Evening Herald today

Hivemind187

This article appears in the evening Herald.

Its not incredibly bad, but its certainly cherry picked of information to give it a certain "Oh noes!" slant.

Considering the source of the information knows full well how to explain himself and the sport, it kind of makes my previous point about deliberately seeking attention - we wont get the right message out, only the gun-toting-these-look-real one.

Well done to Richie for handling the situation so well (and the tip off last night).

The Master

Poorly written trash , Trying to kick up a storm over nothing
Glad I'm out of the industry now

fayer

Front page of the paper, must be a slow news day.

Very one sided reporting, and badly written, glareing mistakes "Weight of the gun" being one.

Nice line from the guards saying that a kids toy gun is the same, it depends on how it is used.

Well done to the Eirsoft lads for getting the right info across, even if it was not published. The care and responsibility they practice in the shop is obviously not news worthy.

Steve

ED E

Kudos to richie.

o1s1n

She sure does like the word weapon. I'm actually fairly amazed children aren't mentioned.

Anyway, nice work Richie

irlande

I like how its immediately drawn into contrast with the guns haul the other day.

Personally, I'd have thought a piece on the gangs/criminal organisations the guns were destined for would have been warranted, not a tabloid article on replica guns and their many "dangers".

Stone.cold

with real Glocks etc., so easily available on our streets cant see many criminals buying an airsoft version. must of been nothing else to report about today

Tigger

load of tripe

richie handeled that fine and fair play to him

the cops gave the same answer as eirsoft's answer

IRISH RAIL

With all that crap they type you`d think they would use spell check.

marco murphy

Could be worse

Gary ITR

I'm not really into airsoft myself but when I read that article I thought to my self 'what a load of sensationalist bullsh1t'

As an above poster said tying it in with the guns haul in Holland was just scare mongering. I would hope that anybody that read the article would have the intelligence to see that it's just a load of shite

ED E

Onkle wrote: »

I'm not really into airsoft myself but when I read that article I thought to my self 'what a load of sensationalist bullsh1t'

As an above poster said tying it in with the guns haul in Holland was just scare mongering. I would hope that anybody that read the article would have the intelligence to see that it's just a load of shite

Thats the thing, its the herald. Its a trashy tabloid and a load of its readers probably will beleive some/all of it

irlande

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Thats the thing, its the herald. Its a trashy tabloid and a load of its readers probably will beleive some/all of it

and considering the Independent News and Media corporation fired like all their journalists a while ago, its probably just some lonely internet blogger or college student desperate for journalistic attention

Masada

thanks lads.
In fairness to the news paper, all though its got parts we dont agree with at all, its not really as bad as some of the other articles we've seen in the past. At least we got the chance to give some factual information to the reporter and have it printed, unlike with some of the previous ones.,

That said, its not difficult to pull up this information and learn a lot in a short space of time. A simple "airsoft" search in google will bring up a wealth of information and a lot of it linking back here to boards.,

credit to the reporter, regardless of motives for allowing our input, and to the IAA for their back up.,

cheers,

DisasterIRL

Originally Posted by Lethal_Bullet
Thats the thing, its the herald. Its a trashy tabloid and a load of its readers probably will beleive some/all of it

This is very true and a huge problem, people fail to see that they are like toy guns and are practically harmless to society unless brandished like a real gun.

I guarantee that a lot of people have gained a bias view of this shop and it's products, not to mention the reporter didn't even touch on the fact that it is a sport and can be only be used in designated area's or on private property out of view of the public.

Stercus Accidit

Did the reporter not ask you about the availability of "mehal pellehs"?

Surely a pressing issue.

Edit: Oh ffs she did lol, just read the second half of the article

Well done Richie.

LSnK

The Article wrote:

High-force pellet guns are illegal in Ireland and are deemed an offensive weapon under the Firearms Act. However, guns of the type bought by this reporter are legal because the weight of the gun falls beneath one jule.

Ha ha. It'd be nice if the reporter did enough research to know what a joule actually was, or how to spell it.

You guys say this is one of the better articles airsoft has received? Oh dear.

Rhinocharge

So remember kids, next time you go skirmishing only use a gun that weighs under a joule. Do we shoot 'em now or throw 'em?

NakedDex

Our pricing gun in the shop weighs more than the Glock 17. I started to get very worried...

weeder

fair ****s to richie great job in fairness mate

Masada

DisasterIRL wrote: »

not to mention the reporter didn't even touch on the fact that it is a sport and can be only be used in designated area's or on private property out of view of the public.

When she was in the shop we chatted to her about how the guns were desgned for a tagging sport, similar to paintball and that they should only be used on your own private land or in a skirmish site, we also presented her with the contact information for HRTA. she bought the gun under the pretence of it being a gift to her father who is a fan of military pieces and that he might be interested in playing the game.

