[Brian McIlmoyle]

that the majority of the community uses the same term for the activities performed with the weapon simulators and weapon simulators themselves.

one of the first things we need to do is separate the activity from the simulators.

It gets very confusing to use the same word as both a verb and a noun in the same sentence.

People calling themselves "airsofters" ... or playing "airsoft" sounds childish and is hangover from their days as "paintballers"

What we really do is " modern combat re-creation" using mostly harmless simulated weapons.

The Brits got their exclusion from prohibition to posses and trade in realistic imitation firearms under a "historical Re-enactment" waiver in the law.
because they were able to illustrate a viable case for the need to have access to realistic imitation firearms, as well as other weapons such as swords, spears, ect,
They separated the issue from the object.. and were successful in distancing themelves from the illicit users of the same objects.

There is a community here, that also enjoys the activity of "Modern Combat Re-creation" ... it just so happens that our prefered choice for weapon simulators are a class of imitation firearms commonly known as "airsoft guns"

In legal circles little things such as semantics can have a large effect.

I for one never mention "airsoft" anymore I call them "training simulators" or Simulated Weapons

I think one of the first steps in preserving this activity is making a clear separation between what we do and what we use.