The members of the California airsoft community are working hard to convince Governor Brown not to sign SB 199 which he has until the end of September to sign it or let it lapse to become a law; or veto it and send it back to the California State Assembly where they need a two-thirds majority vote to override the veto.

Whether SB 199 becomes a law or not, it is already an exercise in futility where its backers, primarily State Senator Kevin De León just wasted taxpayers' money for a proposed law that is already a failure even before it reached the Governor's office.

So why is it already failure? It's already a failure due to the reasons already stated by the people and organizations who opposed the bill --- real steel guns are being painted in bright colors making them indistinguishable from toy guns either as a matter of taste or by criminals who think they can get away with guns painted to look like toys or airsoft guns. Whether De León's motives are truly real, that is the protection and safety of individuals or more of an agenda of protecting the business interests of the paintball industry, what he worked on is just utterly useless.

Even before SB 199 and the other proposed legislation by De León were debated on, there is already the Federal mandate that airsoft guns need to have their muzzles painted bright orange to distinguish them from real guns and therefore can be treated differently by law enforcers. Even with the Federal mandate, criminals have already been painting their guns with bright orange at the muzzle area. This already produces a dangerous situation in which responding policemen might hesitate since they will think it's a harmless airsoft gun giving precious time for the criminal to fire at the police and make a quick getaway.

In a recent case, San Leandro Police confiscated partially assembled real steel AK-47s with orange tips in a raid where they also found more weapons and an illegal marijuana grow house. Just imagine the 7.62mm bullets flying around in a residential area if those orange-tipped AK-47s were in the hands of hardened criminals guarding their illegal operation.

Apart from that, this statement from the San Leandro Police Lieutenant Robert MacManus also makes it useless that having a replica with an orange tip or a colored toy gun would make someone safe from being shot by the police according to Guns.com:

“The officer is going to be forced to shoot to protect their own life or to protect someone else, regardless if it has the plastic tip on it,” McManus said, implying his department treats all potential firearms as guns no matter how they are painted.

That statement alone has rendered SB 199 an unnecessary and useless bill.

With more colored real steel firearms in the market and criminals painting their guns like toys, the police will now treat firearm-shaped objectives as guns, brightly colored or not, SB 199 notwithstanding. So why author a Bill that does not serve a purpose at all but rather just score political points based on emotions brought about by the shooting of a young man carrying an airsoft gun by the Police in Sta. Rosa, California last year?

Thus, the California airsoft community will not be protected by SB 199's provisions if they follow it faithfully when it becomes a law (still a big "if") since things will remain the same. Carry a device that looks like a firearm in public, even if it's colored according to the provisions of SB 199, you will still get a police response. I dare one to try it, as I wouldn't, SB 199 or not.

The problem is actually very easy to solve --- it's via education through sellers of airsoft guns and toys whether at specialty stores or big box stores and airsoft game sites where airsoft players are subject to house rules written for their own safety. Common sense dictates that customers will have to be admonished on what the dire implications are for carrying replica firearms in public. They should not carry their airsoft guns in public at all and keep them in bags while in transport. Most airsoft players know that and only the foolish ones tend to put the hobby in a bad light.

SB 199 will just give a false sense of security to owners of replica firearms and law enforcers, it will never resolve the problem and would put both in danger. Tell Governor Brown to veto SB 199.