Motosam wrote: »

Did the reporter not ask you about the availability of "mehal pellehs"?

Yep, she asked about the guns capability to fire metal projectiles. and i explained to her that these guns are desgned to fire only the plastic BB's we use. also that the guns arnt to be confused with air rifles which are a different thing altogether, they are designed to fire metal pellets and are much more powerful than our airsoft guns. I also explained to her that the air rifle would be classified as a firearm and would require the same licencing proceedure.

LSnK wrote: »

You guys say this is one of the better articles airsoft has received? Oh dear.

You abviously havent been around long...

Arcto

the weight of the gun falls beneath one jule.

Someone please explain that sentence to me. I may not have perfect spelling or grammer and ocasionally i get the facts wrong, but these people are suposed to be college graduates with journalism degrees.

EDIT:
Also i love the way no one complains about paintball guns just because they dont look realistic. Paintball guns have the power to KILL. Used against an unprotected eye socket a paintball will go straight into your brain. But i guess because Pball is so accepted and "the norm" its not up for debate on slow news days by rag papers.

Fear the unknown ireland! whooooo !!! Something different! Lets slate it!

Pisses me off, no end.

Ass

As someone who works in a shop, 90% of the people who buy the city final of the herald buy it for the names of the jockeys in the horse racing pages. The kind of people who buy the herald probably are the kind of people who would believe this crap, if they even bothered to read the front page at all. This article just shows how pathetic a paper the herald really is. The fact that they think joules is a measurement of weight sums up the intellectual capacity of their so called "journalists".

jasonb

The Evening Herald is a trash tabloid that deals in sensationalism, not news. Unfortunately, most of the people who read it would rather have sensationalism as well.

The only paper I trust in this country to just report news, not give their slant on news ( or make up lies ) is the Irish Times.

J.

DisasterIRL

vtec wrote: »

When she was in the shop we chatted to her about how the guns were desgned for a tagging sport, similar to paintball and that they should only be used on your own private land or in a skirmish site, we also presented her with the contact information for HRTA. she bought the gun under the pretence of it being a gift to her father who is a fan of military pieces and that he might be interested in playing the game.

I was referring to the article, I have no doubt that when talking to you in person she asked these things but she omitted them in the article

Masada

oh i know what ya meant, i was just filling people in on what happned when she came in to the shop.,

DisasterIRL

Cool:)

I like the way she thought she needed an excuse also:)

hoplite

From the picture in the article it appears the reporter is brandishing the gbb pistol inside a car with finger on the trigger. Oh dear!!! :rolleyes: I hope she was safely inside the heralds car park.

Well done to Richie.

Now I'm off to weigh all my gear feck I cant find a scale that does joules!!!

weeder

love it how she gave an excuse to buy the glock, then ya see the same glock plastered on the herald, did she say she was a journo when she went in or was she just some randomer asking questions?

weeder

REALISTIC: Herald reporter Claire Murphy with the air gun which is identical to real Glock

airgun eh? didnt know glock was the plural to glock,(im sure some grammar nazi is going to pwn me if it is the plural)


and whats with the word "WEAPON" in the middle of the article not linking to anything or any sentence,

jaggeh

hopefully we got some good press today at the WCG, Tv3, RTE and newstalk were all there.

Na Taibhse ran an info stand and we had a lot of traffic.

Turncoat

weeder wrote: »

REALISTIC: Herald reporter Claire Murphy with the air gun which is identical to real Glock

airgun eh? didnt know glock was the plural to glock,(im sure some grammar nazi is going to pwn me if it is the plural)


and whats with the word "WEAPON" in the middle of the article not linking to anything or any sentence,

It makes me cringe when I hear someone referring to an aeg or a gbb as a weapon. Talking about being realistic a baseball bat, golfing iron or a cricket bat they are all weapons. Hell even being maced would hurt less than being hit with a plastic BB.

Shiva

I've been off for the last couple of days, so I wasnt there when the reporter made the initial purchase, or when she made the follow up phone call to ask questions.

So I want to make a public thank you to Richie for handling her and the situation extremely well. Well done mate.

You're still not getting a raise though

ED E

weeder wrote: »

REALISTIC: Herald reporter Claire Murphy with the air gun which is identical to real Glock

airgun eh? didnt know glock was the plural to glock,(im sure some grammar nazi is going to pwn me if it is the plural)


and whats with the word "WEAPON" in the middle of the article not linking to anything or any sentence,

At a guess its a a relic from copying the print copy to the website which has a different format.

Tommyboy71

Shiva wrote: »

I've been off for the last couple of days, so I wasnt there when the reporter made the initial purchase, or when she made the follow up phone call to ask questions.

