Airsoft to be discussed on Newstalk 106-108 on Wed 10pm-12midnight -- EMAIL THEM!!!

Dave!

Hey folks,

if you've read this thread you'll see that a scaremongering article in a Carlow newspaper has caused a bit of a stir with relation to airsoft, causing it to be discussed briefly on Declan Carty's show on Newstalk.

Most of us missed the show tonight except I caught last part and sent in a quick email to try and present the argument from airsoft's participants' point of view. It wasn't read out tonight, but at the end of the show Deco said he'd read it out tomorrow night.

Hopefully he'll follow through on that, and there'll be more of a discussion of the subject, and if this is the case, then this is the perfect opportunity for us to try and highjack the scaremongering story and put our own perspective on it.

For those who are interested basically I think as many of ye as possible should email, text, or ring the show and try and make the following points (and your own)...
-The sport should be regulated, and we are trying to get that done
-It is a SPORT which is legitimate and widespread in Europe and America
-It is very similar to paintball
-All appropriate safety precautions are taken, eg. face masks, dont point at anyone's face.....

We want to steer clear of words and images that are likely to make people think we're a bunch of psychos, so in my email I purposely used the word 'equipment' rather than 'guns' as much as possible. Maybe do similar!

If they get enough of a response they're more likely to spend alot of time on it, so as many people as possible should contact the show by email from tomorrow onwards, at latenight@newstalk.ie .
If ye want to ring during the show the number is 01 775 6512, and if you want to text, the number is 53106.
http://www.newstalk.ie/late-night.htm

Come on lads let's not let this opportunity go to waste!

If nonex is interested then I think this would be a good time to publicise HRTA by maybe ringing in about it. I'd say publicise the IAA, except we haven't got anything done with that yet, so maybe don't bring that into it except to say that we're in the process of establishing a governing body for the sport to make it as safe and enjoyable as possible.

Thanks lads!

kdouglas

dont think ill be able to listen to this tonight, i'll be at a gig, ill stick it on in the car on the way home though, can anyone make an mp3 of this and upload it somewhere online?

Edit: just trying to rip the newstalk internet stream, but it doesnt seem to be working, if i get it working later ill be able to record the show

[--SC(+)PE--]

wont be able to hear it live meself either since il be watching Blackburn trownce Arsenal and going for some pintage rite after. If ya could record it that would be great

CrazyRabbit

Email sent. I kept it to under 9000 words.

NakedHedgehog

Don't forget Asia. It's MASSIVE there. "Toy" guns may also be another way to name them, since that is what they are considered by many countries.

Hivemind187

CrazyRabbit wrote:

Email sent. I kept it to under 9000 words.

Ah ... but how many of those were vulgarities?

My email is less than 600 but I stick to the science mainly.

kdouglas

CrazyRabbit: care to post a copy of what you sent?

Dave!

That's cool lads, keep the emails goin in I'll listen live and I'll try record it on my mp3 player and transfer it across... dunno if that'll work, but I'll try

Forgot to mention Asia, yeah it's huge over there.

I'd steer clear of calling them "toy" guns TBH, because that kinda makes us look careless and conjures up images of us giving AEGs to our kids and having them play cowboys and indians

Spitfire666

Not long left now. Just thought id ad that i dont think mentioning the guns as equipment as we're not gonna kid anyone, we should refer to them as airsoft guns just as paintball guns are called paintball guns or aintball markers.

We should also get in about the football the other day where the player got kicked in the head and they though he was going to die when talking about the danger levels.

MaxForce

Listening to it on line at the moment. DId I miss anything yet?

Spitfire666

its not on till ten is it not?


post a link to the web cast

MaxForce

Click here to listen

Yeah starts at 10 your right

Dave!

Here's hoping they actually discuss it

Spitfire666

am i right in saying theres football talk on at the min? just so i know im on the rigt station

Dave!

Yep, the sports show is just over. Ads on now. The show is called 'Late Night Live', and it's with Declan Carty.

MaxForce

must be so busy I keep losing my link:mad:

Dave!

Do ye have no radios in your house? There's one on my TV, that's where I'm listening. See if you have one!

Spitfire666

it wouldnt load for me so i put the radio on

Miscreant

Listening at the moment however they have not mentioned that they will be discussing it at all. The web link is a little ropey so I put on the old fashioned radio.

Spitfire666

yeah, it wasnt mentioned at all yet. it'll probably get a small mention at the end before it finishes up

Dave!

Yeah they haven't mentioned it, hmmm. I would think since they got a few emails about the subject today they might say something.

They could still have a few minutes on it.

Spitfire666

geuss its not gonna get a mention.

Miscreant

Hopefully they will have it on. I tried looking at the Carlow Nationalist website last night to see if I could find the article about the "Pellet Guns". Does anyone out there have a link to it by any chance?

Dave!

Here ya go, just found it......
http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/news/story.asp?j=31125&cat=news

Oh my god just read it, what a load of tripe!!! I've read the Herald many times, but this takes "journalism" to a new low.

"Potentially lethal weapons"

F*cking scumbags.

MaxForce

Just rang the station and they told me they will be discussing Airsoft.

Spitfire666

looking for it at the min

Dave!

It's On!!!

Miscreant

Here we go.

liamo333

There talking about it now!!!!!!

liamo333

Someone call in!!!

padmundo

Seems to be a very narrow minded group they have on.

The link to the original article...

http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/news/story.asp?j=31125&cat=news

NakedDex

Slightly one sided don't you think? Especially considering he claimed he wanted to portray both sides of the story

Miscreant

That's all she wrote boys and girls. They made some fair points about it too. I think the shop in Carlow does have a duty of care in selling airsoft weapons to children but parents also have a part in it. I think anyone who leaves a loaded weapon around the house with small kids about is being particularly irresponsible. Does anyone out there have the original story from the Carlow Nationalist?

Spitfire666

Wow, they really gave us a chance to speak on behalf of the sport there.
What a load of bolox.
We need to get a Journo to an event.

MaxForce

Narrow minded is not the word. They spoke about lighters and Airsoft guns in the same breath.

Miscreant

Found the link everyone. I don't know where the reporter got the "lethal" part and the fact that the Gardaí are stating that you need a licence to own one. Here is the link for anyone interested: http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/news/story.asp?j=31125&cat=news

padmundo

Miscreant wrote:

I think the shop in Carlow does have a duty of care in selling airsoft weapons to children

Agreed, they have done themselves no favours selling guns to children. They should have had a bit of cop on in that regard. Surely they'd have seen the repercussions.

Voodoomelon

I'm listening away, i'm recording the whole thing.

Did I mis-hear, did one of the panelists say something along the lines of "these things are illegal yet theyre all over the place"??

Dave!

Anybody got a link to one of those sites that you can upload files to temporarily? And then you can give out the link for others to download from....

I've got the clip on my computer.

MaxForce

padmundo wrote:

Agreed, they have done themselves no favours selling guns to children. They should have had a bit of cop on in that regard. Surely they'd have seen the repercussions.

I noted this in my email to them.
"If a retailer sells equipment to children should it not be the retailer who should be spoken to. This is where we as a group want to see regulation.
We don’t want every Tom Dick and Harry selling equipment to anybody who wanders in off the street. We want to see legitimate retailers as well as regulation on the purchasing of the equipment."

The Master

That was an extremly biased discussion.
No one on the panel had even seen an airsoft gun other than a picture in a paper or heard of them for that matter.
We need to start a PR campaign of some sort and get some good publicity on our side

Hivemind187

Please tell me someone got a podcast. Its very important. :mad:

NakedDex

The article in question is quite the piece of sensationalist journalism. It's actually full of recondite information with no regard to the actual topic. This persons gripe seems to be with the shop itself rather than what it sells. I would entirely agree with him that the shop has a duty of care to sell it's wares to those who would use them responsibly but this has snowballed into a platform upon which airsoft has been taken to be pilloried.

Spitfire666

He just read out my txt and i was speaking to the girl on the phones about inviting him to a meet to se first hand what its all about.

Voodoomelon

Hmm, I was right.

Good man Alan whoever you are, that dude did say they were illegal.
And hurling should be banned! :P

Spitfire666

Voodoomelon wrote:

I'm listening away, i'm recording the whole thing.

Did I mis-hear, did one of the panelists say something along the lines of "these things are illegal yet theyre all over the place"??

He did say that and i mentioned that in my txt


Good man Alan whoever you are,

Thats me.

Voodoomelon

I don't think people have any issue with airsoft at all, its more about airsoft guns ending up in the hands of children.

What we need are dedicated airsoft shops that only sell airsoft equipment and will only sell to 17 years or older, like in the UK.

Otherwise, there will be toy shops all over Ireland selling crappy springers that any kid can buy. There's no real way of stopping them though...

NakedDex

I just emailed this to the show.

This discussion on airsoft seems terribly biased but I see this as a fault of ignorance to the facts. The members of your panel you questioned on the topic had never even see an airsoft item before. One of the two (who's name now escapes me) wasn't even aware of the story. I fear that airsoft is being unfairly pilloried with an absence of facts and experience. I would urge you to take that invitation to experience it first hand so you may understand better how this sport works and how safe it is.

Voodoomelon

Spitfire666 wrote:

He did say that and i mentioned that in my txt


Good man Alan whoever you are,

Thats me.

Hee hee, its a small world. I sent them an email about airsoft too, addressing the fact that its the retailers fault etc and not the fault of a safe, fun up and coming sport.

Miscreant

Voodoomelon wrote:

Did I mis-hear, did one of the panelists say something along the lines of "these things are illegal yet theyre all over the place"??

I don't think you misheard. This is what happens when people are not informed as to the law or what is going on. It is always the same when something contraversial comes along. You will always have people commenting on something that they know nothing about. I remember watching the Late Late Show one night (yes I am that old!!) when they had the Irish Film Sensor (John Kelleher) on the show and he was talking about some films that were let through the sensor that time. One audience member gave out to him for letting one particular film through saying something along the lines that it was sacreligious (spelling??) and would corrupt the youth. The sensor gent then asked him had he seen the film and the guy replied "No". He was told in no uncertain terms that he should not then be commenting on something he knew nothing about. Just a short example but it is a parallel for this case. The last thing we need though is for someone to get hysterical and gather up support to have the thing banned here for good (with no chance of getting it back).
The sooner we can get the IAA and a proper backbone together the better it will be for all of us. I suggest that perhaps we organise a meeting somewhere about it relatively soon so we can present a united front to any media organisation in the country because the next we will hear of this will be the RTE news otherwise.

Dave!

Here, you can download it here
http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/96372/FM-2007-02-28-22h39m55s-wav.html

The quality is bad in places, dunno why.