The way things are going...
 

So, with the possibility of the law cracking down on retailers....and with the recent events, not to mention politicians taking up causes...Its not hard to forsee that a crackdown on airsoft could be possible in the near future.

I was significantly concerned with the media over the Dawson college shootings.
The shooter posing with guns on the website has taken alot of heat. All I hear on the radio is talk about his blog, pictures and vampirefreaks.com
The shooter simply having images up has raised alot of discusion.

Now, if there is one thing about airsofters....is that we love our pictures. And we have alot...and lets face it, many that would put Kimveer Gill's posing to shame. Many in the news are saying those images could have been a solid warning of things to come.

It wouldnt take much for someone in the media to stumble on ASC and see our gallery and scream bloody murder.
Personally, Im gonna remove airsofting images from my MSN pages and such.

even the tattoo thread in off topic. people with grenades or AK47 tattoos....maby we should keep these things off ASC for now.

just as an example, Ill pick this pic, posted in our gallery by Korneil.
http://www.keepmyfile.com/thumb/1158709268858d16.gif
vs
http://www.keepmyfile.com/thumb/11587093117582ee.gif

like I said, should we take steps in light of recent events to make ASC seem less like its a group of possible killers?
In light of recent events, should we be more descrete with out images? Should we archive and remove our gallery for the time being?
Should we only allow images from games and put a stop to the in-home posing?

thoughts

i would tend to agree with you droc... as it happens it just is better for all that way.

It might be a good thing that airsoft season is coming to a close in most parts of Canada... less guys running around all pretend commando. I think it might help keeping the profile low until this blows over.

The thing people fear the most is something they don't know and can't see! I'm of two minds on this one Droc. On one side if we are posting our all out heman posses then we are showing for the most part that we have absolutly nothing to hide. Even our Shame. At the same time there is no accounting for human stupidity. One politician could come along and see a bunch of guys poseing down with thier AEG or GBB which could make him scream the sky is falling.
So possibly taking down the personal pics and leaving the fun filled picks would be better.

Hope every one is doing well, this is a stressful time we're coming into.

Idea sounds good to me, but I wont have anything to browse on my breaks from school.
At home of course, I wouldnt dare look at ASC while at school.

i hear yah. But if i use Kimveer Gill as an example, the focus was only on this one gallery they found. Honestly, how many of us have ever had our images taken only once. Call me crazy, but im gonna assume he had more pics, like myself....I have airsofting pics, school pics, vacation pics, etc. Someone could see a pic of me in airsoft and cal the cops...without ever a consideration to the hundreds of non-crazy pictures there are of me up.
With the internet around for so long, everyone has stuff out there...but the focus has been totally on this one page.
I see what your saying about not having anything to hide, but if the shit hit the fan right this second...having nothing to hide wont do much good. people get tunnel vision on subjects like this.

See, my fiance has some of her friends over sometimes after work. Ill be at my computer browsing ASC gallery. They will come and look. The usual "thats different" or "neat" could be said for game pics...because its like paintball....but pictures of people posing with guns in their basments(chairsoft images) usually get the "wacko" or " psycho" reaction.

Ill bet if you took a pic from Kimveer Gill's page, backed out his face, then took a dozen pics from the ASC chairsoft gallery and blacked out their faces...if you took random people off the street and showed them, Ill bet many would think its the same guy. Everyone has these Kimveer Gill posing images burned into their head, and as I showed above, it draws some very similar looks to our chairsoft gallery.
Maby one idea is to only have game pics...but not out of game posing.

Droc, I thought the same thing today.We problably appear what people are fearing right now.I can't blame them,not everyone is into commando shit.

Clean out the gallery of the questionable stuff and your avatar. The rest of the regular talk will just bore them.

Hang onto what you have boys and girls...his could get bumpy.

What we need is a warning when people enter the gallery saying thats its only airsoft and that airsoft guns can't be modified to shoot real ammunition.

