The Australian Airsoft Council (AAC) announced that they require assistance in their email campaign to the Government of Western Australia to exclude airsoft guns and other "taggers" as they conduct a Firearms Review in the region. For Australians looking to have airsoft legalised in the country, time to get those fingers busy and email the local government and invite others to do the same.

"ASSISTANCE REQUIRED - Urgent.

What: Email Campaign to raise Airsoft as an important issue for the Firearms Review in WA
When: Now, until 1 Feb 15.
How: By emailing a pre created submission to [email protected] with the subject 'Firearms Review (Airsoft). Please reply with Done or similar when you have done it.

The submission is below in quotation marks, add your name nad modify if you wish, please ask a friend to email it as well. WE need our voices to be heard.

The AAC is making a more in depth submission as well.

'To Whom it May Concern:

I am making this submission in relation to the Western Australian Firearms Act Review.

Airsoft is a sport that is played worldwide. The sport has a number of disciplines, these include Skirmish and target shooting disciplines. Skirmish is a game which is played in a similar way to paintball with two opposing teams playing against each other to achieve an objective. The target shooting discipline is similar to the Practical Shooting discipline that is practiced Australia wide at Pistol shooting clubs.

Airsoft is played using devices called taggers. Taggers are generally built in the shape of various real firearms, however the way they work internally is completely different to a traditional firearm that uses a chemical reaction to propel a projectile. An Airsoft tagger is made from materials that cannot be converted into a firearm that shoots conventional ammunition.

The projectiles fired by the taggers are a proprietary lightweight plastic 6mm non lethal ammunition. The projectiles fired by an airsoft tagger are in no way similar to the metallic and heavy pellets fired by air rifles, or ball bearing guns.

Taggers generally have two distinct methods of firing a projectile. The first is called an ‘Airsoft Electric Gun’ which uses electrical motors, springs and pistons in order to compress air that then causes a 6mm plastic projectile to be fired from the barrel. It should be noted that this mechanism is similar to how some of the popular range of Nerf Guns fire.

The second method is called ‘Gas Blow Back’ or GBB, this mechanism generally has a magazine, which has a compressed gas reservoir and a number of pellets. The magazine is inserted into the tagger, and when the trigger is pulled a hammer strikes the gas kicker on the magazine, causing gas to be released and a pellet to be expelled outside of the barrel.

Airsoft devices have been captured under the definition of a firearm by all States and Territories in Australia, due to the use of compressed air or gas to fire a projectile. An airsoft pellet generally produces between 0.05 and 1.5 joules of energy when fired. For comparison, a paintball is fired with between 5.00 to 12.00 joules of energy.

I believe that Airsoft (and Paintball) should be excluded from the definition of a firearm for the purposes of the act. The taggers should be managed under the auspices of the Weapons Regulations (1999). This would remove the burden and cost of managing the registration and regulation away from WAPOL, and onto the users of these devices.

An example of a system like this being implemented can be seen in the United Kingdom, where the Violent Crime Reduction Act (2006) made it an offence to possess or use an Airsoft Firearm. However the VCRA included that if you were a member of a recognised Airsoft Club and complied with the storage and usage requirements for the taggers, that you then had a legitimate reason to own an airsoft tagger, without a license.

A change like this would achieve the outcome that those who should not have airsoft or paintball devices, such as criminals, would not be able to legally possess these items. While law abiding people wishing to partake in a worldwide recognised sport could do so.

To reclassify as controlled weapons subject to the Weapons Act and regulations would also serve the purpose of removing the requirements of regulation 26B(2)(a) of the Firearms Regulations 1974 (WA), which can cause firearms to be classified as restricted or prohibited, not based on function, but rather appearance, or the opinion of a Police Officer. As identified by Jan Norberger MP, someone walking into a store with a firearm would cause alarm whether or not the item resembled a prohibited firearm.

If Airsoft continues to be classified as a firearm, it is requested that Airsoft be treated in the same way as Paintball, and that an exemption from 26B(2)(a) of the Firearms Regulations 1974 (WA) be granted for Airsoft and Paintball.

Airsoft is a multi billion dollar industry worldwide, and Western Australia now has an opportunity to open up an industry that will create jobs and income for the State. I implore the members of the review to give due consideration to engaging with key stakeholders, and to help find a way to safely legislate the sport of Airsoft into Western Australian law.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this submission,

Regards'"