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Post by Achilles on Dec 11, 2013 23:54:19 GMT -5
As i was trolling the internet today, COPS happened to find its way onto my Television. I sometimes enjoy watching it, so i left it on. As they were trailing this guy through a forest, they happened upon him with his "gun" drawn. The Officers Told him to lower the gun or they'd shoot. He Complied, and as they detained him they found out it was a pump action springer shotgun. Apparently, he had tried to rob a couple walking on the street with it as the police cruiser drove by. This is why people have such a problem with our sport, because of idiotic people out there that pull dumb shit like this. I was kind of enraged by this, but kept on watching. This trend continued throughout the episodes, which was odd. Over the course of two episodes, there were a total of 4 incidents in which the criminal attempted to deceit people(s) with Airsoft guns to get some type of personal gain, may it be robbery, or intimidation etc.
How long will Airsoft continue to exist, if people keep acting stupid like this...?
(^Rhyming skills to the max right there^)
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Post by joethe1st on Dec 12, 2013 0:16:58 GMT -5
More than likely they will make it a law that you can't obstruct the orange tip. And I agree, people like that should have nothing to do with airsoft. They are going to ruin it for everyone else.
But I would'nt dwell on the subject too much. There is nothing you can do except make sure you are being responsible. Those type of people are going to do it regardless of what people say. All we can do is make sure we set a real, good example for what airsoft really is. And if we set that example the law enforcement will see it for what it's meant for, and take care of the few inevitable outliers that are stupid.
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Post by Pagan on Dec 12, 2013 3:14:31 GMT -5
This type of thing has been going on for years, not just with airsoft, but with bb guns and even straight up toys painted to look real. No amount of regulation or laws will stop someone from using a weapon, be it real or a replica, in the commission of a crime.
There was a teenage boy who was recently shot in Battle Creek while "lurking" around a liquor store I believe while carrying and brandishing an airsoft gun. Was he trying to commit a crime? Who knows. Was he doing something stupid? Absolutely.
Sadly there is nothing we can do to cure stupid. It's up to us as responsible airsoft players to be smart about the use of replicas.
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Post by Ogre on Dec 12, 2013 23:24:14 GMT -5
I don't think Airsoft is going to be outlawed any time soon for the same reason a National Semi-Automatic AR ban every libtard in congress was talking about after sandy hook. There is enough hardcore Airsofter and a big enough national Milsim community, that all outlawing Airsoft would do would be making criminals out of innocent people and distracting law enforcement from more important maters, like busting Meth Dealers and solving homicides. Just like how people wouldn't turn in Sportsman's rifles that they spent their hard earned cash on, and if you are a gun enthusiast, sportsman or prepper you would probably continue to purchase the firearms/fire them/own them regardless of any laws. Politicians know our correctional system is broken and overflowing and outlawing those firearms would be counter productive to our countries interests.
Back to the topic at hand, Airsoft will never be outlawed the the same reason civilian owned firearms won't be outlawed. If it were to ever be outlawed on a state or national scale, the results would be the same. They would be making criminals out of innocent people. I myself (and I'm sure many others on this forum) would continue, to play airsoft and purchase airsoft equipment regardless of it's legal standing, and that would be if and only if the government wouldn't turn tail and run from the massive public outcry from players, hosts and business that depend on airsoft to make a living. But hey, I could be wrong, our government has done dumber things before IE, Bay Of Pigs, NAFTA, The Obamacare Website Role-out, and outlawing recreational cannabis usage (I could go on forever about that, but I digress)
TL;DR: Airsoft is fine, Pagan hits the nail on the head there " It's up to us as responsible airsoft players to be smart about the use of replicas"
The only issue with that is the fact that the people committing those crimes probably aren't airsoft players, but I think the police realize that.
Sorry about going off topic there in the beginning, I was making a comparison between the two situations /endrant
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Post by X on Dec 13, 2013 14:34:27 GMT -5
I think you guys are over estimating the number of airsofters vs stupid people. With enough stupid people pushing for it I could see all airsoft guns being banned for looking too real. Politicians care about getting reelected not about what's best. So if there are enough constituents pressing for a ban it could happen. Real firearms are protected under the second amendment and by the NRA. Airsoft has neither.
Sent from my XT1080 using proboards
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Post by Puma1 on Dec 13, 2013 14:47:29 GMT -5
I highly doubt the government will give a rats ass about us, as X pointed out: elections over needs, always.
We are a relatively small group, and we have no real protection.
As a community, all we really can do is make sure that we NEVER condone anything like this. It's become quite clear to me that there's no real way to stop people from using life-like weapons in crimes. The only thing we have the ability to do is to play the game with the utmost respect and carefulness. If we show people what the sport is meant for, we might still have a chance.
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Post by joethe1st on Dec 13, 2013 15:33:28 GMT -5
I haven't seen any signs of shutting the sport down. I don't think they will. The people don't seem to mind. And if all else fails... there will still be paintball.
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Post by M.S.-ARC on Dec 13, 2013 15:38:59 GMT -5
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Post by Ogre on Dec 13, 2013 15:52:50 GMT -5
That maybe be true, but as I stated before, if Airsoft does ever get banned, who is really going to follow it? There are thousands of Airsoft players across Michigan and hundreds of thousands across the United States. I believe a good amount of players, probably more so than not, would still play regardless of the legal status. I would, a lot of players have too much money invested into their hobby to just give up that easily. As I said before, making criminals out of law abiding citizens.
I will admit, maybe my view is a little skewed, but I don't expect an all out ban on Airsoft, maybe a greater age restriction. For example, when I was 16 I had a debit card, I used that to buy Airsoft guns from evike, most stores don't allow purchases of Airsoft guns under the age of 18, if Evike actually cared about that, they could have easily found out my age from the information submitted with my debit card. I would expect that their would be greater enforcement existing policies, maybe the might increase the age restriction to 20 or 21. but I believe a full out ban to be likely.
And X I wouldn't count the NRA out on protesting against an Airsoft ban, for the simple reason, if they Government does decide to go after them, its not much of a stretch to go after firearms.
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