So I want to make a public thank you to Richie for handling her and the situation extremely well. Well done mate.

You're still not getting a raise though

Ahhh! LOL

Masada

Shiva wrote: »

You're still not getting a raise though

Damn...
there goes that idea...

tonky

Who said it was getting too quite around here ?
Must have really been stuck for a front page.
Notice the editor kept well away from this "story".
Tabloid c**p really.

jaggeh

show on newstalk atm is the one that was at WCG, might get some airtime

Keggers

(Sorry in advance but a comment like this is obligatory) I didn't realise there were any laws against selling lego anyway fair dews to Richie

o1s1n

Turncoat - do me a favour and don't post anything like that ever again.

Keep it civil people, I'd rather not have to keep deleting posts.

jaggeh

well that wasnt as good as i hoped it would be, shee chopped it to bits and left an error we corrected her on in

iceage

Shiva wrote: »

I've been off for the last couple of days, so I wasnt there when the reporter made the initial purchase, or when she made the follow up phone call to ask questions.

So I want to make a public thank you to Richie for handling her and the situation extremely well. Well done mate.

You're still not getting a raise though

What!!!! you pay him...I though he did it for cookies:eek:

OzCam

Fade in...

Editor's office. Morning. Rain outside, again.

[Editor] Jaysus, it's quiet. Anyone got a story for the front page tonight? <yawns>

[Sub-editor] Dunno, boss. What about running the Sisters again?

[Ed.] Nah, that one's gone off the boil.

[Sub.] What about Bad Taoiseach?

[Ed.] No, we need that one for Tuesday. What about House Price Collapse?

[Finance Ed.] Awww boss, we're all feckin' sick of that one. Besides, we're doing it again on Monday and me Thesaurus has holes worn in it by now.

Murmurs of agreement around table.

[Ed.] I know, we'll do Cheap Guns, it's quite the thing this week. Darlin', run up to Cabra and buy an airsoft gun. Don't spend too much on it.

[Reporter] But boss, I don't know anything about guns.

[Ed.] Since when did that have anything to do with it? Look love, just buy something we can hang a story on and get a couple of scary photos. I'm sure you can manage that.

Exit reporter.

[Crime corr.] Boss, if you know the right bloke in the right pub, you can buy a real gun for only -

[Ed., sarcastically] I know that, ya eejit, but it's hardly News, now is it?

[Sub.] But boss -

[Ed.] Look, she'll be back in an hour, it won't take us more than 5 minutes to write it up, and we'll all be back in the pub before lunch. We'll have the whole afternoon to watch the footy. Splash on Page One - just make sure to put the word 'gun' in quotes in the headline, it'll keep the lawyers happy. Put the boring ****e about them being legal and harmless in col 3, page 2. No-one ever reads that far anyway. You can work the Metal Pellets angle in somewhere. OK?

Stands. Meeting begins to break up.

[Sub.] What's a 'jule' anyway?

Fade out...

The events and characters depicted in this script are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

weeder

OzCam wrote: »

Fade in...

Editor's office. Morning. Rain outside, again.

[Editor] Jaysus, it's quiet. Anyone got a story for the front page tonight? <yawns>

[Sub-editor] Dunno, boss. What about running the Sisters again?

[Ed.] Nah, that one's gone quiet.

[Sub.] What about Bad Taoiseach?

[Ed.] No, we need that one for Tuesday. What about House Price Collapse?

[Finance Ed.] Awww ****e, boss, we're all feckin' sick of that one. Besides, we're doing it again on Monday and me Thesaurus has holes worn in it by now.

[Murmurs of agreement around table]

[Ed.] I know, we''ll do Cheap Guns, it's quite the thing this week. Darlin', run up to Cabra and buy an airsoft gun. Don't spend too much on it.

[Reporter] But boss, I don't know anything about guns.

[Ed.] Since when did that have anything to do with it? Look love, just buy something we can hang a story on and get a couple of scary photos. I'm sure you can manage that.

Exit reporter.

[Crime corr.] Boss, if you know the right bloke in the right pub, you can buy a real gun for only -

[Ed., sarcastically] I know that, ya eejit, but it's hardly News, now is it?

[Sub.] But boss -

[Ed.] Look, she'll be back in an hour, it won't take us more than 5 minutes to write it up, and we'll all be back in the pub before lunch. We'll have the whole afternoon to watch the footy. Just make sure to put the word gun in quotes in the headline, it'll keep the lawyers happy. Put the boring ****e about them being legal and harmless in col 3, page 2, no-one ever reads that far anyway. You can work the Metal Pellets angle in somewhere. OK?

Stands. Meeting begins to break up.