That's not the point, we still look like some kind of crazy militia, gun loving freaks to the majority of the general public.

seems like a good idea for the time being, especially considering current events in quebec.

A warning wont do any good for people who are bent on believing that everything resembling guns leads to shootings like the one at Dawsons College.

I agree with taking out the chairsofting pictures. It might help a little. Those pictures especially make people freak about us. It's one thing to be in military BDU's where people will usually just say "are you in the military?" or "is that for/from a movie?" but when someone is in geans and a T-shirt in their basement with their gun, lots of people automatically assume they're psychotic people with real guns.

A "qiuck fix" for now, not sure if this would work, but could the mods age verify the gallery for a bit? would that do anything till we could go through and remove any "questionable" images/

Age verifiyng the gallery is a great idea.

maybe set up some kind of a protected thing for the gallery so that only people ASC knows can look at them

I'm infavor of the "Parental Advisory" for the gallery.

the age verified thing is already set in place, so it'd be easy, as a "fix" for now.

not age verification, i'm talking about only known players on ASC, like if one new person goes to a game and gets verified say someone from the media or something..i'm sure you know where i'm going with that

Ya, but something like that would take time to set up. I'm suggesting age verification, just for now, because it can be implemented now, in light of recent events.

Stuff like reporters posing could be dealt with later, generally from what I've known, players need to at least show up to a couple games to get verified, don't they?

Some very good points Droc. I never really thought about it like that. This whole Kimveer Gill thing has probably made a lot of people look at these types of pictures in a completely different light now.

oh i know, i'm just giving suggestions, it sucks that we have to "hide" what we do for fun

I don't think hide, but use discretion to what we disclose and do.

Well thats just the country we live in, ruled by a majority of people who fear anything they don't understand.

so, would takin my images off of photobucket be a good idea?

just a question, can people without an account surf the galleries?

yeah, so much for a free country eh?

If they want to be ignorant it's their perogitive(sp?), unfortunatly we get the shaft as a result.

I don't like the idea of suppressing or restricting our content because of the criminal actions of one dumbass, though life is ultimately about compromise. We have to weigh the political climate against our desire to enjoy this board and decide carefully what constitutes a reasonable course of action.

I vote for making the Gallery age verified only.

+1!.

+1

Personally i think a disclamer is a great idea and is relatively easy to do (i assume)...also just to be on the safe side i'd take down anything that could be taken the wrong way. I know it's hard to draw a line there, i mean hell people could see any of the game pics and scream bloody murder (terrorist training etc..we all know the drill). But i aggree that something should be done, even if it is a temp measure.

So far we haven't had any problems, at least to my knowledge, in so far as the gallery images and people browsing...i'm sure we would have heard about it if such an incident had occured. But with the current situation the public and media seem to be on high alert.

As for personal pbase and other picture hosting services, it might be an idea to add a note (if not to the whole album) then to each picture, i've seen numerous people with a note at the top of the page saying briefly that airsoft is harmless and can not be modified to fire real ammunition.

Crazy world we live in right now, but i believe we can weather the storm. Personally i don't think we have anything to be truely worried about, airsoft is harmless in the right hands, and with age verification and self policing in place we are doing our best without the governments help to stop irresponsible use of airsoft. I'm torn between keeping airsoft as an "underground" sport/hobby, and informing the public about what it is we do and how we go about it. It would be nice if we could get the government to be precise in defining airsoft in legislation, making things easier for importation and legal ownership etc...but i don't see that happening any time soon unfortunately.

Either way, right now i think it would be in all our interests to make sure we don't have the media jumping all over ASC and all its members....

as Much as I dislike being shut out as a responsible minor airsofter, i think this is defidently for the better of our sport.

