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The Carlow Nationalist
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27-02-2007 9:18pm#1
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Getting an organisation together is pretty important alright. That's going to have to get in motion soon.
What we need is something like this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bakLb55C1SA
Or something a little less American
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHfpZgutJok
Oh to see one of the regular R.T.E reporters don some gear and take part in a game
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Jayzis I'd better get the lead out with the website! I'll get somethin basic up tomorrow evening lads, we'll work from there. I think I'm bein a bit too picky that's what's takin so long (that and I'm no longer unemployed
).
This is just the kind of sh*te we don't need. I think we should contact some sports magazines and try get some articles with relation to HRTA and IAA in there. It's probably better to go the sports route than the newspaper route because (a) we want to stress that it's a sport, like paintball, and (b) because newspapers are more prone to publishing the Helen Lovejoy point of view than the actual facts. Jayzus if the Herald or one of those rags got wind of this they'd no doubt find some way to link it with other sh*t.
"Armed gangs are doing drive-bys with replica machine guns, contributing to the chaos on our roads and helping to clog up A&E by shooting at our innocent children"
F*cking shower of c*nts0 -
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I caught the end of it, didn't really hear much though.o1s1n wrote:Damn media! I'm glad I didn't hear that. Probably would have hit the roof.
I sent in an email to the show explaining the sport, hopefully they'll read it out.Hi Declan,
I'm just emailing you after hearing the discussion with relation to BB guns, and I'd like to clarify some things.
The replica guns in question are used in a sport called 'Airsoft', which is a combat simulation game almost exactly like paintball. The difference being that the equipment used is more realistic looking and the ammunition is little plastic balls instead of paint.
The airsoft equipment was illegal until a few months ago, when the definition of 'firearm' was changed in the relevent law, to exclude equipment with a muzzle velocity up to 1 Joule of energy. They can now be bought legally and without regulation. It should be pointed out that paintball guns have a muzzle velocity of greater than 1 Joule, but they require licences or permits I believe.
Airsoft is a sport that is completely legal and completely legitimate all over Europe and America, and there are large communities and organisations that regulate it, as well as areas for the games to be played. Since the change in the law, the sport has been allowed to spread to the Republic, with Irish people previously having to go up to the North to take part. There is a location in Swords Co Dublin which has been opened in the last few weeks for the purpose of supporting this sport, and a few more are being negotiated around the country.
The view of the airsoft community in the Republic is that the sport is dangerous as it is, in its unregulated state. In other countries, there are national governing bodies that oversee the sport to make sure it is safe and enjoyable for everyone. At the moment a number of people (myself included) are in the process of establishing such a body, the Irish Airsoft Association.
I can understand everybody's concerns about the equipment being sold in such an unregulated manner, and I share their concerns, but I wanted to give the other side of the argument so that the knee-jerk reaction doesn't cause the sport to be removed from the country again.
I hope you can read this out on your show, because I feel it is important that panic is avoided about what is an easily solved problem: the sport needs regulation, like in every other country.
Thanks,
Dave
I'd better re-read it, I just sent it in ASAP cos I wanted it read out before the show is over!
edit:
hmmm, woulda explained it better if I wasn't rushing and listening to the radio at the same time....
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Well all they said was my nameo1s1n wrote:They mentioned you and your email? damn it, why wasn't I listening!?
, they'll read the email tomorrow night.
It's in 10pm-12 midnight, for those who are interested. Newstalk 106-108
Should be some discussion on it0 -
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sidneyreilly wrote:Your s****e is close to the fan. You need to formalize association now.
Form ad-hoc committee, ye can sort out elections and agm at later date.
01s1n: Chairman
Whoever wrote the constitution: Vice chair
NOIP: Secretary
Davemg: PRO
Committee members: Nonex and Spitfire666
Thanks man
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..Excellent, I like the sound of thatsidneyreilly wrote:01s1n: Chairman
NOIP: Secretary
NOIP just gave me a call and we're going to try and get a few people together later somewhere for a talk about this. Anyone in the Bray area feel free to come along.0 -
What's a PRO?
lol
You're right though, we need to get our sh*t together. I'm gonna spend the next few hours on the site (in between shooting the new beretta) and then I'll post a thread looking for feedback on the text (cos I don't wanna make any unilateral decisions and putting it on the site without consulting the rest of ye).
edit:
Okay bagsy I'm not PRO! 0 -
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I just sent them my own rebuke of the comments on Airsoft - as a private person in no way related to the IAA .... yet.
"In Defence of Airsoft
Airsoft devices imported into Ireland are rated to operate with a maximum energy output of 1 joule and are designed to fire a 6mm ball bearing (usually made of plastic or biodegradable crushed rock) that weighs 0.2 grams. Below a weight of 2 grams it is very difficult for human nerves to register weight at all.
In real terms this translates to a BB of 0.2 grams travelling at approximately 328 feet per second muzzle velocity. This velocity (and thus the energy) will drastically reduce over the arc of fire resulting in much lower impact energy than 1 joule. A joule is one hundredth of the energy a person can get by drinking a single 5 mm diameter droplet of beer.
In order to fire a “lead pellet” from a device like an Airsoft replica you would require a far greater amount of energy than can be generated by the simple electronic spring system found in the majority of such devices. Any claim to the contrary reveals a fundamental ignorance of the laws of physics.
Paintball Markers are designed to operate at a much higher power than Airsoft replicas, operating on a system of compressed air or CO2, yet Paintball is a well established sport in Ireland. For those who don’t know, Paintball guns need to be registered with the Gardai because they are technically firearms (higher than 1 joule muzzle energy).
Airsoft devices are not firearms because they conform to this definition of the law and are technically classed as “toys” as and from the 1st of August 2006 when this was reflected in the law.
Airsoft replicas and devices are just that - replicas, not actual firearms. Yes they do look realistic and why not? The sport of Airsoft is based around military simulations, re-enactment and skirmishing. You don’t ask actors to wear a sign saying “I’m not really a 16th century moneylender, I’m only pretending!” do you? No, you don’t, because it would be unreasonable. In that same sense, people who are re-enacting or role playing as military personnel for a “game” shouldn’t be told that they should carry squirt guns or bright fluorescent pink replicas.
The idea that Airsoft is a dangerous or life threatening sport is ludicrous.
Consider the most common sports played in Ireland today.
Rugby is a powerful contact sport that looked at through the wrong end of the microscope is a violent and primal activity (lets not even get into the physics of it). Rugby is responsible for thousands of injuries every year and several deaths – these are almost accepted as a fact of the game.
Hurling is an ancient sport with its roots in War and bloodshed. The impact velocity of the Sliotar is incredible and more than sufficient to knock grown man cold let alone smash his teeth and crush his cheek bones. The Hurl itself is a shaped length of Ash more than capable of shattering shins, knees, fingers and skulls – indeed there is evidence to suggest it was used as a weapon at one point in our history.
Those are only two examples without even getting into the realms of Boxing and Martial Arts where the objective is often to knock the other man out (speaking from personal experience). By comparison (as proven indisputably by the physics) Airsoft is a much less dangerous sport than the near mandatory sports provided for in Irish schools and communities nationwide.
Lastly, in regard to Airsoft replicas being used by armed robbers, thugs etc - Use your loaf, you don’t need an Airsoft replica when you could just as easily walk into a garage or newsagent with a hurly or a steak knife and demand the money in the till – AND you would be able to do actual damage if you were such an individual."0
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