Pre-Emptive FAQ: Fore Warned is Fore Armed!!!

Hivemind187

Oisin, feel free to rip this down if you dont like it.

A couple of the guys mentioned this on one of the other threads and I thought it was a good idea.

If you can think of potential objections and misconceptions that people could have about airsoft post them up (try to keep it concise and to a single point) so as we can analyze them and see how best to explain and deal with such.

The press release is due out in the next few days and there is a limited FAQ included designed to dispell some of the more common myths but there isnt a snowballs chance in hell that it covers everything - fore warned is fore armed as they say.

(forgot to mention that none of what is listed in this thread will be taken as canonical, rather it is intended as a discussion of the potential objections and the counter arguments)

CrazyRabbit

Concern : They'll be used in armed robberies.
Response : Removing airsoft guns does not remove the criminals intention to do an armed robbery. If there are no airsoft guns, they always have the choice to use dangerous weapons such as knives, metal bars, or indeed firearms. Other sports equipment could also be used such as golf clubs or baseball bats. I can't speak for everyone, but I'd rather be robbed with a relatively harmless airsoft gun, than a potentially lethal weapon such as a knife, firearm, baseball bat etc.

Concern: You'll have children running around taking each others eyes out!
Response: Forensic testing in the UK has determined that a 0.2 g bb would have be fired with 1.35 joules of energy for it to penetrate the human eyeball (at point blank range). The legal limit for airsoft guns in Ireland is 1 joule. While eye injuries are possible, most would not result in permanent damage. Also, airsoft guns are expensive and are unlikely to end up in the hands of children unless an adult provided one to them. The entire airsoft community is 100% against the sale, importation or unsupervised use of airsoft guns by under 18's.

Concern: They look too real.
Response: That is part of the attraction to the military simulation aspect of the sport. However, airsoft guns are rarely perfect replicas. The vast majority have plastic bodywork and/or are missing trademarks. Airsoft players do not display their airsoft guns in public places and only use them at authorised Airsoft venues or on private property.

Lemming

CrazyRabbit wrote:

Concern : They'll be used in armed robberies.
Response : Removing airsoft guns does not remove the criminals intention to do an armed robbery. If there are no airsoft guns, they always have the choice to use dangerous weapons such as knives, metal bars, or indeed firearms. Other sports equipment could also be used such as golf clubs or baseball bats. I can't speak for everyone, but I'd rather be robbed with a relatively harmless airsoft gun, than a potentially lethal weapon such as a knife, firearm, baseball bat etc.

Addendum : The ability for criminals to get 'real-steel' weapons is apparently trivial judging by the frequent reports of garda raids and gangland shootings. If this is the case, why use an airsoft replica when the real-deal actually works and can be acquired with relative ease?

ambro25

Concern : They'll be used in armed robberies.

Idea/ToDo - try and locate some stats as to how many armed robberies have featured airsoft devices (vs real steel), in general (considering airsoft is about 20 years-old).

The idea is to demonstrate that the availability of airsoft devices is unlikely to lead to an increase in armed robberies.

Believe it or not, the reverse (that there are as many *or ideally less-and-less of course* armed robberies but increrasingly using airsoft instead of real steel) is actually a good thing - for obvious, "bystander safety" reasons.

Concern: You'll have children running around taking each others eyes out!

Whilst I agree entirely with you Crazy, never underestimate the aptitude of the media to "de-criminalise" the parents to suit their agenda.

Point in case: 18-rated videogames à la GTA. Entirely (IMHO) the parents' fault that underage kids would be able to play these, yet how often have you seen the broadsheets acknowledge the fact, and berate parents for giving in to underage little Johnny in GAME, instead of berating game developers?

Concern: They look too real.

I don't think "looking too real" is going to be an isolated issue as such. E.g. it's arguable that it's because they "look to real" that issue 1 above (armed robberies) is a concern. A gun, toy or not, looks like a gun - the aesthetics are dictated by function : whether a €2 cheapo kiddy thing bought in a bargain basement shop at the seaside or a high-end SRC or even the real deal, it will always "look like" a gun. Unless it's a lime green Bozo-the-Martian -type of affair.

New Concern: Demonisation of the sport and its players (already happened in several other countries)

Players are extremists/neo-nazi sympathisers (looking sideways at ye Gandalf )/etc..../up-to-no-good

Play zones are run by paramilitary types to surreptitiously train players into terrorists/etc..../dens-of-iniquity

Answer - well I'm a tad stumped at that one still, save for the obvious bare denial, of course. Testimonies (endorsement from on high, really) and associative establishment/recognition of the sport is what's needed to get over that type of attack, I think.

Not happened in France yet, and that's where such media attacks are the most virulent (as well as in Germany). Yet you look at Italy (where the sport is officially recognised and endorsed by Gvt/Ministry of sports), and from what I've heard & read, it's not considered any different to BMXing or kite surfing or any other 'out there' form of sporting activity.

Hivemind187

ambro25 wrote:

Concern :
New Concern: Demonisation of the sport and its players (already happened in several other countries)

Players are extremists/neo-nazi sympathisers (looking sideways at ye Gandalf )/etc..../up-to-no-good

Play zones are run by paramilitary types to surreptitiously train players into terrorists/etc..../dens-of-iniquity

Answer - well I'm a tad stumped at that one still, save for the obvious bare denial, of course. Testimonies (endorsement from on high, really) and associative establishment/recognition of the sport is what's needed to get over that type of attack, I think.

Not happened in France yet, and that's where such media attacks are the most virulent (as well as in Germany). Yet you look at Italy (where the sport is officially recognised and endorsed by Gvt/Ministry of sports), and from what I've heard & read, it's not considered any different to BMXing or kite surfing or any other 'out there' form of sporting activity.

Simple answer.

If you believe that we are training or conspiring, wittingly or unwittingly, to murder another human being ... call the cops. Thats what people do under those circumstances.

The cops will then be knocking on the clowns door with a writ for wasting police time.

CrazyRabbit

Hivemind187 wrote:

Simple answer.

If you believe that we are training or conspiring, wittingly or unwittingly, to murder another human being ... call the cops. Thats what people do under those circumstances.

The cops will then be knocking on the clowns door with a writ for wasting police time.

Simple answer #2.

Come visit the site without warning and see for yourself.