1+ for age verify of gallery

ya im sorry to all the younger players but we have to think about the sport as a whole. the needs of the many out wiegh the needs of the few. 18+. i would very much like to see a home page stating facts about airsoft (cannot be modified to fire, are not fire arms, are equvilent to bb guns, our views/ morals ect) just to imform people. have that as a home page that you must click a "I understand" button to procced to the asc home page. kinda the sa,e idea when you install something on your comp and you must read the waiver and click the "i accept" tab to proceed.

+1.
I'm with it even though I am not age verified yet. I am willing to help keep this sport alive!

+1

as much as i think a disclaimer is a good idea, i think it should be something on the main page anyways.


I donno, I assume that we look at ASC as the way a never-heard-of-airsoft-before soccer mom would. A disclaimer on the frontpage may help, one on the gallery may also...But would a disclaimer on vampirefreaks.com changed peoples reactions?

I think the frontpage of ASC, a disclaimer should be posted. Large and bold. something like
"airsoft is a hobbie similar to paintball. Even though the guns look real, they are toy guns and cannot be made to fire real ammunition. ASC promotes a heathy hobby and healthy living."
There should also be a quick summery of what our age verification system.

I also think the basment chairsofting pics should be removed.

Things have gotten much better in the off topic. I expressed my concern in the past over how violent some threads got. Not flaming, but topics about criminals or terrorists where people make posts discussing vigilante actions, torture, etc.

Maby even a sticked topic for anger managment with links to self-help sites or stuff like that...not that we need it, but if its image we are talking about, it may be a responsible thing to do. But thats a bit much.

bah, Id like to see what some of the admins think.

+1 on the age verified gallery, but I think we should take it a step further and completely close the gallery and forum (other then "welcome noobs" section) to the impressionable public. Yes it sounds a little excessive, but if you think about it, if the wrong person comes here it could be the end of the biggest airsoft site/forums in Canada (as far as I know we are), that would only worsen the situation. Worse case scenario, media puts a crazy spin on this; thousands of people across Canada are in some kind of crazy gun-ring.

Yeah maybe I’m over dramatizing, but is the extra effort of closing off the site to public eyes (and search engines) and keeping a low profile for a little bit too much work?

[edit]
i suggest people take questionable pictures of guns off their msn's, my spaces and any other place you may have put pics up.

[edit]
this guy knows exactly what i'm talking about
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=33168

+1 to the age verification in the gallery.

We should also do the disclaimer on the main page too, a la Arnies.

I agree with Drocs idea! :cheers:

Yeah it would be a good idea to lock tha gallery, you dont want airsoft pictures from the ASC gallery showing up on CBC news The National

Wow, I am appalled at the attitudes of the people here.

By slinking into obscurity, we would only be validating the asinine assumption that there is something shameful about airsofters taking photos of themselves. Hell, there is nothing wrong with taking photos of yourself with real guns, either.

Any reporter trying to make hay out of a bunch of hobbyists playing with harmless airguns that shoot tiny plastic balls would get crucified by the public.

Oh, and for those who are calling for a minimum reading/posting age for the gallery - may I ask what exactly you are hoping to accomplish? First of all, Kimveer Gill was 25. Maybe you are trying to keep minors out of the gallery? If so, for what purpose? Do you think an unstable 15 year old is going to think "damn, if only I could post these photos of myself, I would be able to go through with my school shooting plan - foiled again"? Lastly, if you are trying to keep the gallery from the prying eyes of sensationalist press, don't bother - there is an ocean of airsoft photos available elsewhere on the internet, not to mention that it takes only a modicum of effort to get age verified.

Acting more secretive will only make this harmless hobby seem more suspicious to the uninformed John Q Public.

I almost forgot - to those who want to get rid of "chairsofter" photos, let me make your agenda a tad more difficult. :)

http://www.keepmyfile.com/thumb/1158723578865011.gif

I'm clearly a psychopath bent on mass murder! :rolleyes:

Personally I think that anyone that wants to misappropriate an image, or falsify what we do or what this site is about, will still go about doing it whether it's restricted or not - that's just my opinion though, I concede there is an arguable benefit to it anyway.

