UKAPUOn the 19th November 2016 we are running a private game for UKAPU members at Strikeforce CQB site in Gloucester and we are holding the UKAPU AGM in the evening in the safe zone. All members are welcome to attend the game and the AGM. Details to follow. Should be a good ‘un!
Please let the Secretary know if you would like to run for a committee role or add an item to the AGM agenda.
Update on Proposal 2015/0269, the proposal to amend the EU firearms directive (for clarity this is not related to the policing and crime bill, this is a separate issue with even greater potential consequences)-
The proposal is currently in the Trilogue stage. This is a set of informal negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. During this process the 3 bodies will agree on what goes into the final proposal, from there it’s a yes/no vote on whether to implement the final proposal into the directive, after that the directive is implemented in national law. The trilogue is a tad secretive and we’ll not likely know the results till its done. The airsoft community has done what it can to influence the process. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what comes.
The IMCO current draft of the proposal, based on the amendments voted on by the European Parliament, is airsoft friendly. But the commission’s document is essentially the first draft of the proposal, which wants to see all replica firearms classed as real firearms (and all firearms with ‘military appearance’ banned, to boot). They will find a mid point between the two documents. So we have to hope that the IMCO document is fully implemented, as far as airsoft is concerned. This should be the case, there doesn’t seem to be much desire from the Council to reclassify replicas as firearms. Vicky Ford MEP is on side (she’s met regularly with airsoft representatives from our parent body European Airsoft Association and Cybergun/ASG) and understands the ridiculousness of the original proposal, in regards to airsoft. As the Rapporteur Ms. Ford will be involved in the trilogue throughout.
I’m not sure where Firearms shooters stand at the moment with the proposal, its gotten quite complicated. I understand that de-act owners could substantially loose out at the moment.
We’ll let you know when we hear more. Airsoft should be OK but keep your fingers crossed.
Matt Furey-King
Chair, UK Airsoft Players Union
Midlands based members, can you give us some advice please? We are are holding the UKAPU AGM (more details on this to follow, all members welcome) in Meriden, CV7 7NG on the evening of Sunday 20th November.
What we’d like to do is have a game to make more of a day trip for people who are coming along.
So my question is what sites are running in that area on Sunday 20th November? Probably looking at 30min or so driving time ideally.
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
41 envelopes and stamps over 69 patches
These will be latest batch to be send out
Really sorry it has taken sooooo long and the rest will not be done till two weeks as I’m away next weekend
I’ll try do some during the week but I am very busy with work
So all these will be the earliest to have paid
Thank you again for all your support
Lee
The Policing and Crime Bill has been through 3 days of examination by the whole house committee in the House of Lords. Clause 111, part of the bill which relates to firearms (and includes the airsoft exception) didn’t come up, which is how things should be. Committee stage is scheduled to continue on 26 October when further amendments will be discussed. So stay tuned!
If you are interested you can find more information on the process here https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2016/july/lords-debates-policing-and-crime-bill/
If you are still receiving communications from MPs and Lords, please do continue to forward them to our Rep, Alex Abramian alex@ukapu.org.uk Alex is cataloguing replies to help us build a picture of potential supporters and opponents of airsoft.
Matt
I’ve just found out about this sad news. Steve Banks, Owner and Founder of Combat South, has passed away. Steve was one of the people to grab the reigns and really push UK airsoft to the masses in the 90’s. He was one of the key pioneers that made airsoft what it is today. As it happens I experienced my first organised skirmish at Combat South back in 1998 and Steve made me feel very welcome indeed, as he did with thousands of other newbies over the years. A big loss to the UK airsoft community.
Matt
