Full Auto In The Uk (again)

[JoseDominguez]

It's illegal........... not just in tournaments, it's illegal to own one. That's illegal as in prison sentence, not 50 penalty points and a one for one.

Why do I bring this up? because one of the lads we practice with was showing of his lovely new spyder (bought new from a UK retailer) fully equipped with the auto chip............ but it's OK they tell him, just take that out for tournaments.
No, it's not OK.... it's illegal, it makes a paintball marker an illegal firearm in the UK........ so don't buy them and direct anyone who tries to sell you one to the UKPSF so they can have a read.
All it takes is one accident or act of stupidity and we are in trouble.... it won't help if there are illegal markers out there (and an auto paintball marker would be considered a gun if it came to court).
This includes burst fire etc... anything that gets more than one ball per pull.

Not naming the retailer, the player in question is contacting them and we are hoping it was a mistake/bad info.

So again........ automatic..... very bad...... ten years max sentence...... don't drop the soap.

 

[ices]

If they intentionally did it then tell us who it was so we can label them personally.

 

[Bolter]

I think all spyders do this. Or at least its very easy to make it do this, you do something very simple inside the grip frame and bingo one f/a gun. So it may not have been sold like this, cause at our site we got em in and our boss figured it within minutes.

We never ever use it by the way.

 

[jeff]

Unfortunately this has been a problem for a while.

It isn't only shops/main retailers that are selling these markers but sites too.

Go to any walkon and there will be full auto markers there and most of the time the owners aren't aware of the laws.

It would seem that as long as people are balancing their books they are willing to turn a blind eye to this and many other very serious issues.

It will be the end of paintball in the U.K if this isn't dealt with.

 

[AlexFarkouh]

Yes one of the guys on our team has a Spider Fenix, bought from a legitimate UK paintball retailer and that is a full auto and burst fire marker, with a link on the board to make it tournament legal semi only. I guess if he ever got nicked for having a class one firearm the retailer would also be in the **** for supplying illegally.

On a similar note I have been sold DOT rated CO2 bottles here in the UK from a very well known retailer, which I believe is also illegal, but in this case only to sell not to own or use, so I think a large chunk of the UK industry has no real interest in following the legal route and are ony interested in making a quick profit, which is all ok untill someone gets injured/killed by US spec kit and the UK governement starts to get interested in a higher level of regulation on paintball in general.

 

[JoseDominguez]

Time for zero tolerance.......... lots of suppliers just don't realise how serious this is. All it takes is for one jobsworth to decide to prosecute and suddenly we are gone. Any marker that can be made auto by flicking a switch or replacing a part is ILLEGAL. It just needs to be "capable of firing automatically" to quote the firearms act...... even if you never, ever fire on auto, it's illegal. In fact, as far as the law goes at the moment, there is no legal difference in owning an mp5 submachine gun or a full auto spyder..... I know no-one has been prosecuted for it, but that's just luck and a lack of knowledge on the part of the powers that be....... "it's just a paintball gun". SO how long before someone gets pissed off at a shop/site/team that has full autos and reports them? maybe someone gets shot up at a walk on, decides...... I'm having you and makes a phone call?
We've been lucky so far, they are ignoring us. i'll put it this way..... if you fire an E-blade in your backgarden and your neighbour complains it'll be a slap on the wrist, possibly a "public order offence" maybe a small fine. If you fire an auto capable marker then you've just committed a firearms offence with all the legal nightmares that some atttached (starting with a max ten year sentence just for owning the thing.... that's if you haven't even opened the box).
This is serious. I don't think people are aware of just how serious it could be.
Would you but an Uzi? of course not, in the eyes of the law an auto spyder is no different.

 

[le-pig]

time to name and shame then ,best way to stop them is to hit them in the pocket

 

[Piper]

This law does make me laugh. I know it illegal but most of them are limited to the amount of shots per second, most are approx 8 balls per second, now when you think about it that is slower than any Timmy or E-blade etc on the market. What is that old saying? Oh yeah the law is an ass!


Anyway, if he bought it and has the recepit why not take it back? Same with the bottle.

Just an idea.

 

[Buddha 3]

Originally posted by JoseDominguez
Any marker that can be made auto by flicking a switch or replacing a part is ILLEGAL.

Cool, that's all paintball guns illegal then. They ALL can be made full auto by flicking a switch or replacing a part. Yes, even the cheap ones.

 

[Parksy]

Is this the best place to be advertising the fact? On an open forum for any old monkey to see? Or am I just paranoid....

Dave