Recently things have been circulating that NY is trying to pass a bill “banning” airsoft. This is outright false, and most of you should be able to figure out why just by reading the bill. Many people see “law” and “airsoft” in the same sentence and jump to the conclusion that the state is banning everything relating to guns.
Disclaimer: I not an attorney, and I am still opposed to this bill. The bill cites 300 toy gun related deaths NATIONWIDE since 2015. 300/10 years (rounded down) is 30, 30/50 is 0.6. Each state is individually responsible for less than one toy gun death per year. I dont think that is a big enough problem to further tighten down laws in NYS as it is for other more problematic states with practically no restrictions whatsoever.
If you graduated 5th grade, I urge you to read the bill yourself, as its less than a 5 minute read, and I think is pretty clear about what its supposed to be doing. Otherwise, ill be breaking down this bill in its entirety.
What this bill does NOT do:
-restrict or outlaw the ownership of airsoft, BB, air guns or paintball guns
- outlaw airsoft games on public or privately owned fields
- restrict the importing of out of state or overseas airsoft guns (or any other air gun) online from online retailers
- place restrictions on how air guns must look to be legally owned or what kinds of air guns are legal
What this bill DOES do:
- make it harder for kids under 18 to legally obtain air guns sold within the state
- place coloring restrictions on air guns sold within the state (except… it doesnt. more on that in a minute)
- Bill overview states :”While state law prohibits the sale of realistic looking "toy" weapons, there is a carveout for 'air rifle, pellet gun, or "B-B" gun'. This carveout leaves many realistic- looking imitation guns accessible to children.”
1A) the sale of realistic toy guns in NY is already illegal. The fact you can currently buy airsoft, BB, and paintball guns freely in NYS means this isn’t relevant.
1B) Keyword: accessible to children. Its already illegal for anyone under 16 to buy any kind of air gun. They want to make it be 18+. Thats like… whatever.
the actual bill starts with a bunch of legal jargon to basically say “this bill applies to all air guns, airsoft guns, bb guns, paintball guns and everything else that shoots projectiles but isnt an actual gun”
the first actual legal change says : § 399-r. Sale of paint pellet guns OR OTHER TYPES OF AIR GUNS.(a) No person, firm, or corporation shall sell or offer to sell a paint pellet gun OR OTHER TYPES OF AIR GUNS to any person under [sixteen] EIGHTEEN years of age.
3A) as I said, raise the age of buying air guns to 18. Personally dont have a problem with that. Kids are stupid. And just have your parents buy it for you.
the next section is a buncha shit about how any company selling air guns has to reasonably have systems in place to prevent people from stealing air guns off the shelves, they cannot falsely advertise or market them as real guns (which… nobody does as is) so thats not an issue
“Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit the possession or use of air rifles, pellet guns, or "B-B" guns lawfully acquired prior to the effective date of this act.”
5A) nothing is going to become outright illegal. Including anything and everything you already own.
- Going back to the bill overview, they state: “Section one updates the definition of "imitation weapon." It makes clear that air rifles, pellet guns, and BB guns must be brightly colored and meet the same visual safety standards that already apply to imitation guns.”
Except, section 1 says literally nothing about said color changes. They literally don’t exist. It just updates the definition of “imitation guns” to include air guns (as opposed to like… solid block props? I guess?)
Overall, the biggest change is you would now need to be 18 to buy airsoft guns from stores in NY. This MIGHT mean air guns need to have orange tips (which already applies to airsoft guns, but there is literally nothing indicating there are plans for it). You can buy anything you want off evike or airsoft megastore or whatever. This only applies to businesses selling within the state, and literally does not change anything about the domestic sale of airsoft guns besides how old you need to be to buy them.
I still encourage everyone to vote no (“nay”) if you haven’t already. Definitions need to be changed before I’m in support of the bill but even if they said all air guns need to have an orange tip, i probably wouldn’t care. I take all mine off as is. Or just paint em.
Stop fear mongering.