ANOTHER legal question...

Voodoomelon

Just another question to confuse things further.

If you were to aquire an airsoft sniper rifle that fires at around 500fps, it would quite obviously be classed as a firearm, however you need the firepower to hit opponents at over 250 feet away (assuming the place of play allows airsoft guns of that power).
Lets say you gain the legal right to own the sniper rifle by going through the process and getting a firearms licence for it. Now you legally own the rifle.

Is it legal to fire the sniper rifle at a person during an airsoft game, seeing as its classed as a firearm? Could some moron of a player get hit with it a few times, take a grudge against you and report you as discharging a firearm at them and have you arrested? Highly unlikely I know, but could it happen?

o1s1n

A paintball marker fires much much higher than 1 joule and requires authorization or a license.. If you can shoot someone with one of them I wouldn't see any reason for it to be different with an airsoft sniper rifle.

It's an interesting one. I've read that it could legally be considered assault in the UK. However, it that were the case, would being shot with a paintball marker not be considered assault too?

kdouglas

not sure what the deal is with paintball markers, but i remember someone mentioned it before about using a licenced sniper rifle at hrta over 1 Joule and the answer was it would be classed as assault, although someone who knows the law better would be able to provide a better answer.... spitfire?

o1s1n

That assault thing was UK law. I had an interesting webpage with an analysis of it. Tried to find it but It seems to have gone missing... I'm unaware if it has any relevance over here.

The key to finding out the legality of this is to see what's going on with paintball. The question being;

Can someone consent to being fired at by something which is legally considered a licensed firearm.

With consent, You CAN shoot someone with a paintball marker.. therefore I don't see why it would be different with airsoft. They would both fall into the category of licensed tagging devices. If someone were to try and sue, I'm sure you could easily make this comparison.

You could also point out that even an upgraded airsoft sniper rifle doesn't generate anywhere near the amount of energy created by a paintball. Therefore, technically, being shot by a paintball should be considered assault long before airsoft is.

I'd be interested in hearing what Sparks has to say actually.

Irish Trinity

well i think i read it on the hrta site it says all airsoft guns will be chronographed and they all must be under one joule or you cant play or some thing like that i just vagely remember reading that somewhere

EDIT: found it "Airsoft equipment will be inspected at the door and fps levels tested before operators are allowed into the arena."

kdouglas

Irish_Trinity: yea, everything is chrono'd to make sure they are under 1 Joule, but if someone has a license for an airsoft that fires over 1 Joule, then it's not illegal for them to own it.... whether paul allows it or not is up to him, but that all depends on whether it's legal or not to use

o1s1n: see what you mean, be interesting to find out alright, wouldnt mind getting a license for a 500fps sniper

ED E

Dunno, I couldn't get a license for 2 more years but having legal highpower snipers would be nice. Let them really be long range.

Could we then have up to 700fps snipers like in the us?

kdouglas

if the legal side of things was sorted out, then it would depend on site rules and insurance requirements... i'd imagine 500fps with 0.2g for a semi-auto or bolt action sniper rifle would be a sensible limit, with a minimum distance of at least 30m, but that's just my personal opinion

[--SC(+)PE--]

Ive been wondering about this aswell since airsoft came to ireland, Im already paying 40 quid a year for my airrifle which is just collecting dust as ive nowere to use it id much rather be paying that to allow my Aug/ vsr to be upgraded

o1s1n

Lethal_Bullet wrote:

Dunno, I couldn't get a license for 2 more years but having legal highpower snipers would be nice. Let them really be long range.

Could we then have up to 700fps snipers like in the us?

They don't allow bolt actions anywhere near that power in the UK. I can't see them allowing them over here. 500fps would be a reasonable limit.

At 700fps you could inflict quite a lot of pain. Not to mention having a totally unfair advantage.

kdouglas

i wont go into details here, but let's just say i've heard of an "incident" involving a 700fps bolt action (not in this country) and a pair of goggles which couldnt withstand the impact, not something i want to experience

ED E

Yeah, those americans are Nuts!

MaxForce

Lethal_Bullet wrote:

Dunno, I couldn't get a license for 2 more years but having legal highpower snipers would be nice. Let them really be long range.

Could we then have up to 700fps snipers like in the us?

Sparks or the lads on the shooting forum would be able to give more info on this.

I looked into buying a real firearm at one stage for practical shooting. The law as was explained to me is. You have to get a fire arms dealer to import the firearm under his import license. He holds it for you and gives you the serial number for the firearm. You also have to become a member of a gun club before you can get your license. You go to the superintendent with your application, club membership and the serial number of the gun. If he doesn't approve you the gun gets sold to the next person who looks for that model and you get most of your money back. If you get approved the gun is given to you. The gun I was looking at was €350, and membership of the gun club was another €300.

Would this also stand if buying in an Airsoft gun firring at over 1j which would be classed as a firearm. Would it be worth it to have to go through this to import an Airsoft gun firring at over 1J

Incidental the gun I was looking at was SIG Mosquito .22 hand gun.

o1s1n

MaxForce wrote:

Sparks or the lads on the shooting forum would be able to give more info on this.

I looked into buying a real firearm at one stage for practical shooting. The law as was explained to me is. You have to get a fire arms dealer to import the firearm under his import license. He holds it for you and gives you the serial number for the firearm. You also have to become a member of a gun club before you can get your license. You go to the superintendent with your application, club membership and the serial number of the gun. If he doesn't approve you the gun gets sold to the next person who looks for that model and you get most of your money back. If you get approved the gun is given to you. The gun I was looking at was €350, and membership of the gun club was another €300.

Would this also stand if buying in an Airsoft gun firring at over 1j which would be classed as a firearm. Would it be worth it to have to go through this to import an Airsoft gun firring at over 1J

Incidental the gun I was looking at was SIG Mosquito .22 hand gun.

As I was saying, I'm sure gaining authorization for an airsoft over 1j would be along the same lines as getting authorization for a paintball marker. Which is a lot less strict then trying to get one for a "real" firearm.

The only problem being that the Gardaí are very uninformed as to what airsoft is at the moment. So I doubt there would be any kind of a process covering how to obtain a license for something like that. I'm sure they'd think you were trying to get one for an air rifle.

Irish Trinity

i say we get spitfire to go to all the police stations and put up a sign stating what airsoft is

Spitfire666

Sadly i dont even get enough time to do my own airsoft related things. i missed the meeting today because i got stuck doing something and missed my lift. BUGGER

Wossack

If the person does not want to be hit by it, its assault. Assault with a firearm in this case.

However, by being on a dedicated airsoft site, and signing the disclaimers (or whatever, never been ) you're accepting being hit by them, and so have no legal recourse.

Its down to the site really, if the site allows it, and the people accept the sites rules I'd say its legal. Though for the site to allow it, Im sure there'd be an increase in insurance costs and some sort of site license would be required.