I find it pretty depressing to consider shutting parts of the site down because of unknown and unquantifiable risks (most of which have been prompted, in my opinion, by the recent customs issues on the west coast, which have nothing to do with the legal status of airsoft, and everything to do with import permits being stretched beyond what they were reasonably meant to do).

It's under consideration... I'm reserving judgement for now.

LOL CLEARLY!

Sukivan, the purpose for age verifying the galler and/or forums would not to keep out youngsters, but an emergency measure to keep people we don't know who they are. Any reporter or politician with an agenda could come here and find enough photos and quotes to seriously hurt our public image. So, since the age veryfication forces people to attend games and meet in person, it's a good way to keep some control.

Besides, it was suggested as an emergency, to be reviewed later.

maybe we are going about this the wrong way. Maybe we should restrict the site and sales according to IQ rather than age.

Good idea, but harder to implement.

I agree with the Gallery Age lock. Simply put it's too easy to google ASC, go into the gallery, see guys with guns and connect the dots in a typical panicky-soccer-mom manner. We need, for the meantime, to keep people we don't know from seeing crap like that.

I also like the idea of a disclaimer on the front page, it may help with the public image. I'd go so far as to post links on the disclaimer pointing people to definitions of airsoft, our stand on it, and what the government stance is. That way any reporter investigating our site cannot exploit loopholes and lack of information. That way even if somone DOES try and nail us to the cross on the news, we can point out right away that we have all the information in plain, big bold text on our front page.

Hell we might even go so far as to sight our paranoia about bad press and why we have it, that way they can't claim we keep to the shadows so we can train to be terrorists. If they do take that aproach, we just point out that we even SAY on the front page "Airsofters tend to keep a low profile because we understand our sport can be badly misunderstood."

Basically, we have to appear as responsible, inteligent, and thoughtfull as possible, while at the same time pointing out that ASC is the BIGGEST airsofting comunity in Canada so we represent the core of Canadian Airsofters (unless I'm greatly mistaken, but then again I've checked for bigger sites on google and ASC always shows up first no matter what combination of "Air, Soft, and Canada" I use.)

Just FYI, the gallery requires registration. Google has indexed it, but the links and images are not accessible for random browsers, they would have to at least sign up to view.

Age restricting it would seriously limit who is able to access it, and it's not a move I would be thrilled to undertake, but I will consider it.

i have no idea if this as been said now could a grandfather clause be made for the players that are underage but have been here for a year or so, so we dont get a shaft in the ass?

+1

however i am against the anger management and self help links suggested by droc. That might suggest that its common place to have things like that at the ready for airsoft players.

Honest John, i am reading faqs, is there anything that states that people shouldnt joke, or suggest terrrorism, or anything like that. I remember once i heard some guy say "i wish i could get a headshot on stephan harper"

From Page 1, I think we should also be a bit more discrete in our sig pics and such. There's some pretty extreme (by civilian standards) on here in every thread.

That is exactly why I keep on suggesting 18+ verified across the board. No piece-meal programming. Far simpler to implement. Then you only have to tweak for the inevitable exceptions.

I think we should try a 'Identity verification'.

Which would be open to minors AND their non-airsofting parents that would give the minor access to all parts of ASC (excluding gun sales/wanted) possibly including accessories.

With that, for you guys that believe minors should be able to read and see the gallary, as well as the minors that are into the sport, we would have what we want, and the website would still be private.

If the identity verification went through, it would also get rid of the possibility of getting screwed in an accessory deal and not know who to chase after.

Anyway, more work, hopefully it makes sense.

(this really only applies to minors because anyone over the age would just go straight to full pledge as normal)

----
+1 for disclaimer

I had a friend come on and look over the site and had no idea it wasn't dedicated to real steel.

I say +1 to a disclaimer in massive red letters as the opening page of ASC. Plus, this 'Identiy Verification' sounds like it might fly, and keep out those who would not be allowed to play by their parents.

