The legalities of owning a R.I.F. are now becoming more stringent with the introduction of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. On the 1st of October 2007, it will be illegal for any person to buy a R.I.F. without proving that they are a member of an airsoft site which carries with it Public Liability Insurance Cover. The site will have to be registered with UKARA (United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Association), an organisation which monitors registered airsofters and sites and the sale of these items. If you are not on this database, then you are not permitted by law to purchase any R.I.F. either new or second hand.

It is illegal for you to carry any R.I.F. on your person that is concealed. Any airsoft rifle or pistol should be cased, and you should only carry these items if you are travelling to or from an airsoft event. Failure to abide by these laws carry's with it harsh penalties, including that of imprisonment. Also, you would be committing an offence if you were to fire your rifle in your backyard, and the BB passes your boundary. In other words, if you fire your AEG and the BB passes past your garden into another garden or public walkway, you are breaking the law. More often than not, the general public won't know that you are using or holding a Imitation Firearm, or the BB could strike an unprotected individual and the Armed Response Police Units would be involved. You may be using a realistic imitation firearm, but they use the real deal!

Again, to threaten an individual with a R.I.F. either in public or in the privacy of your own home is illegal, as this is considered to be threatening behaviour and may cause undue stress and/or injury.

Common sense is the key here, and so long as you keep your kit locked away, and the only time your kit is used is on a official airsoft site, you'll be fine.

Becoming a member of Team Okami will cover you with the VCRA, however, whilst this is free, and we ask for no annual financial commitment, you will however be required to attend our site(s) and have obtained a Certificate of Competence with us. This can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to acquire depending upon you're level of commitment.

Some sites may require you to subscribe to the site as a member for a set annual fee. This basically covers the site operators overheads in the cost of the Insurance needed.  Again, you may need to attend a set number of times before you're application may be considered.

 

For further information concerning any rules and regulations pertaining to your local airsoft site, then please contact your local site operator in the first instance who should be more than happy to help you.

 

Airsoft is a sport not so dissimilar from that of Paintball in the way it is played. The differences in the kit used within the two sports are vast, but the main ones are as follows:

1./  Airsoft uses Realistic Imitation Firearms (R.I.F.), where as Paintball users Markers.

2./  In Airsoft, we use 6mm highly polished BB rounds that are solid. Paintball uses paint filled balls.

3./  Because there are no immediate indicators when someone has been hit by a BB, airsoft commonly uses a ' Honour System ' in which the player truthfully admits to being hit.

4./  Airsoft in it's nature conveys a more realistic sense of warfare, compared to that of Paintball.

Airsoft was developed in Japan during the late 1970's for gun enthusiasts who were not allowed by law to own a real firearm. As a result, a heavy emphasis on re-creating a realistic imitation firearm was a must.

Airsoft quickly spread throughout Asia, and soon made it's way into Europe and the United States. At this time however, Paintball had been introduced as a new outdoor sport in the United States, and the battle for domination of the two sports began.

To this day, Paintball is widely more accepted than Airsoft, but Airsoft is quickly becoming a more widely played and accepted sport.

During the early years of the sport, it was quite expensive to buy the kit needed to participate, as they were mostly custom made, or produced by hand on a assembly line in a small company. However, as it grew, more and more company's began to create mass produced cheaper variants.

With the introduction of Tokyo Marui and Classic Army into the market place, the sport was finally able to reach a larger audience, allowing more people to participate, and the sport grew.

With the introduction of ' Clone ' AEG's (Automatic Electric Guns) and GBB's (Gas BB Guns), the market has now been flooded with more affordable Airsoft R.I.F.s, opening the sport to an even wider audience than ever before.

A typical Tokyo Marui rifle would cost around £180, depending on what type of R.I.F. you wanted. Other company's such as Classic Army more commonly make full metal rifles, compared to that of their TM counterparts, who often build their R.I.F's using ABS plastics. A CA rifle will typically cost around £230 upwards, again depending upon the model you require.

With the introduction of the ' Clone ' AEG market, Airsofters can now buy a good quality R.I.F. for as little as £100. The most reliable and sturdy make of clone is that of JG (Jing Gong Corporation).

Clone R.I.F's are most commonly known as 'Cheapsoft ', but this should not put off the new player, as most of these are very well made, but unfortunately over-powered for most sites in the UK. Check with your airsoft retailer before purchase!