Would you rather have Canadian Airsoft or New Zealand Airsoft?
 

I've always been interested in the status of Airsoft legalities around the world. You have the US and their orange tip and trademark laws, the UK with the licensed players (best system IMHO), the Phillipines, Hong Kong, and Russia where it's almost anything goes and you have a lot of innovation...and then Australia and China where it's banned completely.

I came across the New Zealand Airsoft community recently and I was reading their forums and it felt a lot like the Canadian situation. They try to police themselves, have age rules, and people have to contact specific dealers with each club to get their legal weapons, etc. Turns out the issue in New Zealand is pretty interesting. Unlike here where the big deal is all about importing receivers, in NZ, they are not allowed to import and possess fully-automatic airsoft.

Any guns they import must have full auto permanently disabled and in some cases, even with full auto markings removed from receivers. They are not allowed to possess or play with fully-automatic airsoft so it's not just in the importation process. What's even more interesting is that you have Australians going to NZ just to play their semi-auto airsoft.

If you had the choice, which would you choose? The ability to freely import anything (as long as you had someone disable full auto before it got to customs) or the ability to own and operate full auto weapons with the Canadian import restrictions and the difficulty in getting anything that you truly want in? I'm thinking that for collectors, the semi-auto world would be much friendlier as you could get anything that you wanted. I'm not sure how well that would hold anyway since full auto can be disabled simply by removing the selector plate. I wonder how many in NZ just put one back on? From what I've seen though, it can get extreme with Escort gas weapons being mechanically modified so that they are permanently disabled, etc.

http://www.asnz.org.nz/forums/index.php

Ill stick to canadian guns,
Sure they are harder to get but at least theres the choice of full auto and its not illegal to have them(full auto i mean)


Squeeker Squeek!

I honestly won't find much difference, I haven't run full auto on any of my guns at any of of the 4 games I've been to. I wonder what NZ's airsoft prices are like by comparison with our local airsoft prices.

How strictly is it policed?

Does that mean you can import AEGs, but only those that have been permanently set to semi only? And in that case, I wonder what methods are used. Many of the ways to do this i can think of would be easy to reverse.

Also, it would matter a lot on the prices they paid. If they paid HK prices, then i would probably be down for the semi-only rule.

my friend paid NZ$230 for his AGM M4 GBBR

NZ$230 = $177 Canadian right now.

meh. if you got the know how, money, time and patience, you can get any gun you want in Canada.

one thing with full auto disabled is that there are times where you need to shoot full auto to release a locked up gearbox.

I would actually go with NZ laws. More/better access and it prevents people from hosing. However that's pretty much just because of my play style. I would like the full auto feature but it's not a big loss if I can't have it since I'd be just shooting semi 99% of the time anyways.

However, just think about it for a second first. If Canada adopts NZ laws couple that with the culture of Canada and there is a statistically significant chance something bad will happen.

Now that kids get access to cheap toys like this, stupid things will happen and will be all over youtube (lol lol loooll Look at me I shot at bystanders at the local park duuuurrrrrr). If the culture were to change such that kids don't have "that kind of attitude" then yeah but for now I'm happy with how things are. Just take a look at the underage backyard airsoft videos that come out of the US and 13 year old kids "reviewing" guns and "reviewing" retailers.

allways happens when the batteries running low . switching to safe sometimes does the trick

"Current legislation in NZ is that you must be 16 years and over AND have a current A-category firearms license to own an airsoft gun"

I'll stick to Canada's. I like my suppressive fire.

I was about to mention something similar. Canada isn't "smart" or "mature" enough to have easy access to airsoft guns, we've seen what happens with them being so restricted as is. I have no issues with our current laws, its a pain for us but its not like its there for no good reason.

I'm all for it.

The only thing the concerns me is the sudden influx of noob snipers we would have.

You know how noobs all want snipers and the vets steer them towards full-auto AEGs?

That's going to be a problem.

In all seriousness, though, the implementation of a Firearms licence only rule would be great, as well the idea of cheaper guns.

I'd stick to Canadian regulations since here kids dont have an all-access pass to replica firearms and I think it's a good thing. Hell I'm 19 and still have to save my pennies and spend a month paying for my credit card because I bought a gun. Higher prices and difficulty obtaining replica firearms makes you think twice about doing something stupid.

That's just an excuse for us being lazy with our stupidity.

The drive to not do something stupid should be internal, not external.

If it takes a chunk out of your bank account to make you realize you've done something wrong, then there's a problem.

This gets into the effectiveness of our legal system, which is not a topic for this thread. =P

Sorry for the derail, amigos.

So, before you bash me here for being a hypocrite, hear my reasoning :P

Often, when I see american airsofters on their fourms, youtube, and writing reviews on online sites, they really have no clue what their talking about. It seems like the vast availability of guns means that anyone can throw $100 at the sport, and have themselves a fine functioning rifle. Often, I see these people, who really have no idea what their talking about, giving other noobs ridiculous advice, Praising shitty brands, and saying high-end brand are crap. I won't tell you the number of reviews i have seen on VFC rifles, Saying they are total shit.

WTF? These guys have no idea what they're talking about! maybe they own a JG or two, but it seems the general knowledge of an average airsofter is far higher here then there.

