Category: News

There’s some excellent news on the UK airsoft legal front. I should be allowed to release the information tomorow. Stay tuned!

Matt

We’ll be writing to the PMs office to clarify whether he’s explicitly supporting the proposal or has a different proposal in mind.

Conservative MEPs that we’ve received feedback from have been supportive of shooters and against the proposal. The Labour MEPs so far are extremely supportive of the proposal and the statements in support even seem pre prepared.

But have the Conservative parliamentary party just decided to support the proposal? This article implies so. Keep an eye out for further developments.

Out of interest, I’ve not seen widespread support for or against from UKIP, Lib Dem or Green MEPs.

Matt

Here’s how to find your MEP

https://www.mysociety.org/wehelpyou/contact-your-meps/?gclid=CjwKEAiAp_WyBRD37bGB_ZO9qAYSJAA72Ikg-MUOCg5HzjAPdBxB7Oc64vpnK0sJ1a67xIJpanSYMBoCtVLw_wcB

Today a player was telling me how he’s going to give up on airsoft, sell his kit rather than fight this. Mediocre! Good thing that we didn’t just roll over in 2006 and accept the VCRA as it was. Airsoft gives me immense joy and it’s not hard to write a few letters to defend it. I thought us Brits were made of sturdier stuff!

Remember to fill out the feedback form if you didn’t already https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/?fuseaction=feedback&docId=3085376

This is pretty big for airsoft and I hope you’ll help us kick this proposal back from whence it came. Matt

In other news I’m meeting with a web designer this week so should have some design ideas to show you soon. Also, things are really kicking off with the European Airsoft Association, which I also run. The EU has published another poorly conceived anti firearms paper which appears to call for the registration of all airsoft replicas in Europe. If enacted into EU regultions, we’d have to make it part of UK law, so we’ll be fighting that hard. UKAPU is a founder member of EAA so we’ve got your back in Europe too 😉

There’s also some other draconian ideas in the paper such as banning all real semi auto weapons and all deactivated firearms, so be sure to support your cousins in the real firearms world who are also going to fight this nonsense.

We’ve been asked about the new Met Police firearms surrender campaign.

http://www.met.police.uk/giveupyourgun/

One of the things they police are asking people to do is hand in Airsoft Replicas because they are ‘dangerous’. UKAPU refutes this assertion. Replicas can create a dangerous situation if you do something foolish like brandishing them in public, but we believe that educating people on how to use them legitimately is a more effective way to prevent incidents. We would also like to see the police or another body take responsibility for following up on traders who sell replicas to members of the public who can’t buy them legally.

If anyone is confused about whether it is legal to possess a realistic imitation firearm (RIF) or imitation firearm (IF), you should know that there are no laws which punish ownership. Buying and selling them is a bit trickier though, as this is restricted by the Violent Crime Reduction Act (VCRA 2006).

You can sell an IF (two tone) to anyone over 18 years old.

You can’t legally sell a RIF to most people but you are allowed to sell one to an airsoft player over 18 years old (Regulation 3 of SI 2606). To check that they are a genuine player, you could ask their local site if they are registered, or ask a retailer to see if their site membership is registered on the UKARA, PASS or BAC databases. There’s some other people that can buy RIFs but I won’t go into that today.

If you only carry your airsoft replica to games (and keep it covered on the way), and only use it on insured, organised game sites, you won’t be breaking any laws and have nothing to worry about.

You can find a list of organised sites on http://www.airsoftmap.net/

If you are still confused about the legal situation, please feel free to drop us a message on the UK Airsoft Players Union Facebook page.

If you are on twitter, make sure you use the #giveupyourgun hashtag alongside #airsoft, and let people know they shouldn’t be giving sports equipment away, they should be bringing it along to an organised site for a friendly and thrilling airsoft skirmish! The hashtag is being pushed by the Met Police for the next fortnight so use it as an opportunity to promote our community in a positive light to the public.

Matt Furey-King, Chairman UKAPU

I’ve just written to the home office to ensure that UKAPU is going to be consulted first hand on matters pertaining to airsoft. I’ve not felt the need to do this before now, but with current goings on I want to make sure you guys and gals get first hand information and get to put your opinions forward. When the law commision publishes its recommendations I anticipate we’ll see a re-emergence of the ‘airsoft meetings’ with the home office, and I’ll make sure UKAPU is involved as we’re the only democratic independent airsoft association in the UK. And proud of it!

Matt Furey-King , Chairman