Transporting Airsoft Replicas

[xTanTricK]

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.

[INFIDEL]

+1

[bailey5671]

5:30 pm, walking down sidewalk with airsoft gun. Seems sketchy to me.

[headhunter]

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.

[CaptainMoroni94]

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.

[Benny1232]

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.

[spazz]

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.

[xXmusicimpactXx]

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.

[Fresnel]

Only people with something to hide say no to being searched

No. Just... no. I personally will never consent to any search for any reason. NOTHING good can come of it.

[claymore]

My nephew uses a guitar case because he is extremely broke.  Get creative ladies.

[CaptainMoroni94]

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..

[Raith]

(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.

[Rogue Fox]

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.

[headhunter]

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)

[xTanTricK]

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.