Another big problem is the proliferation of softair. If we made it clear to the authorities that we wish to keep only the good stuff and only for a small group, and we backed the various by-laws about clearsoft and such, it might make us look a bit better as a community, and more co-operative.

This stupid Montreal fellow is fucking up a lot of things. Thanks to him, I have to grow my hair, not wear my trench coat as often, and not talk about guns so much. Fucker gave a bad name to guys who shave their heads, wear trench coats, and like guns.

+1

+1

Of course you are. You're 18 and still a bit naive. That's not meant as an insult but it's a simple generalization that applies to most teens that have little "real world" life experience. Your reaction is not surprising.

Of course not. But try telling that to a knee-jerk liberal soccermom who's afraid of their kids being shot to death at school.

Case in point about youthful naivety. If you follow the news you'll see daily examples of sensationalism, mistruths, and falsehoods that the reporters are never crucified for. How often have we heard of "machine guns" or "rocket launchers" being seized in raids only to learn they were deactivated hunks of steel? The media is nearly immune unless the gaffe is substantial and obvious, and even then you're likely to get an apology at most. And that's if anyone notices. If you seriously believe a reporter would face discipline for villifying a gun-pose picture in the Gallery you are sorely mistaken.

You prevent people from outside the community from accessing it and viewing things they may misinterpret. By meeting someone face to face you can get a better understanding of their true motives and intentions. You demonstrate your naivety again by asking if we think that will stop school shootings; you're missing the point entirely. I wonder if you've read anything at all that's been posted in this thread?

You still don't get it. We WANT John Q. Public to remain (relatively) uninformed because that's what keeps the heat off of us. If you really think that forcing airsoft into the public spotlight is a good idea with the current socio-political atmosphere, you are more naive than I had ever imagined. I can see the headlines now - "Militia Games Train Youths For Killing" or "Replica Assault Weapons Sold Openly On Internet". Get real.

agree with you there....cept I would have said "conservative soccer mom".

The general attitude of our community is "don't rock the boat". The less attention the better. Rather then going on a crusade and trying to win over the hearts of the rest of Canada, its better to remain unknown.

My only arguement is this is airSOFTcanada, not vampirefreaks.com or monstermash.ca maybe we are being a little extreeme.

Any steps we can take to prevent the sport being completely banned in Canada aren't too extreme for me.

+1

Good idea for the disclamer and the links to various resources on airsoft. We need to cover our asses and be as transparent as possible (sorry for the political speak).

One very important fact to bear in mind is the media is NOT our friend. Media organizations don't exist because of an altruistic desire to educate and inform the world, they're a business whose primary interest is revenue generation. Which headline do you think would tune more viewers or sell more papers:

Airsoft: Sport Of Honor
Players Emulate Soldiers and Reenact Famous Battles

or

Replica Assault Weapons Used To Practice Killing
Pictures of Kids Posing With Guns Circulated on Internet

Fact of the matter is, no one outside of airsoft cares about airsoft. They won't look at our sport and say, "Oh, now there's a bunch of respectful, honest, law-abiding citizens enjoying a unique sport that doesn't hurt anyone. We should embrace them with open arms!" They will look at it and say, "OMG! These guys look and behave like those terrorists they arrested, they did this kind of 'extreme camping' too! They've got army fatigues, semi-auto machine guns with bayonet launchers and laser scopes, and they run around in the woods shooting each other! This is anti-social and dangerous, no one needs guns or to do this kind of activity. Take their stuff away and let them play table tennis."

Sad, but you know it to be true.

Now this isn't to say that we can't get positive media coverage because they do indeed run stories about special interest groups and don't put a negative spin on it. However that kind of exercise needs to be carefully orchestrated and controlled because once you've given a reporter the material they need, you have zero say on how they'll pen their piece. You might score lucky and get a nice article that compares it to paintball (which seems to be a more "accepted" sport, dare I say), or you may have just unwittingly made the front page with the second title mentioned above.

