Airsoft Thread

[kiran2608]

thanks kiran for email id, i have email you

I replied too

KD

[Kuklinski]

Sorted, thanks for the heads up

[nagarifle]

noting to say as it all been said before, check out the RKBA and legal section of the forum, also we are funny lot there when someone first post is not an introduction one. all you have done is read the act and not looked in details, at age 24 you must be the youngest lawer on the forum.

anyway by your definition a catapult and knicker elastic would also be outlawed.

[brihacharan]

noting to say as it all been said before, check out the RKBA and legal section of the forum, also we are funny lot there when someone first post is not an introduction one. all you have done is read the act and not looked in details, at age 24 you must be the youngest lawer on the forum.

Anyway by your definition a catapult and knicker elastic would also be outlawed.

Briha

[estousandy]

**MOVED

[nagarifle]

not point on going any more with this thread as taking up cyber space, we have plenty of this in other setion in the forum'
mods please lock this up

[estousandy]

Airsoft legality in India

Arms is defined in the Indian Arms act as follows:

/"arms" means articles of any description designed or adapted as weapons for offence or defence, and includes firearms, sharpedged and other deadly weapons, and parts of, and machinery for manufacturing, arms, but does not include articles designed solely for domestic or agricultural uses such as a lathi or an ordinary walking stick and weapons incapable of being used otherwise than as toys or of being converted into serviceable weapons;/

/"...(i) Weapons incapable of being used otherwise than as toys or of being converted into serviceable weapons are exempted(*) from the operation of the Arms Act, subject to the condition that Central Government (or State Government by delegated powers ) may impose any restriction in respect of air-pistols or of any class thereof in the case of any class of persons or of any specified area."
(*) Vide Entry (3) of Schedule II appended to G.S.R. 991, dated 13.7.62 (Copy at part VI, Ch.XIII)/

/In this section, the expression "imitation firearm" means anything which has the appearance of being a firearm, whether it is capable of discharging any shot, bullet or other missile or not./

So, airsoft doesn't come under 'arms' category in Indian Arms act but may come under imitation firearms.

But , this is how it's mentioned in exim policy.

/9304 00 00 Other Arms (for example, spring, air or gas guns and pistols, truncheons), excluding those of heading 9307. : Restricted
( Amended by DGFt Notification No. 53 Dated 21.11.2007)
However, import of 0.177 bore air guns and air pistols will be free for shooters registered with Rifle Clubs or District/State/ National Rifles Association . Free import of 0.177 bore air guns and air pistols will also be allowed to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for supplying the same to the eligible State Rifle Association / Clubs and to the eligible shooters. NRAI shall be required to keep appropriate account of the imported weapons. ( Amended by DGFt Notification No. 53 Dated 21.11.2007) /

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Customs act Article 93 does not mention imitation firearms anywhere. None of its sections apply to Airsoft, especially electric powered airsoft guns. But gas airsoft guns fall in a grey area as the words "gas guns" is specifically mentioned in the act. None knows what they actually meant. Also, DGFt Notification No. 53 Dated 21.11.2007 relates to only Airguns of .177 cal, so rifle club membership will have zero influence on Airsoft.

In effect, airsoft will NOT come under any other category above due to it being not "Arms", but it is NOT explicitly mentioned anywhere in the exim policy or act. The words 'airsoft' or 'toy gun' appears nowhere in Customs Act. So, it can be a toy, hobby item, firearm, imitation, or even blank depending on the opinion of customs official in charge of the day. ie, unpredictable import scenario.

Arms act comes into play with airsoft only when you break the "certain cases" clause relating to abuse of imitation firearms. And it's the exim policy that decides if you are eligible to receive it or not. In Indian case it is vague; airsoft is NOT recognized aka DOES NOT EXIST.

It might or might not evade customs check. Disassembled import too can be considered. We've some success stories here itself.

But to summarize, this is a sad state of affairs.

[maheshvijay93]

Thank you Sandy for the detailed information...
From our experiences and the other friends in IFG, importing disassembled is the most safest way...

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[kiran2608]

Congrats Sandy for getting a green signal from customs:-) to import a AEG. Don't delay and get it ASAP before they change their mind.

End of the day, it's customs who make rules with our guns in their hands and no matter what the exact act or rule, they impose their own duty.

Nice info though:-)

When I was importing my pistol, I bought the entire book of arms act from high court premises:-)

To pursue a hobby, one should know the law too. Still we end up paying import duty.

KD

[Kuklinski]

noting to say as it all been said before, check out the RKBA and legal section of the forum, also we are funny lot there when someone first post is not an introduction one. all you have done is read the act and not looked in details, at age 24 you must be the youngest lawer on the forum.

anyway by your definition a catapult and knicker elastic would also be outlawed.

hi, this is not my definition, its by laws of the Indian Arms Act 1959. I agree it is outdated. I have discussed it with my colleagues and by that definition any person carrying a mobile phone in his hand automatically becomes armed and dangerous because the mobile phone becomes the projectile and the arm becomes the discharger by use of muscular force. Our laws are famous to always contradict each other and mostly outdated.
Also if u can please link me to the post where this definition was debated for airsoft. I cannot find it in the RKBA.
Many Thanks.

[estousandy]

http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... 95#p218524

Anymore doubts, please discuss in the "Airsoft Thread". This is an old beaten topic as naga mentioned.

[AgentDoubleS]

anyway by your definition a catapult and knicker elastic would also be outlawed.

Utterly hilarious!

[Kuklinski]

Yes its definitely legal. There's nothing wrong with them. They are categorized as toys and by no means cause any injury to any human or animals as they are of low intensity. Hence, it makes them perfectly legal to be tagged as "toy" and not a firearm. I don't see any problem with importing it.

[Vikram]

Kuklinski,

You seem to be splitting hairs for naught. The 1959 Arms Act is not the only act that governs possession of firearms. Do you think that all the hundrends of thousands of air guns manufactured, imported legally and used in sports are done so illegally? Do you think that the legal enforcement agencies, customs and DGFT would allow the import and/or manufacture of the same if they were considered to be firearms?

http://www.mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/uploa ... 080410.pdf

As per the Notification issued on 13.7.1962 manufacture of airguns/air rifles and air pistols which satisfy the test, namely, that the projectiles discharged from such weapons do not perforate a target of 12 inches square formed by deal wood board of even grains free from knots planed on both sides and of thickness of ½ inch and one inch for air pistols and air guns/rifles, respectively, are exempt from the purview of Arms Act, subject to the conditions laid down in the said Notification.

The same has been cited here on IFG for a long time for reference.

Best-
Vikram

[estousandy]

Kuklinski, no comments.

I hope you can put together a reasonable picture from the posts above. It's all there depending on how you look at them. Read VERY carefully.