Legal Locations For Airsoft

Legal Locations For Airsoft

Countries where Airsoft is legal
Austria
Belgium
Canada (under special circumstances, please learn more before buying)
Croatia
Czech Republic
Finland
France (2 J maximum.)
Germany (under special circumstances, J limit, Semi-auto only)
Hong Kong
Italy
Japan (No legal limit on pellet velocity. Generally 100 m/s (330 ft/s) is used.)
Korea
New Zealand (Any form of automatic weapon is banned.)
Norway
Poland
Russia
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
UK (All airsoft full auto weapons maximum legal limit of 1 J, semi and bolt action exempt)
USA
No legal limit on pellet velocity. Generally limits vary from 350 to 400 ft/s (107 to 122 m/s) urban and from 450 to 500 ft/s (137 to 152 m/s) in woodland.
Not legal in New York City Metro (5 Boroughs), Michigan, San Francisco, and Washington DC.
Must comply with two criteria: muzzle permanently colored in blaze orange and all non-licensed trademarks removed for copyright reasons on the airsoft guns.
others

Import restrictions
All airsoft guns ship to the USA must remove copyrighted words when they go through customs.

Barrel markings
Due to extreme similarity between these replicas and real firearms, combined with lobbying efforts from U.S. BB gun manufacturers, some U.S. states and local regulations may prohibit the ownership or use of Airsoft guns. Federal importation laws require all Airsoft gun barrels to be painted with a blaze orange stripe, as must all "toy guns". This measure is intended to avoid confusion with actual firearms.

Importation to USA
Many Asian manufacturers of airsoft guns disregard US and international trademark and intellectual property laws when creating their replicas. This is usually manifested as illegally-reproduced trademarks on guns and gun accessories. Some companies have worked hard to work out licensing deals with Western gun makers, but it does not seem to be a high priority, especially in the reclusive Japanese market. Notable instances to this include Japanese manufacturer Western Arms' licensing deal with the Beretta company of Italy and Hong Kong company Classic Army's deal with Armalite to use their trademarks on CA AEGs.

US customs routinely checks for illegal trademarks and even certain patented features, so many airsoft guns imported into the states have trademarks covered by plastic putty or destroyed outright by vulcanization in addition to the application of the blaze orange marking. Many distributors have begun to specifically market "clean" airsoft guns in the US, completely without troublesome trademarks or certain features which have caused legal controversy, such as the "safe action" trigger design employed by Glock in their line of pistols and copied on many gas gun models.

Local ordinances
Recently, (as of Fall/Winter 2003) the State of California has declared that the Airsoft replica is not legally a toy, but is classed similarly to an Air or BB gun, and subject to the same restrictions. Guns bought within the period between then and September 2004 should fall under this rule system, regardless of any changes; however, guns purchased after the passing of SB 1858 are once again classified as toys, and are subject to different requirements than BB or pellet guns. For details, look up bill SB 1858. Blaze Orange paint is mandated by federal law (Dept. of Commerce, 1986, 15 USC Sec. 5001), and Airsoft replicas may neither be used by nor sold to minors. Airsoft replica use is currently banned in the Municipality of New York City, and portions of the State of Michigan. As Airsoft becomes more popular, many reported incidents have occurred where generally younger players have come into contact in public areas with local law enforcement unsure of the nature of the airsoft weapons involved. In the future, these incidents will certainly increase, perhaps with problematic consequences, as airsoft rapidly proliferates in the United States.