Agreed. Normally I'm all for trying to make Airsoft something a little less fragile by expanding the sport in a way that doesn't give us a bad image... but now is not the time for things like that. Now is more of a "duck and cover" time and letting this all blow over.

In the meantime, I think the best thing we can do is make ourselves look as respectable as possible while keeping away prying eyes. If that means Identity confirmation, big disclaimers, locking the gallery, etc. then I'm all for it. I like this sport far too much to see it get banned.

Has everyone seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=Bc-6R7jdyaM
It seems pretty fair. Now if only we could spread that image instead of the rather... negative alternative.

That was really good news report, maybe we need something like that here?

+1 on age verification for gallery and pretty much everything

dammit why the guy didnt just shoot himself

It would be rather nice to see some positive spin on it from CTV Newsreport or any other news show.

But we'll unlikely to see any of those guys be interested in these type of story until there's a big buzz in the public about banning airsoft.

Come to think of it, this may end up like the pitbull Ban?

there's a ban on pitbulls?

In the city of Toronto, yup.

I wouldn't mind changing permissions in the gallery to 18+ to view. In fact, that's what I had initially planned to do when the 18+ verifications kicked in. But there were those that thought it might be a bit extreme.

But for sure, it helps keep unwanted people out.

I say 18+/age verified to view the gallery. At least until this all blows over. It would keep the media from getting pictures they could use for nasty headlines.

He did,according to the autopsy, but I'm guessing you mean before he went on a shooting spree.

I'm ok with the 18+ on the gallery for the time being, until this thing blows over (if it does).

Well, I don't think there are any serious attacks by airsoft in the city yet compared to the couple of pitbull accidents they had before they decide to ban pitbulls.

i would easily go to most lengths (i am not kissing a man) to ensure that we keep airsoft.

I heard one shooter was done by suicide, the other from a series of SS190s, some one told me the entry team was using P90s that they saw on CTV, but i assume thats based on assumptions from watching the media.

I have had a disclaimer in my gallery for at least 4 years now. But with all the shit I have added it to my top logo banner.

ASC should have the same thing. just add the line under the logo then it will be on every page every time.

^^ Agree with that! Saw it on WGC as well. Plus, I don't beleive things would go out of control on airsofting. I mean, it IS a world wide reknown sport isn't it? It's been on for years now... It is in the gray zone but hey, people try to find reasons and are ''affraid'' because of what they see in medias. Like someone said, we live in a country that people are affraid of what they do not understand... and that is pityful...

Well heres the thing, airsoft is played the world over (except for Australia afaik). There have been bombings all over europe, most recently the UK and Spain...we all know about 9/11, and as far as eastern europe goes, anyone with a slight knowledge of history will know they haven't had the most peaceful of times in the last 20-30 years....Canada on the other hand has had no major terrorist attack, and only a handful of school shootings. So why in the hell is everyone so damned scared? I can't seem to figure it out...

I know a while back there was talk of sending a letter to the government informing them of what airsoft was and such, does anyone know if that went through? And if so what was the response? Personally i think we should lobby to have airsoft declared and defined specifically...now isn't the time obviously, but it might be something to work on. If we look at the guys over in the UK as an example, they didn't oppose the ban on airsoft by sitting around complaining. Preventative measures might be a course of action to look at in the near future....anywhoo. Let me know what you guys think...

Rant Alert!You've been warned!

