BB guns and the law...........again !

spideog7

sorry to bring this up again but if you don't mind me asking whats the story with this new firearms act amendment?
and when can we expect it?

I've heard tell that it will classify guns with a "muzzle energy" less than 1 joule as a toy?
For a .177 (4.5mm) cal lead airgun pellet { weighing approx. 0.62g ( .12g for plastic bbs 6mm !!) } thats a muzzle velocity of
56.7 m/s (186 fps) {correct me if my calculations are inaccurate}.
That includes many co2 powered air rifles
What about paintball guns ?
Just saw this on bbguns.co.uk

"The energy developed by most BB guns is 0.5 joules maximum - by comparison a funfair air gun
is approximately 10 joules (20 times more). In normal use the lightweight pellets would not
penetrate the skin, but would certainly sting or bruise........."

so yes what i said may be inaccurate (that sentence replaces i was wrong !!!)

If thats true an amendment like that seems like a really big deal not just a small amendment for those of us in the shooting fraternity.

Some electric BB guns fires plastic bb at a rate of 7 per second :eek: {now thats impressive} plus 10,000 bb on ebay for €15
some ignorant kid with that could wreak havoc (if not awfully painful extremely annoying) .
mind you @ 70c per minute it would be chaeper to ring your aunty mary in new zealand !!

Also what sort of licence is currently required to own a bb gun (personally i think most of them are harmless but I ain't gonna risk losing my gun licence just because i ordered one off the internet for #the craic.)
I know i have a "hunting" licence (moreso than a gun licence) for one shotgun and all you need then is a €6 permit for any subsequent shotgun. Surely a bb gun would be classed as a pistol/handgun
which would make it damn hard to get a licence for it.
Not sure about rifles but as far as i'm aware you must be over 21 (although I have been told that the age limit is at the discretion of the local super).

From all the previous threads i gather one needs a licence to get a bb gun or paintball gun (legally that is!) and that they are treated as normal firearms.
If that is the case in the eyes of the law how can paintballing places (Combat Zone {*warning ....personal opinion* bad !!},
Skirmish etc.) exist. Surely when i partake i am firing an unlicenced firearm (as i don't have a licence for it).
In the eyes of he law its the same as me charging €20 a go for people to take my gun and shoot clay-pigeons out the field:rolleyes:
rest assured that little business venture would get a rap on the knuckles fairly lively (wouldn't it ??? )

Apologies for the "long-windedness" of my post

Pat

Sparks

spideog7 wrote:

sorry to bring this up again but if you don't mind me asking whats the story with this new firearms act amendment?
and when can we expect it?

Good question. It was due to hit the Committee stage in December; we're now nearly through January and there's still been no committee meeting about it.

I've heard tell that it will classify guns with a "muzzle energy" less than 1 joule as a toy?

That's one of the proposed amendments, yes.

That includes many co2 powered air rifles

Not so much air rifles as airsoft guns (air rifles are usually more powerful than airsoft guns).

What about paintball guns ?

Not sure. Anyone know the muzzle energy of a paintball gun in Joules?

If thats true an amendment like that seems like a really big deal not just a small amendment for those of us in the shooting fraternity.

Not really. The kind of gurriers that would currently go round shooting cats with bb guns are already doing it with illegal ones bought as toys across the border, and they're far more powerful than 1 joule. The 1 joule lower limit on the definition of a firearm, however, means that childrens toys like dart guns and other such obviously non-firearms will no longer be legally a reason for you to be arrested on firearms charges. It's a sensible move and one which brings us into line with just about every other EU state.

Also what sort of licence is currently required to own a bb gun

Same as for any other air rifle.

Surely a bb gun would be classed as a pistol/handgun
which would make it damn hard to get a licence for it.

Nope, classed as a rifle, same as for air rifles. Not too hard to get, so long as there's a serial number and you fulfill the other requirements.

Not sure about rifles but as far as i'm aware you must be over 21 (although I have been told that the age limit is at the discretion of the local super).

Nope. Age limit is 16 and is not at the discretion of the superintendent, it's defined in the Firearms Act in section eight.

If that is the case in the eyes of the law how can paintballing places (Combat Zone {*warning ....personal opinion* bad !!},
Skirmish etc.) exist. Surely when i partake i am firing an unlicenced firearm (as i don't have a licence for it).

Yes, but they will have an authorisation from the gardai to allow for that. It's the same idea as the fairground shooting stalls you used to see in Funderland and the like. The college clubs and a few others all operate with these, they allow people to shoot with club firearms in a specific place (usually the range, sometimes a particular venue in the case of an authorisation for an event) and for a specific period of time (annual in cases of clubs and renewed every year).

rest assured that little business venture would get a rap on the knuckles fairly lively (wouldn't it ??? )

Not if you had the appropriate paperwork and could do so safely. Several clubs do this now to raise funds, quite safely and legally.

spideog7

Thanks sparks excellent reply answered almost all my questions

I suppose now its just a matter of waiting to see when this all goes through.
I was thinking again and i realised that proper air rifles (using 12g co2 canisters ) probably have a much higher energy output, similarly i would imagine paintball guns would have too.
What you said is true those little airsoft guns are real easy to get they are always at stalls at the ploughing, gamefairs etc. So it only legalises it, which I suppose is a good thing as the 1 joule limit is still very low.
:cool: