The Home Office has invited the airsoft associations UKAPU and UKARA to a meeting to discuss the Police and Crime Bill, and the airsoft exception.
This is actually the first HO airsoft meeting which has been convined since we created UKAPU, and getting proper representation for players at these meetings has always been one of our highest priorities. The founders of UKAPU were never pleased with the way the previous meetings were conducted, it was extremely hard for players to get any say or find out what went on. I don’t consider this to be the fault of the Home Office at all, IMO the problem was on our end. For players this upcoming meeting will be markedly different. The UKAPU committee members representing UKAPU members at the meeting will be people with no vested interests, and at the AGM next week YOU will be given the opportunity to select those people, or even be one of those people. I’d like to know what your concerns are in relation to the PCB 2015/16 and what questions you would like to ask the Home Office. We will distribute the minutes to you when we recieve them, as is proper. The meeting date is the 11th of March.
Numerous branches of the government now recognise UKAPU as a legitimate airsoft stakeholder, and the Home Office contacted UKAPU in the first instance when they decided to convene this meeting. Many of UKAPUs reccomendations made it into the law commision report and the draft Bill. UKAPU is merely a mechanism which allows players to have real influence on their hobby, so please discuss below.
Matt Furey-King, Chairman UKAPU