Illegal or not

[Steve Hancock]

You're all sure of that are you? No just something you've heard and taken as read? You've actually read through the legislation, hmm? I've looked into it a fair bit, but wouldn't like to state my interpretations with as much certainty as some of you lot. Mikey, 'Illegal full stop' - my arse! Its no way near that simple.

I don't believe paintball guns come under the firearms act at all. To have any of the act apply, paintball guns would need to be counted as firearms. The definition of a firearm given in the act is a 'lethal barreled weapon'. Sure its got a barrel, but is it lethal? Now everything has the potential to kill, you could beat someone to death with a cat if you wanted. The point is that we shoot each other with paintball guns on a regular basis, and no one has died. To my mind this is a pretty strong arguement that paintball guns aren't lethal. Hense not covered by the act, hense can be shot in ramp, full auto whatever. Just like nurf guns. Air rifles are covered because people have died from being hit by one, quite a few infact. And the 'weapon' part of the defination is as equally easy to argue against.

 

[mikey601]

You're all sure of that are you? No just something you've heard and taken as read? You've actually read through the legislation, hmm? I've looked into it a fair bit, but I wouldn't like to say with as much certainty as some of you guys.

I can say using a fully automatic function on paintball marker is illegal in the uk!

 

[Bob]

http://www.ukpsf.com/paintballlaw.asp#4

doesn't tackle full auto specificaly but basicaly says semi only.

My understanding is that ramping has been abit touch and go in terms of the law but full auto was illigal (and pointless as often its auto capped at 10bps, gimme semi any day).

Sadly the just adds to the possibly/i heard/it could be, uncertanty of this thread.

 

[Revolt]

dude if you want to annoy ur mates (assuming u have an ion cant remember, nor am i gonna edit this ;p) then dont use full auto, its capped at like 10 ish bps...... set the recharge to 0 and use rebound mode, this lets you ramp at around 17bps with the ion, that will really annoy your friends ;p most likely get u an ass whooping for accidental bonus balling aswell

 

[AUPaintSoc]

My understanding is that ramping has been abit touch and go in terms of the law but full auto was illigal (and pointless as often its auto capped at 10bps, gimme semi any day).

Sadly the just adds to the possibly/i heard/it could be, uncertanty of this thread.

Exactly. Wasnt there a thread like this a while ago (or indeed countless threads) which actually had someone who knew what he was talking about post up? Doesnt anyone know any policemen types, or home office people or indeed anybody who can say for definite. Its a sad state of affairs when I dont know if the 'toy' I'm playing with might actually be illegal.
There should be no way that there is any uncertainty about this, and no way that peoples opinions be taken as gospel (as much as we respect you, people are naturally sceptical).
Lets not have opinions, lets have some quoted legal text, backed up by someone who can interpret properly. Then Im sure everyone'll be happy! Should be simple no?

 

[John C]

At the risk of muddying this thread with further opinion:

Yes there have been many threads on this which have only served to prove that there is a massive grey area in UK firearms law, that we are right in the middle of.

Nobody really knows what would happen if the legality of firing modes in a paintball gun came into question. Lets hope it never does.


I would hazard a guess though, that the law will be much more interested in the attainable rate of fire rather than how it was acheived.

Semi auto, from a safety standpoint is supposed to be about single controlled accurate shots, I think we went way beyond that that at the end of the last century.

I cant see how they would think a guy walking the trigger at 15bps is any more safe than a guy ramping to 15bps or firing fully auto at 15bps.

 

[Theozmeister]

The bottom line

Hi,

I worked for the coppers for 3 years in firearms divison, so here is my 2 cents:

A Paintball Marker is a fire arm - Grey area, it can be leathal so it is classed as one by most judges.

Full auto is illegal - Full auto is illeagal on all devices that fire a 'projectile possible of causing harm'

Ramping or super-semi - Very grey area, we dont want a court case defineing what a trigger pull is, it could bring down the whole game, but some judges i know think its the pull back only! not the relese!

99% of this doesnt matter as insurance bans all of this on commercial sites anyways!

Any questions, post em!

 

[smudge1989]

I don't know if i read it right but the ramping on my ion is only when you pull the trigger in, and it doesnt fire an extra paintball when the trigger is depressed, whats the verdict on that?

Plus whats the score on 3 shot burst?

 

[AUPaintSoc]

Hi,

I worked for the coppers for 3 years in firearms divison, so here is my 2 cents:

A Paintball Marker is a fire arm - Grey area,

Full auto is illegal - Full auto is illeagal on all devices that fire a 'projectile possible of causing harm'

Ramping or super-semi - Very grey area, we dont want a court case defineing what a trigger pull is, it could bring down the whole game, but some judges i know think its the pull back only! not the relese!

99% of this doesnt matter as insurance bans all of this on commercial sites anyways!

Any questions, post em!

" Full auto is illeagal on all devices that fire a 'projectile possible of causing harm'" Strictly speaking BB guns can cause 'harm', and they dont seem to be banned from firing fully auto?

"insurance bans all of this on commercial sites anyways!" So what happens at tournament sites? Are they insured for ramping? If somebody sues (unlikely I know) for being 'overshot' would they have a case?

Based on what you say it seems like we're relying on the general publics (judges etc) lack of knowledge to keep playing this sport? Is this really the case? You could turn that around and say that we're aware that somethings dodgy, but we'll keep playing until someone tells us not to!
One more thing, I wasnt sure. Are you saying that a paintball marker is a firearm, or that its a grey area?

Sorry to seem like picking your particular post apart! No disrespect intended..

 

[smudge1989]

" Sorry to seem like picking your particular post apart! No disrespect intended..

Its best to get this cleared up cos we dont want to get the wrong impression and break the law, or even get some dick ed tryin 2 sue us n we end up goin 2 court, so lets get it cleared up now.

• We have established that full auto is illegal, and a marker is classed as a firearm (not definate but lets jus say it is)
• We need to establish the rules on ramping and 3-shot burst