Hell I came here from a communist country and every time the liberals say socialism it makes me sick because the communists used that same word to describe the state of Yogoslavia! And that was a place of no freedom, no free say and if you where Catholic or Muslum you where hunted down and killed by Serbian Cetniks! All I see in Canada is freedoms and rights being taken away by the govenerment and the people can not have much say towards it out of fear! This statment is NOT ment to be offensive towards Canada or Canadians and you can take this any way you want, I came to this country out of my own free will and for the most part would reather not be any where else but I want to state that some action needs to be taken befor we all get shaft for having a hobby, being a member of a religion or what ever, where dose it stop? Banning replica guns is got going to lower any kind of crime and banning the real ones is just going to make gun runners smile from the tidy profit they are going to make selling illegal guns to canadians and the gun crimes is just going to be in the same shape it is now, just that the media is not going to report it! Being scared that the media is going to put a bad spin on airsoft will happen regarless, in communism the media said what the govenorment told them what to say to the people, and thats what I'm seeing here as well, remember the pitbull ban? Didn't hear much about it then all of a sudden it seemed like every pitbull went nuts and started killing people and the govenerment steped in to save the day and banned pitbulls and now the media don't say shit about and every one thinks every thing is safe, what a load of shit that is. They won't try to ban Honda Civics for street racing and the kill count that goes with that because of the power and money Honda have and they will fight the govenerment tooth and nail on that one and win so the govenerment needs to attack things where they think there will be little defence like us the airsofters and make them selfs look good to the rest like they are doing some kind of good that is really just bullshit! I'm not going to say the sky is falling but it don't look regardless! Some thing is going to have to be done just for our own general freedom as Citizens of Canada! You want to hear some really scary shit, I work at York University and that place is nothing but hardcore leftys and over hearing the stuff they say, Liberals don't beleave that "the comman person is intelligent enough to make decisions for them selfs and the govenerment needs to make them for us and tell us what is right and wrong!" Thats fucken Communism!!!! We have to step up to the plate and defend our selfs, our freedoms and our rights because no one is going to do it for us and the govenerment don't give two shits about the people! This not just about Airsoft!

End of Rank , if you have any problems with any of that then PM your flames instead of messing up good thread! I'll be sitting back and finisihing my bottle of gin and waitting for any PMs!

Cheers!

Airsoft works because it is being kept discrete. If you are stupid enough to bring the subject into the full view of the authorities, specially these days, you need a reality check.

DO NOT ROCK THE BOAT.

If you want to know what has been done, there is a thread about that, read it. Yes, you'll have to look for it, but it's pinned.

I agree with pretty much anything that saves us grief down the road. I only skimmed through this tread and liked what I seen - what if we took it one step more and watermarked all images with "Airsoft" so any images on the gallery are branded

X100

Lets get the real guns friggin' figured out first with the Feds, THEN worry about airsoft.

That battle will lead the way for this one.

The only way to get anything done at the governmental level is if that thing which you want done will look good on the politician acting on it.

Nobody cares about anything unless it will make them look good. It's a sad fact, but those interested in doing the "right thing" are few and far between, especially when dealing with a touchy matter.

Close your eyes, a mouth is a mouth just ask him to shave.

Its great to be Bi you get twice as many dates.

If all I had to do was kiss a man to legitize airsoft in the nation damn straight (or gay) I would do it!.

Hell I would bust out the vasaline and bust a nut too! hehe

im not 100% sure about this, as i am pretty new to airsoft, but i was just playing at TTAC in toronto the other nite, and the instructor was saying things about how in the past they had members of Toronto's ETF playing there, and from my readings through all these forums we also have a lot of cops playing with us in their off time, so one thing i dont understand is why are they against us when they're on duty, but with us off duty, i mean, if anyone has some sort of contact with one of these officers, or etf members... etc, wudnt we be able to use them as some sort of reassurance that airsoft is a safe "sport" and there is no danger to the public and if it does come down to the point where the media gets involved, couldnt they defend the sport... i suppose we'd only need that defence if worst comes to worst, but its just an idea..
so i suppose this goes out to anyone who has organized an event, or has some sort of contact with an airsofting member of any police force, isnt it possibly sit down and talk with him/her.. have some sort of discussion with that person, and they maybe they cud bring that topic to their higher in command.. etc..
OR we need to find a politician that's an airsofter in thier spare time, i can see harper as a player, maybe he's hiding his lil secret from all of us..
anyways just a suggestion, as i really dont wanna see this sport go down into the dirt, esp after the investments me, and im sure all of u, have already put into airsoft..

