Airsoft Arizona
General Airsoft Arizona => General Airsoft Discussion => Topic started by: xTanTricK on July 06, 2012, 10:30:39 PM
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Around 5:30pm or so I walk out of my house and right across the street from me I see a kid who I know is 17 years old carrying an SVD airsoft replica with a magazine in the gun and a backpack with a handle of another replica hanging out of the backpack. At the same time this kid is walking down the sidewalk an MCSO Deputy drives by him cautiously and then turns around and with lights and sirens and stops the kid to talk with him. I watched the entire thing and after a short talk with the deputy the kid walks away like nothing happened. I pulled up beside him and informed him of the way to properly transport an airsoft replica and made it clear to him that he needs to use a gunbag and at the very least a duffle bag. After I was given an attitude and called a "dumb hippie motherfucker" I so kindly informed him of his wrong doings and called the deputy back to the scene who I happen to know personally. After a nice chat about his attitude, the deputy escorted him to where he was going and chatted with him some more about trasnporting firearms and replica firearms that could and will be mistaken as real firearms not only by an average citizen but also by Law Enforcement Officers themselves.
This has been said many, many times before but TRANSPORT AIRSOFT REPLICAS IN A GUNBAG. If you don't have a gunbag you can go to walmart and pick up a hardshell gun case for around $20. I know this gets talked about over and over and over and over again but it gets talked about because people still do not do the most logical thing when trasporting firearms and replica firearms. Is it really that hard to just put it in a gunbag or at the very least a duffel bag or the box it came in? I'm not directing this towards the younger group but towards the community as a whole. I see plenty of adults who do not use a gunbag or gun case. More often than not I see the younger crowd doing so. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets annoyed when they see people walking around with their replicas out and about. It basically says "Hey looky here, I got a gun and durrrr". Please for the love of Christ transport your replicas and real firearms in a gunbag. If you have to stop and think if you're transporting a firearm or replica in a way that could be considered incorrect, then it's probably incorrect.
If you don't know what a gunbag or gun case looks like then here you go.
(http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd497/xtantrick/RifleBag_CD_151-2.jpg)
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+1
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5:30 pm, walking down sidewalk with airsoft gun. Seems sketchy to me.
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5:30 pm, walking down sidewalk with airsoft gun. Seems sketchy to me.
i don't know. we do it alot in my neighborhood. but we only leave then out of gun bags when we go to the wash behind my house, totaly fine cause it is thirty seconds to the wash it isn't illeagal to play there.
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In AZ it is not legal to fire a weapon within 1 mile of an inhabited structure. Or so says my older brother who is a DPS officer and my brother in law who is becoming a border patrol agent. 30 seconds or 30 minus I always carry my guns covered in some way. I have heard to many stories of how my brother nearly shot this kid or that driver because they where not properly carrying replica guns, I personally have been pulled over and put in handcuffs as my truck was searched (with consent) because an officer asked if their where any weapons in the car. (Only people with something to hide say no to being searched) and I only paint over the orange tips of guns that I can remove the flash hider and still have orange tip and transport it that way. Please just everyone be safe when carrying Airsoft guns.
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The problem isn't taking them around your property or out of the car/truck to your house etc. Its mainly transporting/carrying them in public for strangers to see like tantrick pointed out; For example, only one of my neighbors knows that i airsoft so if i were to randomly walk around with my g36c which by the way no longer has a orange tip on it, there would be some questionable looks. I try to put myself into some strangers shoes and think about looking at some random person walking around with a unconcealed real looking weapon. Considering that we don't just use pistols but also rifles. Me personally, that might scare me just a bit. Now putting myself into the shoes of an officer of the law, I would probably be even more afraid due to the fact that it would be my duty to approach that specific person and check out whats going on. That is exactly why states like California want to put laws in place to potentially ruin airsoft for us. Its all about being safe. I don't ever want to read an article about someone from our community being hurt for not being smart enough. Thank you for reminding us that it is important to be smart about what we do!
P.S. I use barrel sleeves at any given time my rifles are not in use, in addition to that i have orange caps that are placed over and inside the barrel.
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In AZ it is not legal to fire a weapon within 1 mile of an inhabited structure.
airsoft guns are not weapons.
i don't know. we do it alot in my neighborhood. but we only leave then out of gun bags when we go to the wash behind my house, totaly fine cause it is thirty seconds to the wash it isn't illeagal to play there.
it doesnt matter if your destination is 30sec or 30 min. if you are carrying it in public you should at least have it covered in some way.
like what happened in tantricks case, you never know when some random cop or civi is going to see you and think it looks suspicous.
it may not be illeagle and you may not get into trouble for it, but its better to be on the safe side than have something bad happen.
a year and a half of my prison time was spent because i improperly handled an airsoft gun. i was nervous and didnt correctly let the officer know that i had a replica airsoft pistol before i tried to hand it to him and he thought i was trying to assult him with it.
i was arrested sometime later and ended up going to prison for it. so trust me when i tell you that it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to transporting your airsoft replicas.
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Most of those who argue any sort of case against the necessity of a case or bag for the transportation of their airsoft guns, have never owned any real firearms, and thus do not appreciate the severity of a potential situation which could arise by their replicas being mistaken for real firearms when blatantly exposed to the public.
Put simply (to any kids reading this), stop bitching about the expense of a case, or lack of necessity for one, or whatever your excuse may be. Owning a case/gun bag to transport your replicas is as necessary as eye protection. And if you don't think eyepro is necessary, then you shouldn't be playing.
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Only people with something to hide say no to being searched
(http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6207/6134757048_6ca67e60e3_z.jpg)
No. Just... no. I personally will never consent to any search for any reason. NOTHING good can come of it.
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My nephew uses a guitar case because he is extremely broke. Get creative ladies.
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My brother stayed the night at my apartment one night (day) after a an all night swing shift and he stored his duty weapon by my airsoft armory and when he was ready to go to work the next day (as a DPS officer) he grabbed my airsoft (full metal) gun instead of his. He only noticed it was fake because he checked his mag. I had it in the same holster and it was the same color. Now this did take place in my own home but if a trained officer didn't even notice it was a fake until he got a close look at it no even thinking if I was walking down the street like an idiot with it just waving in the wind or getting pulled over with it just chilling in the back seat, or even worse that my brother took it to work and got in to a situation and all he had was an airsoft gun and not his duty weapon.. You need to be responsible about how you carry it. My best friend (an idiot!) carried his in a holster on his hip (16-18 years old) because it looked real and his dad was always taking away his guns..
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(Only people with something to hide say no to being searched)
Only people who have any clue about what is a good idea say no to being searched.
It is never, ever a good idea.
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This is just common sense, I got in trouble plenty of times for having airsoft guns out in plain view while walking around my old sub divison. Now the only chance my neighbors have to see my replicas is if Im too lazy to put it in a case before it goes in my truck. However I am 22, and can legally own firearms so Ill do the same thing with my AR15 if I feel so inclined. Its best to hide your gun as much as possible though, even a black trash bag is better than nothing.
Its not really the cops you have to worry about, its your ignorant neighbors that wouldnt know a .22 from a ak47, heck most LEOs dont know much about the firearms that they dont work with. So it wouldnt seem odd to them that a guy in jeans is carrying around a G36k, they just see it as a firearm. I read an article not too long ago that stated somewhere around 65% of all new recruits going into army basic training have never fired a firearm, and if those stats only describe military recruits then imagine the general population.
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My nephew uses a guitar case because he is extremely broke. Get creative ladies.
phhhh....trash bags.
But spazz, i walk with a barret cover on. Eci in, mag out, orange flash hider on, and muzzle in the air. Only once have i had a cops called on me and that was while playing. ( exept from the last old hatfeild game)
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Some advice to go by. If it looks like a gun in any way, shape or form then it will be considered a gun. A police officer doesn't care if it's blue, purple, see through, pink, made of cardboard or has an orange tip on it. If it looks like a gun it will be treated as such by a Law Enforcement Officer and they will take all the precautions needed to make sure they are safe. When it comes down to it a police officer is still a human being and will do what is necessary to ensure his or her safety.
USE A DAMN GUNBAG even if it's a 30 second walk to the wash. USE A GUNBAG.
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ok guys, i think i got the point, not to be mean but thirty thousand people saying the same thing still makes it the same thing, and i do shoot,alot. i don't own gun bags though. my dad does and he thinks that an airsoft gun doesn't require a gun bag. i tell him alot. i don't have money sitting around and i don't have a job. i make do with what i have. it gets annoying after the same moral is told twice or three times. it really sucks when people tell you to do things you cant.
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ok guys, i think i got the point, not to be mean but thirty thousand people saying the same thing still makes it the same thing, and i do shoot,alot. i don't own gun bags though. my dad does and he thinks that an airsoft gun doesn't require a gun bag. i tell him alot. i don't have money sitting around and i don't have a job. i make do with what i have. it gets annoying after the same moral is told twice or three times. it really sucks when people tell you to do things you cant.
Cry me a river. Get a case or a bag to put the gun in, or don't take it outside. It's that simple. Honestly, I'd be less worried about the cops, and more worried about the armed populace taking care of kids like you. There are some very trigger-happy people in this state.
And Moroni, there are a lot of reasons to not allow a cop to search your vehicle (or put you in handcuffs for that matter). Truthfully telling a cop that you have weapon in the vehicle, for example, is not enough reason for them to search a vehicle, unless they have reason to believe that you have just committed a crime with that gun or that you are not legally allowed to possess a firearm. If it was an airsoft gun, your profile says you are 18 and legally allowed to own one. You are also allowed to possess nearly any real firearm at 18 in the state of Arizona (might not be allowed to buy it, but you are allowed to own one). Therefore, in any version of this scenario, if you have a valid ID showing your age and you are not a felon, no cop should be searching your vehicle simply on the basis that it contains firearms. Don't let the police trample all over your rights, dude, even if it is more time-efficient.
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My nephew uses a guitar case because he is extremely broke. Get creative ladies.
phhhh....trash bags.
But spazz, i walk with a barret cover on. Eci in, mag out, orange flash hider on, and muzzle in the air. Only once have i had a cops called on me and that was while playing. ( exept from the last old hatfeild game)
Wait, does ECI mean something different in terms of airsoft? Because I cannot imagine how an airsoft Empty Chamber Indicator would work.
EDIT: Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out how sad it is that we're all terrified of the cops or our neighbors harassing us and/or shooting us for doing something that is in absolutely no way illegal, nor does it LOOK like anything illegal.
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I wouldn't say terrified but more annoyed at the fact the I see kids walking down the street with, what i know to be airsoft guns, and they act like it's no big deal. It might not be a big deal to them but to the neighbores who happen to dislike firearms and do not know the difference between a fake and real one one could take it ad a big deal. Airsoft gets enough negative attention in the media and I personally do not want it get anymore negative attention. Informing a kid of how to properly transport a firearm or replica firearm was my way of trying to make sure it didnt get anymore negativity.
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What negativity does airsoft have on it? A lot of people dot even know what it is because of its secrecy(hiding in cases and only talking about it on forums etc...). Usually it is all related to paintball if at all from my community.
And honestly the only people who really care that i have noticed are all the pissed off old or rich people. The others I have seen enjoy the fun show of people in camo in a truck(not exposing guns) or are curious why young people are outside and wearing camo, nothing more.
And cops wont randomly shoot someone just because they are legally showing guns and not POINTING them at the cops or anyone else who doesnt want it(other airsofters).
Just what I have noticed.
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What negativity does airsoft have on it? A lot of people dot even know what it is because of its secrecy(hiding in cases and only talking about it on forums etc...). Usually it is all related to paintball if at all from my community.
And honestly the only people who really care that i have noticed are all the pissed off old or rich people. The others I have seen enjoy the fun show of people in camo in a truck(not exposing guns) or are curious why young people are outside and wearing camo, nothing more.
And cops wont randomly shoot someone just because they are legally showing guns and not POINTING them at the cops or anyone else who doesnt want it(other airsofters).
Just what I have noticed.
Ever heard of California Senate Bill SB 798? Just one prime example of the unfair amount of negative publicity airsoft gets. Where's the good publicity? Why not do a news story on how the entire community came together to host a cherity game for one of its most prominient and appreciated members in his time of need? (Ron)
My point being, if you don't think airsoft gets or has gotten any bad publicity, do some research, and you'll quickly find plenty.
To relate this more on topic, dumb kids walking down the street waving them around like it's nothing can in no way, shape, or form benefit the community in any way. However, kids carrying them cased and using them responsibly is a showcase to the public for the maturity and legitamacy of the sport. Keep that in mind whenever you touch one of your airsoft replicas.
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What negativity does airsoft have on it? A lot of people dot even know what it is because of its secrecy(hiding in cases and only talking about it on forums etc...). Usually it is all related to paintball if at all from my community.
And honestly the only people who really care that i have noticed are all the pissed off old or rich people. The others I have seen enjoy the fun show of people in camo in a truck(not exposing guns) or are curious why young people are outside and wearing camo, nothing more.
