]
This is a mandatory 5 year jail sentence.
What about my 450fps DMR?
Did the factory make it semi-automatic? If so you may be in with a chance, if it’s a regular AEG semi locked then it will be viewed as it was originally manufactured…hence prohibited.
What about gas and HPA guns?
There is ongoing discussion (glacial as it may be dealing with government) about the status of readily convertible replicas. This means an item that is very easy to make into a firearm, in our case make fire above the lethal limit. With most automatic gas guns you could just put in high power gas and heat the mags up, for HPA guns you just turn the regulator up. There is a very real risk of these types of replicas becoming unusable for airsoft or becoming sec 5 prohibited.
Does this just affect players?
This limit would affect everybody as there is no special dispensation for shops to have illegal firearms. They would have to ensure every item coming into the UK be at a suitable power, the same as private individuals. Anybody who has imported a clone gun from overseas knows how difficult it could be to get a true reading of the power.
This increased stringency would certainly push up prices and limit the range of RiFs available.
Why is this Lord attacking the small exemption we have gained?
Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury is the President of the Gun Trade Association. He has tabled the amendment to remove the section we have fought hard to get removing the small power increase of 1 to 1.3J for auto guns and up to 2.5J for single shot.
This is a purely business motivated move by the GTA in order to bypass the VCRA. They are under the incorrect assumption that an automatic firearm is not section 5 prohibited. By wanting to line their own pockets and put airsoft guns in the hands of any idiot who wanders into a shop they are directly attacking the hobby we all enjoy as well as threatening it future by trying to cynically sidestep the checks and balances that the airsoft industry has so successfully abided by for the last 10 years.
But we don’t need more than 1 Joule, I don’t want to hurt people in game?
That’s not why we have tried to gain an exemption to 1.3J, our aim has been to set the upper limit at a point where any normal and responsible airsofter will not be at risk of holding a section 5 illegal firearm.
1J is 328fps with a 0.2g bb, at 329fps it will be illegal. There is no leeway or tolerance on this, equally with joule creep you could just put some heavier ammo in. What about the temperature or other conditions that could make a slight difference?
If the lethal limit is set at 1 Joule the accepted limit at sites and from shops is going to have to be lower, 10% maybe so 300fps, fine for indoors but not so fine for out in a windy woodland. We don’t advocate that sites go and increase their limits to be in line with the buffer we are lobbying for, we just want to prevent innocent players from having illegal firearms.
I have an AEG firing over the lethal limit, what should I do?
Downgrade it if you can, if this bill is enacted in its current form, you more than likely would have a section 5 firearm and the penalty if caught is severe.
I have a gas or HPA gun firing over the lethal limit, what should I do?
I don’t know of many ways to easily downgrade the power in a method suitable to show it’s not a readily convertible item. If this is the case you have a section 5 firearm and may need to hand it in.
I have a semi auto pistol or single shot rifle over the lethal limit, what should I do?
Nothing at all, you just have an airgun and are allowed up to 8J or 16J. Of course you can’t actually use this now at any reputable game site so it’s just target shooting for you.
What can I do to stop this?
We are working with UKARA and any other people who have a stake in this to work out a coherent lobbying plan to combat this. This will likely involve more letter writing to MPs and Lords and as soon as we have form letters for you to send we’ll make them available.
Of course if you aren’t a member of UKAPU please join, it’s completely free and every extra member adds weight to our arguments and lobbying.
There has been an unprecedented attack on UK airsoft. Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury, President of the Gun Trade Association, has tabled an amendment which aims to do away with the airsoft exception in the Policing and Crime Bill. That means we will not get our promised lethal threshold of 1.3J for full auto and 2.5J for semi auto/single shot, instead, we’ll be stuck with the 1J legal limit for airsoft, forever, across the whole of the UK.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0055/17055(e).pdf
This is a replication of the attack we faced earlier in the year from the Gun Control Network, working through Lynn Brown MP. This time, it has gone further and an amendment has been proposed. The Earl of Shrewsbury is a party whip who has vast power, influence, and wealth, who is quite capable of damaging our hobby by lumping us with a paltry 1J limit (328fps with a .20g BB).
We have two things going for us; One is that we are in the right. The forensic evidence supports our position (as do the government). The other advantage we have is that there are tens of thousands of us and we have a very strong presence on social media. At the moment both UKAPU and UKARA are making enquiries and looking at strategy. Soon we will ask the community to get involved and spread the word. The community is just about all we have to fight with.
We are doing everything in our power and we are preparing a campaign, so please watch our page closely, get the word out and prepare to fight hard for the future of your hobby.
Airsoft does not have the money or influence of the firearms trade. Grass roots lobbying from players is a proven and potent weapon, but this time, we are going to need an overwhelming and enthusiastic response from every single one of you.
This time, we need you, the community to stand with us as one. Together we can spread our message out and beat this latest challenge, but we need you, your friends, and everyone else involved in Airsoft to communicate the same message to those in power.
Matt Furey-King, Chair UK Airsoft Players Union