Kent Wu has sent over a link to an interesting news story in Michigan, US. In a recent change in Michigan’s legislative tact Airsoft have been deemed to have non-firearm status (specifically pistols in this case). When you visit the link it asks for some demographic data – for simplicity sake if you feel like it just stick in 90210/1920/Male.
The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office will no longer criminally charge anyone caught carrying an airsoft pistol, backing off an earlier edict that deemed the realistic toy guns firearms under state law.
The policy change came on the heels of a letter sent by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to a state representative addressing the legality of airsoft guns, which shoot plastic pellets but look like real weapons.
Washtenaw County appeared to be one of the only counties where prosecutors believed airsoft guns qualified as firearms. Several other county prosecutors and the Michigan State Police disagreed, saying the plastic pellets they shoot are not a dangerous projectile, as defined by the law. […] MLive.com
US laws with regards to Airsoft (and firearms in general) vary from state to state, and there’s a keen interest over there to see the laws harmonised and make more sense. Strangely of the laws out there UK laws seem to make the most sense to me (perhaps that’s just due to familiarity), simplisticly you can’t carry or transport them without good reason in public; then the portrayed intent of use and/or the potential lethality of the equipment relatively clearly defines the scope of ownership and use.
Curiously reading through the news article, the Michigan laws are now very similar to our own here (save the blaze muzzle law). I think the last paragraph was the most interesting as it points towards an issue that’s been the cause of concern across many countries, in that basically not all that is termed "Airsoft" is really a toy. It’s nice to see some sensible well written thoughts on the subject:
Ryan Mainz, a firearms registration expert for the Ann Arbor Police Department, cautioned parents and other airsoft gun owners not to assume that the opinion means anything called an airsoft gun is legal. He said the term airsoft has been broadly used to describe other replica weapons that are not legal without a permit, such as a rifle-barreled pellet gun. Mainz recommended that people check with police if they have questions or concerns. MLive.com
