seen something awful

joshcowin

joshcowin

Members
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Messages
1,122
Reaction score
95
Hi their i thought id post this as it concerned me.this Sunday just gone i went to the car boot on a stall as i was helping family. after we had set up i noticed on the stall next to us there was a bottle of cheap bbs then pistol boxes so i had a look around and then looked at them to make sure they wernt selling rifs illegal.their was no notice up saying you must be 18 and have ukara so i waited until someone came up and 3 kids bought 3 rif pistols without any problems.i went straight to security and told him about it which he sort of didnt understand so i had to show he the vcra act for about 30 mins.then he agreed to come with me to sort this major problem out.i explained to the women why it was illegal to sell rifs to under18s and people without a liecense to which she replied 'its not my F***ing problem,i just sell stuff'.this made me rage big time so i got my phone out and again showed her the vcra act.she then said'f***off just leave me alone.the security guard asked her to calm down but she wasnt having any of it.the security guard said 'please pack the guns away and sell normal stuff or leave the site.which she then threw all of her stuff in her car and drove off.it annoys me how people dont realise how dangerous it is to sell rifs to kids or even no ukara members,its ruining the sport.rant over

 
I would have just called the police. Have the RIF's taken from them. Job done. No danger for kids and you'd know they aren't selling them illegally. Personally I would've done the same as you did but as soon as they get aggressive and start telling you to 'f*** off' they can deal with the consequences properly. I mean this is the kind of stuff that can ruin this sport.

 
i know it makes it harder for us who want to play properly,i dont mind kids playing properly at a site as its the future of the sport but what gets me is that they get imported and not seized at customs but proper airsoft guns do.how do you work that one out

 
In preparation for the following words I shall say: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I am not judging you for your decisions."

Totally understand how annoyed you are. The fact that legit people have to go through the effort of getting a licence or whatever and then there's people selling RIF's to U18s... ugh.

Personally as Carrel said I think the police should have been involved. I wouldn't have even told her, easiest way is to call the police (out of earshot of her) and say there's a woman on the car boot sale selling what look like real guns.

Either 1 you get a patrol car there ASAP and she looses her stock or 2 the same happens but the firearms squad turns up in full gear pointing real guns.

Which is no problem for you, as it wasn't real guns for sale (as you knew anyway) but it would got the best result.

I've found the easiest way to sort a problem is to let someone else know and walk away :)

Again beautiful hindsight here but we coulda guessed security wouldn't know a thing about UKARA.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just so you know UKARA isn't the Law the VCRA Act is as im sure you know Josh

 
and why didn't you summon Dev? since he is basically the law in these matters :D

 
Did you get the registration of the car?

Pass that through to the police and inform them of what you have seen. This happens a lot as I see them at car boots and it is suprising how often! They may not be top branded but they are guns all the same.

 
Alexb111 said:
In preparation for the following words I shall say: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I am not judging you for your decisions."Totally understand how annoyed you are. The fact that legit people have to go through the effort of getting a licence or whatever and then there's people selling RIF's to U18s... ugh.

Personally as Carrel said I think the police should have been involved. I wouldn't have even told her, easiest way is to call the police (out of earshot of her) and say there's a woman on the car boot sale selling what look like real guns.

Either 1 you get a patrol car there ASAP and she looses her stock or 2 the same happens but the firearms squad turns up in full gear pointing real guns.

Which is no problem for you, as it wasn't real guns for sale (as you knew anyway) but it would got the best result.

I've found the easiest way to sort a problem is to let someone else know and walk away :)

Again beautiful hindsight here but we coulda guessed security wouldn't know a thing about UKARA.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
if you see this by all means tell the police if you want but do not withhold information intentionally like that, you know they are airsoft guns then tell them dont waste time by letting them send out the wrong guys to deal with the situation theres no call for it just to make yourself feel better.

 
I distrust the police to bother turning up after an incident a few years back.