And cops wont randomly shoot someone just because they are legally showing guns and not POINTING them at the cops or anyone else who doesnt want it(other airsofters).
Just what I have noticed.
You really need to pay attention more to news regarding airsoft. A few years ago someone ran around well known trails on a mountain near Phoenix and had S.W.A.T called on him and that made the news and a local news station had the entire ordeal on camera as well as an interview after the incident happened. As stated above California Senate Bill 798 is due to negative publicity with airsoft guns and oh by the way they just tried to pass another bill in LA in regards to airsoft. The ATF siezed a shipment of GBB rifles and for months they tested to see if they could be turned into a real firearm which they proved but only after months of trial and error. That doesn't seem to be such positive feedback for the airsoft community.
Most police officers don't just shoot anybody they feel like, although it has happened before. I'm not saying they will randomly shoot some kid walking down the street with an airsoft gun but given the potential threat to the officer not knowing if it's real or not they will always treat it as a real firearm unless they can prove it's not. All the police officer hears on the radio is "A person with a gun" call. They don't hear "A kid walking down the street with an airsoft gun" call. The officer has to treat every situation like it could potentially turn into a very very bad and unpleasant day for both parties. It's just logical sense to carry a firearm or replica in a gunbag or case do to the average citizen not knowing the difference between a replica and a real firearm.
I don't know about most kids these days but when I was a younger kid and taught about gun safety I was always taught to trasnport any kind of gun in a case. Maybe it's just me but I feel like it's the safest thing to do when transporting firearms and replicas unlesss it is being used as a self defense weapon.
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The biggest problem I see with what happened in your story is that the kid was a minor, so he couldnt have legally owned let alone carry] a firearm, so the cops would only have two ways of thinking really, the kid is either carrying a fake or he has bad intentions. Now common sense[ and a little knowlege of firearms] would say that the guns are fake since its highly unlikely the kid got ahold of two firearms, one of them being a SVD. Then again, cops have shot people over alot less.
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Wait, does ECI mean something different in terms of airsoft? Because I cannot imagine how an airsoft Empty Chamber Indicator would work.
i take the barrel and hop-up out of the gun until i get where we are at.
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Most police officers don't just shoot anybody they feel like, although it has happened before. I'm not saying they will randomly shoot some kid walking down the street with an airsoft gun but given the potential threat to the officer not knowing if it's real or not they will always treat it as a real firearm unless they can prove it's not. All the police officer hears on the radio is "A person with a gun" call. They don't hear "A kid walking down the street with an airsoft gun" call. The officer has to treat every situation like it could potentially turn into a very very bad and unpleasant day for both parties. It's just logical sense to carry a firearm or replica in a gunbag or case do to the average citizen not knowing the difference between a replica and a real firearm.
My "friend" an officer knew a fellow officer who had a "cleaned" airsoft gun in his trunk in the event that he shot some one who he beleaved was armed and turned out to be un armed... yeah I know that might be 1 police officer who is crooked but where their is one their could be more? (don't bother asking WHO the officer is, as far as my friend has said the proper actions have been taken by his CO) the black trash bag is not a bad idea IDGAF if you look like a complete retard walking 30 seconds down the street! at least the nosy neighbors with the cops on speed dial (every neighborhood has one) wont call the cobs on a kid walking down the street with a trash bag and most guns can remove the stalk to easily fit in to a large back pack (every one has a freaking backpack!) Point is one stupid person can destroy the fun for the rest of us.. Now I am not saying that it is YOU being an idiot but we all know that one friend who is a total idiot.. It takes me 10 seconds to get a gun in to my gun bag, they are not made to look pretty a gun bag is to properly cover a gun. I have spent $0.00 on gun bags but when ever I load my truck to go out all my neighbors see is me in cameo loading the bed of my truck with a bag or two and that is all they will ever see.
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Wait, does ECI mean something different in terms of airsoft? Because I cannot imagine how an airsoft Empty Chamber Indicator would work.
If you run GBB's like me, an ECI could be used on any open bolt system.
And in terms of the negative publicity airsoft gets in the media, that is what sells, so that is what they will show. You can sit around and watch news stories all day about people getting hurt, arrested, sued, and harassed but among those stories you'll only see one or two about positive local ongoings. If we really want to get some positive publicity going, we'll either have to let the media outlets know when something that can be in no way considered negative is going on (like the Toys for Tots charity match that Fightertown hosted last year), or attract positive attention in some other way. Either way, it is a cardinal rule that people fear what they dont understand. So in order to gain acceptance, we must be understood as a sport and as a community.
