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UKAPU and Polarstar have a poll for HPA users:

Ever since the introduction of the amended Policing and Crime Bill last year there has been a cloud hanging over HPA RIF users in the UK. Specifically that most full auto capable HPA airsoft replicas could be ‘readily converted’ to exceed the 1.3J airsoft threshold, or could be regarded as ‘capable of’ more than 1.3J in their stock form.

UKAPU have been actively pursuing a resolution for HPA users and as part of this ongoing effort, Vice Chairman Tim Haines, has been involved in discussions with Polarstar to address the aforementioned issue and as a result we are conducting a poll on behalf of Polarstar.

How does this help HPA users? Polarstar are producing a modular regulator, which will allow UK HPA owners to build compliant HPA powered RIFs. Polarstar will be producing piston regulator assemblies for multiple PSI settings, which we hope, will give us the means to ensure that selective fire HPA RIFS can be safely operated under the 1.3J legal limit.

We urge all of our members to share this poll; the greater the number of responses, the better the data.

UKAPU/Polarstar poll

(UKAPU)

Matt Furey-King is moving on from his role as UKAPU Chairman:

Matt Furey-King here. I’d like to announcing that I’m stepping down as Chairman of UK Airsoft Players Union. When I returned to the role as Chairman in 2015 my intention was twofold; to get the association back on its feet, and to make sure we had player representation throughout the Policing and Crime Bill passage. My return was only ever supposed to be temporary, the committee knew my intention from the start was to stand aside on the commencement date of the new law. So here we are.

I’m pretty disappointed that the PCA is still an open subject, that we still need to push the government for clarifications in order to find out how to comply with the new law. There’s some grey area which I think will one-day spell real trouble for some poor airsoft player. As much as I’m dying to help with this situation, I have to call it a day and move on. Unfortunately, other parts of my life have been suffering due to lack of attention, I’ve been so distracted by all this airsoft politics going on these last 2 years. My girlfriend Po Ling has been very accommodating but even her impressive patience with me is wearing thin! So it’s time to get my priorities straight. The way I see it I’ve done my bit and to be honest other people now need to step up to the plate.

I am massively proud of the work UKAPU has done. Over the last decade many hobbies have been restricted or eroded or banned in the UK, modern society doesn’t seem to have any room for people like us who like having fun in non-vanilla ways. But airsoft has not fallen, we’ve stood our ground, we’ve not been bullied and suppressed, we fought back on every level. It’s really impressive, and we have a bright future if we make this unity and determination a core part of our identity as UK airsoft players.

You might be worried that UKAPU is going to disappear when I go, as most of our announcements come with my name attached. But the reason you see so much of me and not much of the rest of the committee is because I have been the associations figurehead, actually there’s half a dozen people working hard behind the scenes that you don’t hear about. I have a huge amount of confidence in the remaining committee and the association. We have 4000 members, a great reputation and a great future. Let me tell you, the committee have some fantastic plans for the next few years that will be a huge lift for airsoft.

David Weston, UKAPU Vice Chair, has taken command of UKAPU. Soon he will hold a management meeting and the committee will select a new Chairman, and it would not be appropriate for me to preempt that vote. But there’s some really great guys working for UKAPU at the moment and I have every confidence in them to lead the association forward. That said, I won’t be disappearing completely and will still be available to help and advise them, if they so wish. Of course I’ll be an active UKAPU member and you’ll all see me around at airsoft games, as normal.

All that said, UKAPU does have a high turnover of volunteers (voluntary associations tend to, people’s circumstances change and they often run out of free time to commit). The committee already has a few vacant positions and, unless they can fill positions and spread the workload, the association could go into a downward spiral. So PLEASE, if you are a self-motivated and literate airsoft player and have some free time, give them a message on Facebook and volunteer for a committee position. Now is the time.

