To airsofters out there.

[robwarrior]

read this

http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/nj/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1048845903 9910.xml

[USAF G]

"no intrinsic value..." what a load of crap! The gun (or toy gun) does not make the criminal! We use Airsoft as a non livefire training tool that is less expensive and less dangerous than Simunition. I've used both and find the Airsoft to be a viable subtitute for performing force on force training. Why do they have to make everything hard?

[hood]

For the same reason that they outlawed those AK Centerfire water guns a long time ago that looked like a .45 handgun and MP5. Kids were getting shot by police when they saw them. Now all water guns have to be bright colors. As a police officer, what would be your reaction if you saw a potential criminal walking around with a completely realistic looking M4 or M60? I'd probably get flashbacks to the L.A. gun shootout where those 2 armoured bank robbers dumped thousands of rounds of AK47 fire on them. For the same reason that you shouldn't/can't be walking around with these weapons on the street, the same should go for guns that look exactly like the real thing.

[Smoothie104]

Im with Hood. All the cops I've seen are using this "Terror Alert" as an excuse to be "Billy Bad Ass" why tempt them by carrying what appears to be a high powered weapon.

On the other hand, im buying a new Handgun (legally) Can't decide between Glock, SIG, or Springfield XD, the nostalgic in me wants a 1911

[hood]

Just to clarify my post, although I don't practice airsoft myself, I'm all for using those types of guns in a realistic setting. Carrying around bright orange super soaker looking paintball guns destroys the art of camoflauge. There should be some restrictions on them though when not on the airsoft field.

[Bing]

true, but airsoft also has cqb airsoft guns in which camo isn't required.

Personally, i think the current laws are sufficient. NJ citizens already need a permit to own them along with an orange tip. How can you outlaw the fake guns but permit the real ones? the logic doesn't follow. If I was the cop that shot the kid with the fake gun, I wouldn't feel guilty. On the contrary, I would've been saving my own life. It’s the kid's choice to do something stupid, so it should be the kid who has to pay, but don't punish the rest of us who are responsible enough to know not to point look-a-like guns at police officers.

also, I’ve seen realistic looking paintball guns (aside for RAM, Real Action marker) that look like mp5 variants that shoot the standard paintballs (RAMs shoot a smaller paintball). If that continues, then they'll have to ban those as well. Ban paintball in America? you have got to be kidding me...

I think what's needed are designated airsoft sites like paintball. I do not know of any official/legal airsoft sites in NJ which severely limits the number of players willing to play here. Out in California, where there are many airsoft sites (in comparison to NJ), the sport is flourishing, it's mostly dead around here because those who have the guns to use wont play because of legality. Airsoft around here is now relegated to be a backyard sport...

[hood]

Don't forget that all kids are idiots. :) You can say that the cop will be justified in shooting him, but ask any cop and s/he'll tell you that shooting anybody is horrendous. When it turns out to be for nothing, it's even more horrible. There's the damage to the cop's psychological well being in addition to the person carrying that gun.

[Duke]

I have to say this. I dont do airsoft and I understand FAST Marines use it. But when I see an airsoft posting here its a bit demoralizing. Isnt this site about the military.

[redondomarine]

Me and most of my friends own airsoft guns, we play almost every weekend in ravine in palos verdes CA. We are all smart enough to know not to point them at law enforcement.

The price of these guns is high. So right away the person buying it would have to have some brains. The cheapest gun worth buying that I have seen is the famas. $200. You can buy spring guns(1 shot) for a lot cheaper, but I dont see why anyone would because they are crap. The quality of the spring gun is no where near an aeg(automatic electric gun) or a gas one(has an air tank and doesn't look real). On the AEG and the gas you can remove the orange flash supressor and replace it with a black one. On most of the srpings I have seen you cant do that. What I am saying is that most of the people who have air soft guns are responsible enough not to aim that at law enforcement.

[Apogee]

As usual, I agree with Duke. I mean I thought this site was deticated to the men and women who are out there risking their necks for us. I guess I just get pissed off when airsofters think they are the real deal. I'm not trying to say that I am, but just realize that its only a game.

[Bing]

hey we (airsofters) support them as well :D

it's just that, this is an issue that concerns airsoft players and their rights to own airsoft. the same rights that the troops are out there defending. If airsoft is banned in NJ, it could set a precedent for other states to ban it as well, with the same harsh penalties.

and some airsofters are the real deal, check out the operation lions claws website, they have the real Col. Danny Mc Knight playing airsoft vs another Ranger "Max Mullen" (i think). Playing airsoft only lets airsofters gain a higher respect for what the real troops do because we get a small taste of what they need to do in the real world with real bullets. It's just in airsoft everyone gets to go home.

if u get mad, i understand ur sentiments and where you're comming from, but the point of airsoft is realism, some people are just obsessed with it. Some can't join the military for their own reasons and want to participate in something milsim (military simulation). Airsoft can also be a viable tool, like USAF G said, a cheap, nonlive fire form of training, airsoft is a tool, and like any tool it can be abused or used properly.

What makes this an issue in the US and not other countries is that in other countries (i mean Asia, where airsoft originated), real firearms are banned. This makes it easier for the law to decide if airsoft should be legal or not. Because this way since real firearms are banned, the likelihood that a person using a real firearm instead of airsoft is lowered. Not to say that it is impossible (that's why the police still carry firearms). But lawmakers wont ban them because the people who have a desire for firearms need airsoft to fullfil this want. Needless to say, there are quite a lot of airsoft enthusiasts in areas such as Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan where the sport is on par with paintball, if not exceeding paintball's popularity. But here in America, the issue is to decide between the real ones or the fake ones, and ultimately, if that decision has to be made, then it looks like airsoft will have to go, because American gun culture is so dominant that we wont give up our right to bear arms but we will if they're fake...