Welcome to the United Kingdom, the Nanny State, the Big Brother State, where Close Circuit TV (CCTV) cameras are just a normal thing. The UK is the most CCTV-laden country in the world, where almost every corner has a camera watching people's movements to prevent crime and terrorism. Some may be dummies to act as deterrent, others sport loudspeakers to call on those who throw litter on the street to pick their garbage, speed cameras, shop cameras....lotsa lotsa cameras. 

For an airsofter travelling to an airsoft skirmish site in the UK, these cameras are taken for granted. The law enforcement agencies advice all airsofters to properly conceal all airsoft guns in gunbags and avoid these being shown in public. As they say, what can't be seen won't hurt you.

But that's about to change.

UK officials can now see what you're carrying, event if you've got your airsoft stuff properly secured in gunbags and hidden from public view.  A report from CNN says that UK authorities are currently testing a security camera system that can see through clothing, and detect " explosives, liquids, narcotics, weapons, plastics, and ceramics" without bombarding you with X-rays which can be dangerous to health if under heavy radiation. And that means even your carefully hidden airsoft gun can now be detected while travelling through crowded areas like the London Underground or London Heathrow Airport.  Made by Thru Vision, authorities are now testing the system at Canary Wharf in London, the bustling and modern business hub of the Capital, and just near the area for the London 2012 Olympics. If successful and accepted for general deployment in many busy areas in London, such as the choke points in the London Underground, travelling towards a skirmish site in London, which basically has Elektrowerkz as the only skirmish site, would be a hellish journey.

You'll be accosted most, if not all, of the time if you're taking public transport, and lots of questioning from the Metropolitan Police. Travelling to Elekrtowerkz requires one to transfer trains going towards it. Especially those changing trains at Kings Cross Station, which is one of the busiest areas, and a spot of the 07 July 2005 bombings. You'll be forced to take a car to proceed to the site, but with the hellish traffic in London, and at the same time congestion charges (even if Elektrowerkz is just outside of the Congestion Charge area), it might also be a frustrating execise.

If this happens, and gets wider deployment throughout the UK, especially as the London Olympics draw near, you'll encounter more airsoft players taking public transport to be asked a lot of questions for transporting airsoft guns. The only defence that can be made here is to present your UKARA skirmisher's ID whenever you are stopped, as provided for in the "Specific Defence" provision of the VCRA.  Thus, while we don't have anything against the improvement of security for the civilian population, it would be sensible to provide a procedure for valid skirmishers to avoid the hassle of being accosted each time they're scanned carrying airsoft guns.

The simplest solution if this happens, is to use private transport.

Thumbnail photo from Wikimedia.org.