What’s next for me? Well, I’m pretty pissed off at the shambolic way the country is being run and politician’s dreadful attitudes towards civil liberties in general, not just the liberties of airsofters. So I’m thinking bigger, I’ve made a step into the wider world of politics and I’m running in the upcoming Parliamentary election. I’ve been selected as the Green Party candidate for Kingswood in Bristol. Green Party may seem an unusual choice for a firearms guy but I’ve found it to be a really inspiring movement, the Greens are very far from being the stereotypes people imagine they are. Yes, they do currently have an anti-replica policy in the manifesto but they have no commitment to it and I’m confident I can get them to change it. They didn’t know about airsoft skirmishing or the VCRA when they wrote it. They asked me to help them rewrite it many years ago but I never had the time, so it’s partially my fault. If you are interested, there’s some information about me as a candidate here http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/matt-furey-king-green-kingswood-63236

Later in the year I’m aiming to put more time into my airsoft channel, Claymore Airsoft TV. I’ve got some fun content planned so please give it a sub or a like if you want to see what airsoft shenanigans I’m up to.

https://www.facebook.com/claymoreairsofttv/ http://www.youtube.com/claymoreairsofttv

Huge thanks to all the people who have done so much to help me achieve my aims over the years, especially my fellow UKAPU committee members. I know UKAPU has a bright future ahead if all of you support the next leader of UKAPU in the same brilliant way you have supported me.

Kind Regards,

Matt Furey-King

UKAPU Member

(UKAPU)

The UKAPU & UKARA have released some guidance on the new Policing and Crime Act update:

The circular for the airsoft parts of the PCA 2017 was released today. In light of the questions that have been raised, this document is where we would have expected to find the guidance for airsoft players. What Home Office have published is extremely limited, and we do not expect to receive further clarification in the short term.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/circular-0062017-firearms-controls

As the legislation comes into effect on the 2nd of May, please view the official briefing note from UKARA and UKAPU

Please stand by. Soon we will be publishing further information on how you can help us get some real answers from the government.

Matt Furey-King, Chair UK Airsoft Players Union & Frank Bothamly, Chair UK Airsoft Retailers Association

(UKAPU & UKARA)

The UKARA, ATB & UKAPU have an important update on the airsoft exception in the UK Policing and Crime Bill:

We have some great news for UK airsoft this morning. Lord Shrewsbury of the GTA has voluntarily decided to withdraw his amendment in regards to the airsoft exception from the Policing and Crime Bill 2015/16. This is the best possible outcome for UK airsoft. Lord Shrewsbury tells us he better understands airsoft now that he is properly informed, and that he is extremely keen to work with us and move forwards as a part of a unified firearms community. Please get word out and apply the brakes on this campaign, there’s nothing we need to counteract right now, the airsoft exception is not being questioned, and we certainly don’t want at this stage to create fruitless hassle for our valuable new ally. So to clarify, tweets emails and letters to Lords and Lord Shrewsbury should stop now.

When asked to contribute to this campaign the response from the UK airsoft was phenomenal. You should feel proud of the good work you’ve put in. There was a tiny element that was abusive and even threatening towards Lord Shrewsbury and needless to say, this is totally unacceptable behaviour and counterproductive, we condemn this behaviour unreservedly. Those individuals have been reported to the Police and we hope that such individuals are subject to the full weight of the law. But on the whole we saw an overwhelming positive response. I even saw some Mums writing to representatives to say tell them that airsoft had been a huge force for good in their children’s lives. I’d also like to make you aware that the 3 UK airsoft associations have done a colossal amount (most of it behind the scenes) to get us this far, and will continue to work for you over the coming months, so please keep supporting them in turn. Another group which gave us huge support was real firearms shooters, and grass roots shooting organisations such as Firearms UK. There wasn’t anything at stake for real firearms people and yet they leapt to the defence of airsofters. Bear that in mind should you see the firearms community facing hardship in the future.

Things are not finished with the PCB by any means. We still have concerns that, even with the exception in place, if you unwittingly import a slightly hot fully auto AEG, or have your HPA or GBB replicas are tested at maxed out pressure and heavy ammo you could face section 5 firearms charges (5 years mandatory sentence), which would be wildly disproportionate and unacceptable, even if it only ever happens to one of us.

So I ask everyone to keep up to date with this Bill for the next few months and keep discussing it.

If you are still receiving replies from MPs and Lords, please continue to post them on the group so we can ‘map the ground’. This group is very well informed and a useful asset in itself. https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKairsoftlobby/

Be sure to Like UK Airsoft Players Union to keep up to date https://www.facebook.com/UKAPU/ but more importantly players should join UKAPU, so we can keep doing what we do http://www.ukapu.org.uk/join/

Airsoft Trade Body will have its website online soon so get involved if you run an airsoft business and want to safeguard it http://www.atb.org.uk/

Retailer membership of old stalwart UKARA is of course available from their website http://www.ukara.org.uk/index.php

Please like, comment and share.

Kind Regards,

Matt Furey-King

On behalf of UKARA, ATB & UKAPU