Pulling it all back on topic, safe transport of replicas is paramount to keeping tolerance of the sport on the up and up. If you think about the state we live in and the people that inhabit it, real guns are almost a staple of the culture. And with that many people in the community familiar with the guidelines that govern the safe use and handling of real firearms, it only makes sense that while we are in the public's eye, we are to treat them like real firearms. It will make them feel like we respect what we do; it is not just something that we play around with, but a serious sport.
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What negativity does airsoft have on it? A lot of people dot even know what it is because of its secrecy(hiding in cases and only talking about it on forums etc...). Usually it is all related to paintball if at all from my community.
And honestly the only people who really care that i have noticed are all the pissed off old or rich people. The others I have seen enjoy the fun show of people in camo in a truck(not exposing guns) or are curious why young people are outside and wearing camo, nothing more.
And cops wont randomly shoot someone just because they are legally showing guns and not POINTING them at the cops or anyone else who doesnt want it(other airsofters).
Just what I have noticed.
Ever heard of California Senate Bill SB 798? Just one prime example of the unfair amount of negative publicity airsoft gets. Where's the good publicity? Why not do a news story on how the entire community came together to host a cherity game for one of its most prominient and appreciated members in his time of need? (Ron)
My point being, if you don't think airsoft gets or has gotten any bad publicity, do some research, and you'll quickly find plenty.
To relate this more on topic, dumb kids walking down the street waving them around like it's nothing can in no way, shape, or form benefit the community in any way. However, kids carrying them cased and using them responsibly is a showcase to the public for the maturity and legitamacy of the sport. Keep that in mind whenever you touch one of your airsoft replicas.
Well, to be perfectly fair, SB798 came about because some hoodrat decided to run from the cops for no reason, and when cornered, drew an airsoft pistol on the cop and was gunned down for it. It didn't even clear his jacket and so no orange tip could have saved him (although in that situation most cops will ignore an orange tip in any case), but this kid was just STUPID. It's one thing to walk down your street with your airsoft gun slung on your shoulder, it's another thing to draw down on an officer who's got his gun pointed at you and is yelling at you to get on the ground. The legislature of California just looks for excuses to ban anything they can, IMHO; in this situation I only feel bad for the cop who was forced to shoot a giant of a teenager with a toy gun and now has to live with that.
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http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8668872 (http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8668872)
Kids are stupid. Thats why I never would work with juvenile offenders. They make bad decisions based on a flawed sense of reality and immortality, and there are plenty of 12 year old gang bangers these days with notches on their belts. I saw 18 year old murders who had murdered people as juvies and got sent to the adult facilities to serve out the rest of their terms frequently.
You think just because you are young that that will save you from a cop thinking its a real gun? It makes them even more trigger happy, because they know that the kids often don't know the true weight of their actions and that kids with guns in bad situations pull the trigger more than adults do.
Keep in mind too, there are people out there who take replicas or anything that remotely looks like a gun, including water guns, and converts them into home made single shot weapons. Just because it looks fake, police don't and rightly shouldn't assume it isnt a real weapon.
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+1 for nukeduster, just simple facts...
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search: airsoft+police+deaths and you will see plenty of reasons why you should carry your airsoft guns in a case.
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So in the end just BUY a Damn gun bag. Or you will be a statistic and the Airsoft community will come to your funeral and tell your mommy and daddy that we told you so. End of discussion!!!!
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If I were any smarter I would stay out of this, but I enjoy talking about my rights as an American citizen. Now there have been quite a bit of posts in this thread already with a lot of good points. That being said, I'm an adult, and I've carried my airsoft guns in the open, mags out, muzzle up slung on my back, to my friends' places. I'm not waving them around. I'm not walking to the supermarket with them. There's nothing illegal about it, period. I'm not going to get shot, and I'm not going to get this sport banned. I've been shooting real firearms long before I started shooting airsoft guns, and that's how I've carried actual firearms. Is this not America? ;)
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In AZ it is not legal to fire a weapon within 1 mile of an inhabited structure.
airsoft guns are not weapons.
Please direct your attention here: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/weapon (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/weapon) and here: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gun (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gun)
OT, yes you should transport airsoft guns in cases and bags. That little brat ass kid probably went home and said "fuck da poleez!" That is what I gather from his ignorant attitude.