You can't count on a cop because on duty they are under orders and to go agenst thouse orders, on or off duty, would mean them loosing thier job or rank!

Believe half of what you hear and all of what you see - be cautious of the sales pitch.

The police are going to raid us all. We are all doomed. Sell/ burn all of your stuff right away. Be alarmed if a police officer shows up on your doorstep. Build a fast car to get you the hell away from the area. Catch a plane to Greenland and live in a cave. That's my plan.

i just plan on layin low. making sure all my gear is locked up in my kit locker and wait out on what happens. best way to go about things, lay low and weather out this "storm" if it comes

That is easily the longest run-on sentance I've ever seen.

Police don't set law, they enforce it. Laws are set by the courts and the Government, who does what's in the best interest of their continued employment. If the massive public outcry against guns and replica guns looks like a vote-swaying issue, then the Government will easily pass a useless law to swing more votes.

Things to remember:

1) It's easier to ban something outright, which costs nothing, then to legalize it with restrictions and controls (like gun registries), which cost millions.

2) The appearance of doing something (weapon bans) is usually interpretted by the general public, or the uneducated masses, as an effective control against violence of that type; even if what's done does nothing to address the root cause (criminal behavior).

3) The public, who doesn't understand or is unwilling to acknowledge the root cause, will gobble up any bullshit law if they think it makes them safer and doesn't force them to acknowledge their own poor parenting skills or their children's mental instability. I.E, Little Johnny shot his schoolmates because he was corrupted by violent video games, as opposed to asking why the parent did nothing while Little Johnny played the same game they blame for his behavior; the excuse that it was unknown to them (the parents) illustrates that the parents aren't involved in the child's life enough to recognize and react to poor behavior.

I dont really like being compared to Kimveer Gill, but I do get the point of Droc and I tend to agree with him that we need to take some actions.

We need to inform the people that come on this forum that airsoft is a sport, though we don't need to go out and tell every one in the streets. I add my voice to a clear and obvious disclaimer statement on the main page, which should remain there forever.

Locking the gallery can be a double edged blade, for the time being it could be good but in the run it could turn against us. If media ever stumble upon this, and it will happen no matter what we do, and they see that we are hiding something, whatever it is, they will think for sure that there is something wrong with airsoft. We have to keep the information on this website as clear as possible and as easy to get as it can be. The only thing worst than misinformation is no information at all.

We have to find solution that will be good for the community for a long period of time, taking decisions to quickly cannot be what we necessarilly want for the future of Airsoft. Temporary measures are not the way to go, we have to think in long term.

Im all for just pretending we dont exist, and if it does try to get the news to do a friendly article like the NZ one.

New Zeland? That news video was Australian. (if thats what your talking about)

About that video, do you think we could ever get together with a cam corder, make a video that educates and send it in to a major news station? or sticking to "being invisible" and having the chance of being found out better?

you cant play in australia, and it even said the head of police was from NZ.

and id lay low.

You can't play in australia? I thought the rule was that the guns had to be semi auto so they converted their EAG's to semi?

EDIT

Holy shit, your right! it is NZ, my bad.

and in Australia you can play and own airsoft as long as you have a cat H or cat B just like real firearms.

Making a video and sending it into a even a minor news outlet would be most unwise.

News outlets are not generally looking for good news to report.

LD

Can you put that plan into action now instead of later?

i love freedom fighter, hes says the best things at the best time, and locks threads before they turn into pointless flame fests. Also its tattoo junkies like him that keep me in business.

This how they do milsim in Australia now with airsoft banned, its based off of something called MILES tag witch is a build it your self system.
http://www.fragtag.com.au/

or they just buy and use AIRSOFT to do milsim.