Yesterday, we have been asked by some airsoft players who are based in London if they are affected by the #giveupyourgun campaign by the Metropolitan Police. The Met Police at certain periods, conducts gun amnesty campaigns for people who have come to own unneeded firearms (through inheritance or discovering a rifle used during the war periods buried in the backyard, or not owning a FAC or FireArms Certificate) or antique firearms to prevent them falling into hands of criminal guns.

For a period of two weeks, firearms owners can surrender their firearms anonymously to their nearest 24-hour local police station. This amnesty period started last 23 November and will end on the 6th of December 2015.

What concerns airsoft players based in London is that for this year, the Met Police are focusing on "imitation weapons, BB guns and air weapons, and the potential for these items to be mistaken for genuine weapons." And they have a social media campaign ( #secondstodecide) that shows it is hard to distinguish an imitation firearm from the real one even to the eye of a highly trained officer.

The reason why they are focusing on imitation weapon is the danger of misusing such replica firearms that may cause panic in the populace given the recent terrorist attack in Paris and ongoing anti-terrorist operations in Europe. According to Detective Superintendent Stephen Clayman of the Trident and Area Crime Command:

“We are asking Londoners to hand in firearms and imitation weapons to avoid them falling into the wrong hands. In an inappropriate setting, imitation weapons will cause fear and panic, and could lead to a police response involving the deployment of armed police officers, with potentially tragic results. Using an imitation firearm inappropriately may lead to a conviction for a serious criminal offence.

Last weekend’s tragic events in Paris have inevitably led to a heightened state of alert on the capital’s streets. Gun crime, whilst low in London compared to other world cities, has a devastating impact on communities. Trident is committed to ridding the capital’s streets of firearms, and last year Met officers recovered over 600 ‘lethal barrelled’ firearms.”

Airsoft players in London who are 18 years of age and above really have no need to worry about surrendering their airsoft guns to the Metropolitan Police as they have a need to use them for airsoft gaming/skirmishing which is a valid defence under the Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2006 (VCRA). The VCRA.

We got in touch with UK Airsoft Players Union (UKAPU) to find out what their position and advice to their members in the light of this campaign, and here is their statement:

We’ve been asked about the new Met Police firearms surrender campaign.

One of the things the police are asking people to do is hand in Airsoft Replicas because they are ‘dangerous’. UKAPU refutes this assertion. Replicas can create a dangerous situation if you do something foolish like brandishing them in public, but we believe that educating people on how to use them legitimately is a more effective way to prevent incidents. We would also like to see the police or another body take responsibility for following up on traders who sell replicas to members of the public who can’t buy them legally.

If anyone is confused about whether it is legal to possess a realistic imitation firearm (RIF) or imitation firearm (IF), you should know that there are no laws which punish ownership. Buying and selling them is a bit trickier though, as this is restricted by the Violent Crime Reduction Act (VCRA 2006).

You can sell an IF (two tone) to anyone over 18 years old.

You can’t legally sell a RIF to most people but you are allowed to sell one to an airsoft player over 18 years old (Regulation 3 of SI 2606). To check that they are a genuine player, you could ask their local site if they are registered, or ask a retailer to see if their site membership is registered on the UKARA, PASS or BAC databases. There’s some other groups that can buy and sell RIFs but I won’t go into that today.

If you only carry your airsoft replica to games (and keep it covered on the way), and only use it on insured, organised game sites, you won’t be breaking any laws and have nothing to worry about.

You can find a list of organised sites on http://www.airsoftmap.net/.

If you are still confused about the legal situation, please feel free to drop us a message on the UK Airsoft Players Union Facebook page.

If you are on Twitter, make sure you use the #giveupyourgun hashtag alongside #airsoft, and let people know they shouldn't be giving sports equipment away, they should be bringing it along to an organised site for a friendly and thrilling airsoft skirmish! The hashtag is being pushed by the Met Police for the next fortnight so use it as an opportunity to promote our game in a positive light to the public.

- Matt Furey-King, Chairman

What is important here for airsoft players is the safe transport of their airsoft guns when going to and from airsoft games. Given the tragic terrorist attack in Paris last 13 November 2015, and other terrorist attacks that occurred around the world recently, security forces are on high alert. As always, we strongly stress on airsoft players to not show their airsoft guns in public as it will cause panic and elicit a quick armed response from the Met Police that can have fatal consequences. We also would like to advise that they refrain from wearing military or tactical clothing in public and wear civilian clothing until they reach the airsoft game site.

Always stay safe and use common sense when owning an airsoft gun. In this troubled times, please take extra care for your own safety and the preservation of airsoft as a sport and a hobby.