One of the advantages of blogging is that I am freed from having entirely one-sided conversations inside my head. You get to join in too, or at least if you choose, you have to put up with my witterings.
As per my previous post, I had a response from the Scottish Government (SG) regarding the apparent 1 joule limit for airsoft on the back of their new air weapon licensing Bill. The reply confirmed that my reading of the Bill was correct, I joule had been chosen as the lower level on the basis of precedent from Northern Ireland and an ancient appendix to the 11th Annual Report by the now-defunct Firearms Consultative Committee. So, assuming the Bill passes into law, airsoft guns in Scotland will be limited to a maximum of 1 joule of muzzle energy.
For the majority of players, this won’t make a huge difference – there is frankly little difference in performance between 328 fps and 340 fps. It will directly affect snipers and those using DMRs – back to 328 fps you go. Apply for an Air Weapon Licence will you? We’ll come back to that shortly. Bottom line is that most of us will be able to carry on pretty much as we were.
So, what’s my problem? They are many. Firstly, and in no order of importance, the example above, selling airsoft as air weapons. The Gun Trade Association was very keen on this a while back, aided by some within airsoft itself. If it’s over 1 joule, it isn’t airsoft, so we can sell it – airsoft retailers can’t. Simple. No, it isn’t. In order to sell it, your prospective customer is going to have to obtain and pay for a licence. The Bill is very specific about the acceptable reasons for owning an air weapon, airsoft isn’t one of them. So, assuming you could get a licence, or you already have one, and you buy a 500 fps sniper (hell, why not 1000 fps? It would still be legal as an air weapon) what are you going to do with it?
Given that this legislation arose directly as the result of the tragic murder of a child at the hands of a criminal with an air rifle, I personally cannot see sensible airsoft sites being willing to allow their customers to be shot at with an air weapon, even one running at 500 fps. Why not?! Surely that’s where we are today? Indeed, but in this brave new world, that is no longer an airsoft gun, it’s a firearm, a licensed firearm. I will bet a pound to a penny that the insurance companies will write the 1 joule into their policies for Scottish sites faster than you can say ‘bad idea’. After that, if sites knowingly allow the use of a gun over a joule, they may not be covered. They may also open themselves to both criminal and private legal actions. I say “may” advisedly, I don’t know; but if an air weapon is defined as anything over 1 joule, and as a site owner you didn’t check, if an injury results someone is going to pay.
So sites will have to police this new law quite carefully. I am aware that in Northern Ireland, observance of the 1 joule limit is sketchy, but you shouldn’t take such laissez faire as given.
What about retailers, or indeed anyone importing airsoft guns into Scotland? In theory it’s simple – 1 joule or under – no problem, over 1 joule it’s an air weapon and has to be handled as such. Now manufacturers are notoriously bad at actually delivering what they are paid for, so it would be no surprise if guns came in at say 350, or 360 fps. Does that make them air weapons? If so does that mean importers now have a whole new bunch of hoops to leap through? And once they have hurdled those barriers, can they legally downgrade these ‘air weapons’ to make them into plain innocent airsoft guns again? Are there proposed mechanisms in place to facilitate this? I have no idea. I strongly suspect the SG also has no idea. I am unaware whether or not there have been any representations made on behalf of the airsoft industry in Scotland to the SG during the drafting of this legislation, I suspect not, although again I could be wrong there. So once again, we are left trying to work out the ramifications of legislation, attempting (if we can be bothered) to change it before it is enshrined in law or just sticking our fingers in our ears and shouting “Lalalalalalalalalalala” very loudly.
Although this Bill does not threaten to kill airsoft within Scotland in the way that the Violent Crime Reduction Bill initially did, it has the potential to dramatically alter it again. If it should be enacted and nothing really changes you should ask yourself about the true value of legislation and legislators – either something is sufficiently worthy to justify the cost of legislation and therefore enforcement, or it isn’t. We wait to see which of these the Air Weapons & Licensing Bill 2014 actually is.
Postscript: Can I just make something clear, I don’t think that anything earth-shattering is going to happen as a result of all of this. The SG will claim that they aren’t legislating for airsoft and in a way they are right, they don’t have that power. My concerns, and the reasons I raise this matter are more principled and I also have a fear that, some way down the line, we will find ourselves in difficulties because a law that was never meant to affect us does. The reasons for that are myriad and for another post, but I refer you to the theoretical example of someone bringing a complaint against a site. I’m not saying it will happen, but potentially it could, and that could have serious adverse consequences. Time as they say will tell.
Frenchie's airsoft... 
Welp, you could be on the other side of the ocean and have the opposite problem. Here in Canada, a gun shooting UNDER 366fps (with a .20g BB) is considered a replica firearm instead of an airgun. Replica firearms are prohibited in canada under the firearms act. Meanwhile, air guns (shooting over 366 fps and under 500 fps) are perfectly legal, and dont require a license to carry, purchase, or sell in Canada.
Needless to say, our selection of GBB pistols is very limited. 😛
It seems we all have our crosses to bear eh?!