Off topic a bit but the story goes my dads car stereo got nicked along with 6 others in the same car park a few years back when they were removable. A passing bloke said if you drive round to this address I can guarantee a guy will be there with all 6 cos I just saw him running through the woods with a plastic bag full of them.

Police said they can't send anyone out and gave my dad a crime number despite there being a witness who actually knew and saw the guy that stole the stereos.

This image summarises my thoughts quite well.

howtogetpoliceattention.jpg


Link for anyone that can't see it: http://humour.200ok.com.au/img/howtogetpoliceattention.jpg

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Alex. Previous experience with the police notwithstanding, you should have called them. They seem pretty hot about enforcing VCRA stuff, especially RIF's. By confronting her yourself you put yourself at risk.

The site must have her details, any car boot I've ever done has taken as a minimum car reg, name and address for vendors. It may well be worth approaching the owners, and maybe even the police, even now. They can track her down by reg. no. and stop her from doing it again.

I think it's a shame that we, as legitimate users, feel we have to "grass up" people in this way. Not that I have a problem doing it, I have to be whiter than white in order to keep hold of my firearms, shotguns and airguns (as well as airsoft) and it annoys me when others are willing to ignore the law when it is convenient for them to do so.

That said it is very sad that people are so jumpy about guns that a six year old with a cap gun might well end up staring down the barrel of a very real MP5 or Glock, because the media have whipped up such a storm about gun crime, even when you're more likely to die from eating ice cream than from being shot in the UK. (Check out the statistics for the number of people killed by anaphylaxis from eating ice-cream contaminated with nuts!)

 
My dealings with the Police have been quite varied. I think they're like any other profession, you get good ones and bad ones. I've known very helpful Police and others who couldn't give a toss.

I like to think if I'd been sufficiently motivated in that situation, I'd have taken a picture of her selling the guns claiming "It's to send to my friend, if he likes the look of it I'll buy it!", and then reported her.

But in reality I'd probably have just tutted and walked on.

 
You should've called the police, its worse that she wasn't a UKARA member & illegally selling imitation firearms to underage individuals.

 
SilentSniper, whether she was a UKARA member or not has absolutely zip to do with the legality of what she was doing.

UKARA is a TRADE ASSOCIATION. That is ALL it is. It does not make the law, it does not enforce the law, it does not (and indeed cannot) issue any kind of "licence" that entitles you to buy an RIF.

All it does is provides the seller with a simple and quick way of checking that you can provide them with a defence against prosecution under the VCRA. There are other ways of proving the defense too.

 
After my 1970's scooter was stolen and the police just sat on their arses I have no trust in them. Even after we told them who the suspect was because we saw him eyeing the bike up... IN OUR BACK GARDEN!

 
Haha, any involvement I've had with the police (not because I've been a bad boy) has actually been above and beyond... :P

Fell asleep on the train ONCE on my way back from work, woke up 8 miles away from where I was supposed to be at about 23:30 on a saturday night. I walked 2 miles of it until I found a house I could ring home! Sadly, during that time the police were called and they kept me up until about 3am because they wanted to check I was ok and all that! :P

Anyway, it seems the majority of these "bad marks against airsoft" happen at market stalls. If I see a stall selling them I always mosey around it for a bit, waiting to see if any illegal sales are made... if not I'll start chatting to the owner and ask if they have any RIFs for sale if I can't see any...

Only once have I come across someone selling illegally, but they simply had no clue- I just gave them a basic run down and advised them to remove them from sale! Not a curse word to be heard ;)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's got to be said though that regardless of whether the police will be helpful or not if we ever see anything which could damage this sport in any way we shouldn't stand for it. We do need to stay vigilant in these matters and do things by the books. Just follow the law and show that we airsofters are responsible and helpful when it comes to these matters we won't have anything to worry about.

 
Arghh stuff like that frustrates the piss outa me! Not only does it have a negative effect on the image of our sport, but things like that bring extra negative attention which could cause repercussions.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top