[Sub.] What's a feckin' 'jule' anyway?

Fade out...

The events and characters depicted in this script are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

post of the month

OzCam

kdouglas

OzCam: absolute legend, post of the month year.

Dr_Pepper

kdouglas wrote: »

OzCam: absolute legend, post of the month year.

+1

Shiva

That was the funniest thing I've read in ages Ozcam...nice one.

I can actually picture Dermot Morgan and a few lads sitting around a table going through that routine.

Lomarticus

It's a pity that nobody other than the airsofters themselves get to see the huge benefits of the sport and that no-one tells those stories (I guess that doesn’t sell newspapers).
The team-building qualities alone would put some corporate programmes to shame. The stress-relief is as good as a therapist and years of medication. The exercise is as good as anything you could get etc.

I personally owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Airsoft and the friends I have made through it.
I was suffering from work-related stress so badly that (on instructions from my doctor) I was close to having to quit my job or face permanent damage to my health.
That was only in April of this year.
In June I discovered Airsoft and have never looked back. My stress levels immediately dropped and my health situation has been transformed. I can say without fear of contradiction that Airsoft is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Airsoft is literally saving both my job and my health.

Then come along articles like the one referenced in this thread.

It deeply upsets me when I see the sport I love, its clubs and their members being dragged through the mud either by non-players messing with airsoft-toys in public or by reporters, misrepresenting the sport and its players.

Airsofters, and the sport of airsoft is all about safety, honour, honesty, helping one another, being mindful of the public and the environment and obeying the law in every respect as it pertains to our sport. The airsofters I know are easily the most helpful, honest, trustworthy and safety-concious people I have ever met and it is an honour to know them. They are the best people I know in every sense of the word.

Reporters and the public need to understand that the people that mess with these toys in public and give Airsoft a bad name are "troublemakers" and they ARE breaking the law.
They are NOT airsofters and they are NOT representative of the sport of airsoft, just as a troublemaker fighting in the street with a hurley is not representative of hurlers or the sport of hurling.

We (as true airsofters) are deeply concerned with the public image of ourselves and the sport and would never do anything to jeopardise it.
Anyone that would break the law or act irresponsibly would be drummed out of any airsoft club without a second thought.
You will never meet a person more interested in obeying and keeping the law as it pertains to airsoft than an airsofter.

It's a pity that an unbiased sports-reporter from a reputable paper has not done a real article on the sport (by interviewing the IAA) and presented it honestly as the safety-based reputable, law-abiding, team-building sport that it really is.

Stone.cold

Lomarticus wrote: »

It's a pity that nobody other than the airsofters themselves get to see the huge benefits of the sport and that no-one tells those stories (I guess that doesn’t sell newspapers).
The team-building qualities alone would put some corporate programmes to shame. The stress-relief is as good as a therapist and years of medication. The exercise is as good as anything you could get etc.

I personally owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Airsoft and the friends I have made through it.
I was suffering from work-related stress so badly that (on instructions from my doctor) I was close to having to quit my job or face permanent damage to my health.
That was only in April of this year.
In June I discovered Airsoft and have never looked back. My stress levels immediately dropped and my health situation has been transformed. I can say without fear of contradiction that Airsoft is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Airsoft is literally saving both my job and my health.

Then come along articles like the one referenced in this thread.

It deeply upsets me when I see the sport I love, its clubs and their members being dragged through the mud either by non-players messing with airsoft-toys in public or by reporters, misrepresenting the sport and its players.

Airsofters, and the sport of airsoft is all about safety, honour, honesty, helping one another, being mindful of the public and the environment and obeying the law in every respect as it pertains to our sport. The airsofters I know are easily the most helpful, honest, trustworthy and safety-concious people I have ever met and it is an honour to know them. They are the best people I know in every sense of the word.

Reporters and the public need to understand that the people that mess with these toys in public and give Airsoft a bad name are "troublemakers" and they ARE breaking the law.
They are NOT airsofters and they are NOT representative of the sport of airsoft, just as a troublemaker fighting in the street with a hurley is not representative of hurlers or the sport of hurling.

We (as true airsofters) are deeply concerned with the public image of ourselves and the sport and would never do anything to jeopardise it.
Anyone that would break the law or act irresponsibly would be drummed out of any airsoft club without a second thought.
You will never meet a person more interested in obeying and keeping the law as it pertains to airsoft than an airsofter.

It's a pity that an unbiased sports-reporter from a reputable paper has not done a real article on the sport (by interviewing the IAA) and presented it honestly as the safety-based reputable, law-abiding, team-building sport that it really is.

Well said. and i'm glad to hear airsoft has had such a positive effect on you i feel exactly the same.

iceage

Here here!! Lomarticus, well said.