How does that make any sense? I’m from Ireland and our limit is 328 fps and 1 joule max. I don’t understand why then, in Canada, a more powerful gun is more legal than a less powerful one? Could you explain it?
I really don’t see a way that Airsoft weapons can be considered lethal to humans at all. Sure if you can somehow make it fire like 700-800 fps with like .4s or something it could cause a bad injury but just as that is true i could go into my back garden sharpen a stick and kill several people with it. Does this mean that the sale of trees should be prohibited to licence holders. also what is the plan as far as people who have rifles that fire over and say cant get a licence. Are they now criminals i mean all jokes aside Airsoft is not cheap and downgrades are a professional job which comes with a cost that not many people can just up and pay.My final words are this if i wanted to commit a crime that involved killing someone with and Airsoft gun i doubt any amount of “ARE YE GONNA TAKE THAT HIT MATE” is gonna kill a person
Could there not be clauses limiting the use of particular ammo e.g metal or plastic? Surely that is as important as the power? It’s crazy if someone was killed playing on a skateboard it would be subject to legislation. The death of the child is tragic but regardless of the law this wouldn’t have stopped it happening.
This is a good point James. My biggest issue is that once again airsoft is defined by what it isn’t, rather than defining what it is. To complicate matters, the Scottish Govt. doesn’t have the power to legislate for airsoft guns at present but by the way they have defined an air weapon, thay have done so anyway. Had they used something like “a lethal, barreled weapon of over 1 Joule of muzzle energy” I think there is good reason to believe that would have not been applicable to airsoft guns (as they are demonstrably not weapons as legally defined). They din’t and therefore it appears that anything which fires a projectile has to be less than 1 Joule or risk being classed as an air weapon.
Well I have been living and playing in Japan for the last 6 years. For most of that time all we could buy was TM.
But for the last two years more and more other brands have been sold in Japan. Yes we can only have 325 ftp or about and these new brands are shipping them here this way because they want the busses. So don’t worry to much on that part. But you could have a problem I had with my first ICS l85A2.
They down graded it and I had more problems with it then any other Airsoft gun I own. In the area I live the local goverment banded all Airsoft sites after small kids got hurts playing in their local park. As you said, every one has their cross to bear.
There is always an outrage in the US when any kind of legislation is put forth about Airsoft, but I wonder what would happen if a 1 joule law was put into effect or bright colored bodies on all Airsoft Weapons was mandatory? Then I guess it would be another story entirely.
Won’t people just find loopholes in this like they do with 2 tone guns?
Does the new law says that it has to be 1 joule or 328 fps with 0.2g bbs ? Because if some one could come out with new and not to expensive ammo that would have a solid(harden) core that would provide most of the mass and surrounding sphere made of something soft, maybe silicone, rubber or foam…don’t ask I am not scientist, that would dampen(on impact) the energy carried by the bb than replicas would still be able to stay in legal range with more fps. I might be fantasizing, about that because 0.2 g bb made of anything should still provide ~1 joule at 328fps, because it is the mass that carries the energy so I don’t really know if when most of the mass is surrounded with something soft would that really had any effect on the energy received on impact.
So the merry dance of legislation continues and yet again the pointless and magical figure of 1joule rears it’s ugly head, when that got changed from 1ftlb I can’t quite work out, but those in power have banded about the figure for so long even they “actually” believe it to be a worthy figure.
However, the facts don’t back up the figure of 1joule. testing at a government approved forensic laboratory has put the figure much higher for lethality (which doesn’t mean it will kill you, but does mean it will inflict more than a ‘trivial” injury) that figure being over 380fps measured with a 0.2gbb for multiple shots hitting the same location and in excess of 550fps for a single shot.
But it works in Northern Ireland comes the cry….well…..does it? Does reducing the number to 1Joule make a difference to anybody other than players? Does having the limit for replicas set at 1 Joule save lives, make our communities safer and stop people committing crimes, the hell it does. Airsofters just have to work with it and get by or give up airsofting all together, so the claims it works in NI as justification are ludicrous, it would work just as well in NI at 1ftlb, or 2 joules, the number of the power is irrelevant as long as it is below “actual tested values”, and not those of a defunct committee that expressed ‘opinions” and never actually provided any proof or testing 1 joule should be the defined limit of lethality.
The big question is can anything be done about it……and more importantly, “will” anybody do anything about it. the answers should be yes and yes, but sadly I feel the answers are yes and no. History has shown airsofters are a fickle bunch and their own worst enemies, in the past any attempt at uniting them for the common good has been greeted with shouts of “your just in it for the money” and “cartel”….I know, got the T shirt and still have the knives sticking out of my back.
We ‘should’ all (and by all I mean not just those in Scotland as it will have far reaching consequences) band together and fight this, it’s an injustice, it is very much not needed, it will make no difference to crime or keeping people safe and will ultimately only affect Airsofters, but ‘should’ and ‘will’ are poles apart.
T
Pingback: Airsoft “Weapons” ? | MarkBaillieDotNet