Tanaka Works raided?

[ASC NewsBot]

From Arnie's Airsoft:

Fra has sent in word of reports that Tanaka might have had some troubles with the law:

Ciao Arnie! big news from Japan.

Yesterday the sanpo website confirmed that Tanaka Works has been raided and the legendary Japanese modder has been accused of violation of the strict Japanese Sword and Firearms Control Law.

4 models have been considered illegal, 800 seized and 1000 sold to cutomers…

Police asked to customers to bring their soft air to the nearest local Police station. (source) Fra

Quoted from the relating Sankaku Complex story (beware possibly NSFW images):

In an unprecedented case, several Tanaka Works manufactured airsoft guns have been ruled real firearms, and so their possession and sale are subject to immediate ban. Tanaka Works themselves, now apparently an illegal arsenal, have been raided by police with a view to prosecuting.

The ruling, based on tests carried out by police, means that the guns now fall fully under the remit of the stringent Japanese Sword and Firearms Control Law, which essentially restricts weapon possession to all but criminals and police, and as a result owners are being ordered to immediately turn in their now illegal firearms.

Some one thousand of the models have already been sold, all as toys and so unregistered, so recovering them all may prove difficult. 800 of the now weapons were seized from the premises of Tanaka in addition.

Police investigations established that two of the models made by Tanaka Works, their S&W M500 CASYOPEA and Colt SAA .45 CASYOPEA, each available in long and short barrel versions, possess the capability of firing a 0.2 gram ball bearing using explosive propellant, without any modifications whatsoever.

This is deemed to have the potential to wound, and thus police hold it can no longer be considered a toy. (Sankaku Complex)

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