Bit annoyed to say the least about this one. I own a bright orange/black M4 airsoft rifle, this one in fact Ive had a nice shouting match with a neighbour after a pellet ricocheted off the target i was shooting and landed im guessing in their garden. Apparently its illegal to own one and to fire it as i could seriously hurt someone. Tried to explain otherwise but now if they hear me doing it again they are going to ring the police and say im shooting a gun. Any ideas what i can do? Theyve recently moved in and the previous neighbours had no problems with this so i thought nothing of it.
Why don't you grow up and get a real one - that'll show 'em Or, don't do things which annoy other people in your garden - I know it's crap, but that's life. I wish my neighbours would show some consideration - it makes living in my house really **** sometimes. If everyone thought a little about other people, everything would be nicer.
Why don't you contact your local police station and ask them, maybe even by post so when they reply saying it's ok on private property you can give your neighbour a copy
Invite them over for a reasonable discussion. Show them it is not in any way a dangerous weapon unless you point it directly at someone and try to find a middle ground in your dispute. Edit: Just looked it up on the web, seems that the kind of weapon you have (unless it's massively tuned) isn't actually illegal as long as it is clear to everyone that it is not a real weapon (nice legal grey area here). http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080916233603AAfgXXi
Pfft. Use targets that don't produce ricochets- paper or card boxes- nothing too solid. If a stray shot lands in someone else's property then there is a serious issue there however. As for the legality ( I've lived on Arnies Airsoft for years... ), they are 100% legal on your own property so long as you don't cause a nuisance & use them in your back garden. You can print off nice big sections of the VCRA & FireArms acts and hand them to your neighbours if it helps, but I get the feeling they will just call the police the next time you use the riflw in your garden again. To that end, contact your local station/force and inform them that you have an airsoft rifle that you shoot in your backgarden and that your new neighbours are making threats to call the police as they do not understand the legality of owning such an item ( provide some specific details and photos of it too ). If the police are informed, then you are much less likely to get SO19 kicking in your door the next time your neighbours feeling like proving how ill-informed they are about 'guns'. But yeah, look at your targets and the back stop you use- something causing ricochets is not good.
It was actually the frame of the target i hit hence the ping. Its this one i have http://www.wolfarmouries.co.uk/airsoft/bb/product.asp?page=product&id=1SHOTARG I think all i can do is inform the police as a precaution i know the powers nothing special had it chronographed at a just under 280fps ill "modify" the target with a cardboard shroud which should stop them if one should hit the frame again. It does annoy me though how ill informed people are.
Well to be honest mate you fired a gun and the pellet ended up in the neighbours garden. I think that he has every right to be annoyed about it! It isn't him being ill informed, just worried about the safety of his family.
It's not exactly like a stray pellet from an airsoft gun will injure anything. I have been shot all over with those pellets and the only way they can be dangerous is if you get shot in the eye at close range, or you ingest a metric ****-ton of them.
And it could hit a child in the eye. I'm not saying that it will happen, just that I think that is what his concern is.
Well the constructive way then is not to threaten the guy with the weapon with a police charge and start throwing false information around. It is to engage in a discussion along the lines of: "I found one of these pellets in my garden, I fear a ricochet might hit one of my children, could you please make sure it does not happen again?" "Yes of course, thanks for letting me know I had a ricochet" That is it. End of discussion. No need to engage cave-man mode and threaten with the authorities. Especially not if you just moved in to the neighborhood.
And the child could x or a bus y, stop worrying about what ifs. I'd be annoyed if the pellet ended up in my beer on a Sunday afternoon but lets not start worrying about it being a threat to life or limb.
Basically. Even better, let the neighbour fire a few shots to get the feel of it. It's just people being a bit anxious and feeling that their life is being intruded on. You have to live next door to each other, so it is always better to put some effort into maintaining diplomatic relationships. Before we put two bee hives in our garden, we talked with both neighbours. I make sure not to inspect the hives when they happen to be relaxing in their garden. Whenever I am busy with the hives and they happen to walk by, I show them what I'm doing, explain all about bee keeping and bee behaviour and even let them taste some of the honey that is on the frames. One neighbour now wants to keep some too. It's all about enabling people to understand what they may worry about.
Exactly, there was no malice intended its not like i was standing shooting over their fence, ill try the diplomatic approach along with the gaffer tape and cardboard surround and obviously inform the police in case it all backfires
Well that's rollox for starters. I would apply accepted airgun rules for firing it in your own garden with regards to distance to the road etc, not sure if it's strictly necessary but it would go away to demonstrating your fit to use the thing. But if you can't keep your projectiles within the boundary of your own property you deserve to have it taken off you, or your hands chopped off, your choice.
For starters, you need to familiarise yourself with UK airgun law. Bottom line: you are not taking adequate precautions when using what could potentially be a dangerous weapon. What you see as a simple ricochet is in fact an offence. "It's only a 6mm plastic BB and couldn't hurt a fly" won't stand up in court, I'm afraid. I'm with mrlongbeard on this one, even if it does sound a bit harsh: It seems to me that there are a few folk here who (unsurprisingly) aren't entirely familiar with UK gun law. I would go so far as to say that if you like airsoft, shoot it at a gun club and nowhere else. That's the best way to protect the sport and the freedom of those who enjoy it. We already have UKARA in place... the last thing we want is an all-out ban.
I'd suggest not referring to the thing as a "gun". That's a scary word which is too often used in regard to airsoft toys (which is, essentially, what they are). It's not a firearm, and letting people make that mental link between something which fires 6mm bb's with about 1J of force and a 5kg chunk of metal which fires 5.56mm rounds with about 3000 J of force enables them to create all sorts of idiot nightmare scenarios where you accidentally trigger a gas explosion blowing up half the street. Further to that, let the police know you have one - if SO19 get called out they'll take the kit and destroy it. Finally, do try and have a chat with them, as Nexxo advises give them a go of it if they'll accept it - bonus points for letting them shoot you in the stomach or legs or whatever.
Please don't call them toys, they aren't. Can you tell this thread is winding me right up on a Monday morning
