Why you Canuck airsofters are screwed, and possibly California too..
- By kel
- April 29, 2014
- No Comments
First i’m not a lawyer or do I play on on TV. Just putting in my two cents in as I see it.
Why you Canuck airsofters are screwed, and possibly California too.. The reason is simple. Sometime in the future the Canadian Top Court is going to determine if a pellet gun is a weapon or not. Currently they are not classified as such and not under the strict laws defining firearms.
Currently to own a firearm in Canada you must be licensed. The applicant must take a safety course and pass a test. This is the basics if you are interested in purchasing rifles for sporting purposes, ie shotguns, bolt action rifles for hunting, target shooting. However if you are interested in a pistol or a AR15 further courses are required and further restrictions are applied to the firearm owner. Purchasing ammo and rifles requires a license. All ammo sales are placed into a log book. You also must have an authority to transport your AR15 and pistols, directly to and from the range, no stopping for milk along the way, the most direct route. Being in a location that isn’t considered the fastest route could get your license revoked and rifles confiscated. In addition all firearms must be securely locked up with a trigger lock, unloaded, mag and bolt removed and stored separate. No using it for home defense. A strict NO NO up north.
Currently pellet guns require no license, purchasing requirements consist of you being 18 plus years of age. Transportation, license and storage rules don’t apply. The only time they are considered a firearm is if you do something illegal with them, like rob a bank. Then the item is considered a firearm.
The more astute readers may say “But in Canada airsoft are replicas”. Yes and no. Before I start writing a hundred page manifesto on why airsoft is NOT and I say again NOT replicas, and why the law supports this position. Let me keep it simple and say. The RCMP has declared specific airsoft rifles as replicas. However if they are modified to meet some arbitrarily rule they made up by pulling it out of their ass, which is total contrary to the laws of the land, at the time they began to goose step screw over the Airsoft industry in Canada, If we take the information in that context then they are replicas that have been modified to pellet guns.
Lets pretend in the future nothing changes and pellet guns / airsoft are still in the same classification as they are now. Great everything as normal.
Now lets pretend that pellet guns / airsoft are now considered firearms. Congrats you are now violating the law on many levels, you are now a criminal overnight. You are a unlicensed owner of a firearm. Possession of a firearm without a license is a criminal offense, which is about three years in jail. Don’t worry thought I’m pretty sure your local police department will have a arms amnesty program for you. Now lets pretend you have a license to have a real steel AR15 and pistols, your in the clear right? No guess again. The maximum magazine capacity of a real steel rifle in Canada is 5 rounds. Hi cap drums are jail time. Do you have any hi-cap airsoft mags, any standard 70 rd-ers? Fully auto real steel are also jail time. Have any fully auto airsoft guns??? better turn all that stuff also. Now let pretend the Soft is still in our possession legally somehow. An authority to transport is required to move your “weapon” to and from the playing field. The permit will never be issued because all the field will shut down. Why? simple, they are now ranges and are susceptible to all the rules regulating firearm ranges. Do you really think the permits will be issued?
In short all Canadian Airsofters should be supporting any reputable firearms organization fighting this. Contact any pro firearm bureaucrat and inform them the bigger problem of this court case and if it fails to have a contingency plan ready. If you don’t you will be FKN’ screwed.
Before you think cooler heads will prevail on this remember who kicked in peoples doors and stole (that right stole) their personal property in the false pretenses of safety. Thats right the RCMP, now add to that they have the opportunity to take the boots to an industry the have been screwing over for years and you have a recipe for the end of airsoft is Canada.
And if you think it can’t be that bad here is a CDN news article on what is going on right now with real firearms and the RCMP. video.
Now why does this matter to the Soviet Socialist Republic of California (and possibly New York state). It seem that all bad firearms ideas come out of Canada. If it works there it might work here, seems to be the mentality of the state government. Thats it for today.
people getting screwed over all the time here.