Now, Im not saying that all Americans are bad airsofters, I dont want to come off as prejudice, but, the way airsoft is set up here now, It forces new players to be committed. It means that the players we play with are serious, and really want to be there.

Gah!
had to let that out

/Rant

But still.... You know what would happen if the NZ laws concerning airsoft were to be implemented here.

Also.... So you're 13 and get your hands on an airsoft gun now what? Well chances are something stupid will happen and the kid will either get shot/killed or arrested and in the case of an arrest I actually think that Canada is way too pussy to prosecute youths. Heck even if something stupid happened with a 16 year old (who had their "class A firearm license" (which I'm going to assume is equal to a "non-restricted PAL")) we know what will happen, a slap on the wrist and the YCJA seals their record after 18.

Let me say though that I'm all for kids going out and shooting each other with BB guns and having stick fights like in the "old days" but the political climate now is just way too soft and run by soccer moms IMO (noes.... you can't be hitting each other with sticks and playing cowboy and indians with rubber band guns it's DANGEROUS we need to ban rubber band guns cause a kid could lose an eye).

EDIT:

@ theguy:

Well if you look at HK/Japan/The Philippines/etc. you'll notice that people have cheap and easy access to guns but actually know a thing or two. I relate this to them just having a different culture, the players over there seem just as dedicated as us in Canada and don't spew shit to get subscribers or whatever on youtube. Also yeah not all Americans are bad airsofters but it's the lowest common denominator that seems to be the one yelling the loudest on their soapbox. Just like not all paintballers are bad but it's the very vocal ones that give you that impression that everyone just sprays and gets all hyper when they lose a match.

Of course it should be and of course there's a problem. I probably am not the only one knowing there are stupid people in the world and that includes airsoft.

Anyways, back on topic.

Hi Folks, I'm a Canadian living in NZ. Currently I play RAM, but I've been looking into the Airsoft side of things, both in NZ and Canada. I'm hoping to move back in a couple of years, and since RAM appears to have been neutered by the CBSA, it looks like its airsoft for me:)

WRT the situation here, I wouldnt go as far as to say we are any smarter, there are some damn stupid people here too (as everywhere) and a crapton of springers (There are also the better quality items as well) on trademe.co.nz (our ebay equiv), but there dont tend to be too many incidents reported in the media. Perhaps one every 3-6 months, and that includes .68 stupidity as well.

Personally I dont mind the semi auto restriction, our ammo isnt all that cheap for ram. The few times my marker has malfunctioned and fired full auto was absolutely awesome, but I'd prefer a 3 round burst. There are rumblings of a law change in the pipes with regards to the airguns, and apparently positive, but I cant say anything with accuracy, so I wont.

I'm looking to go to an induction course run by our local airsoft community in the next month or so. Once I've done that, and can get access to the buy and sell areas, I'll be able to gauge more accurately the stuff I can get hold of in NZ. Sadly its impossible for me to get AV'd on here, and thus make direct comparisons.

I was just talking to a buddy of mine in the Philippines and he said that airsoft there might have to be licensed. Yeah even there I remember when I was 13 when cops would raid stores that sold airsoft springers. The good thing there is the many businesses that you can get airsoft stuff that just sprang up quite recently. I dont know if these places get raided as often as say the old stores that sold airsoft or a pirated DVD stand.

The Canadian laws are preventative in the publics view, no one really sees us as a threat. The replica laws keep our growing drug mobs from easily being able to impersonate swat or police. This is an ongoing problem as one crew can quietly remove another by impersonating the common enemy.

We know way to many possable outcomes that are negative to honestly want the law abborted and yet we struggle with the rammifications. When we realize that what is available is in a way functional its offenses will be less obviouse. And yes I choose Canada because I know our law men have no problem letting me go on with my hobby, as long as no one calls them about it.

I have been talking to a fellow in NZ discussing semi-only stuff recently in relation to my MOSFET switches. He had some interesting info. Only recently has New Zealand allowed importing guns converted to semi-auto by the retailer. Before, you could not buy say from Hong Kong even if the gun was converted to semi-only before it was shipped.

M249s and other fullauto only gearbox guns are rejected from importation completely. There is even trouble if you want to import selector plates because they know what these are and can be used to convert a mechbox to auto. The point is there is plenty of fine print and it's more complicated than NZ = semi-only. And besides, is it seriously reasonable to face charges just because your BB gun can fire more than 1 shot at a time?

Of course much of it is silly - what do you expect when you have people who don't know what they're talking about making the rules for things they don't understand?

Id personally go with the NZ way of airsoft. i rarely use FA so as long as i can get any gun i want at the non-canadian prices, i couldn't really care about FA. now if there was a FPS limit like in Japan, then id probably stick with the Canadian Market.

Just something in the NZ news today...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10608143

amen. semi auto all the way!

I get no joy from firing an AEG on semi, No matter how good the trigger response it still feels wrong, GBB's on the other had are great fun.

Even though its banned in china, many places still sell it.

Been some trouble lately with some robbery when some robbers disguised as bomb squad cops tried to rob a watch store. One of the dead robbers had a CA M203, if I recall right.

And yeah, air guns there are licensed by registration with the PNP and having a serial number on the said firearm.