The game of whack-a-mole continues for the U.S. airsoft communities as they try to prevent various attempts at legislation that will ban their hobby/sport or just make it frustrating for them to own an airsoft gun. The latest is the State of New Jersey in which the Assembly has just passed Assembly Bill A1119 on its third reading and goes to the State Senate for them to review to pass, reject, or amend.

For now State Senate has sent the bill to the Senate Law & Public Safety Committee to review. For those familiar with state legislatures or even the U.S. Congress, if a bill passes in both houses (lower and upper), the bill will just need the approval or veto of the Governor. This means that the A1119 is halfway through the legislative process and the local airsoft community will need to act more urgently to prevent its passage.

The Everyday Operator has put up a video explaining the bill, called “AN ACT concerning the sale of certain imitation firearms and 2 supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes”, and what are its implications to airsoft in New Jersey State. Here is what he says in a nutshell:

NJ Assembly Bill 1119 (also known as A1119) is a bill that is currently going through the New Jersey state government and will severely impact airsoft for our state.  Other states, such as California and New York, have already passed similar bills into law.  However, the airsoft industry in California and New York has not been greatly affected by those laws, because those laws only require brightly colored electrical tape to be on several parts of a gun at the time of the sale.  After the sale, they can be legally removed, just like an orange tip.  The main difference is that this NJ bill will require guns to be painted and require all barrels to have at least a one-inch thick plug, preventing any gun from expelling any projectile.  A similar bill was created in Massachusetts, but that failed to pass.  If A1119 is passed here, it will be detrimental to the airsoft community in New Jersey.  The New Jersey airsoft community must stop this bill from passing.  Keep checking this page for updates and more information as it becomes available.

You can download the document that he used to explain the bill here and it contains information on how airsofters can act by contacting their local representatives and state senators to voice out their opposition or ask for an audience to explain why the airsoft should not be affected.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this bill and the efforts of the New Jersey airsoft community to prevent this from passing.