A lesson learned with airsoft... oh wait

[dpq06]

So it was just a regular day, had two other friends over we were just shooting each other in the yard around my house with some airsoft guns, a custom airsoftGI M4, an Echo1 HK416, and my new Echo1 MP5. Now we never expected to get in any sort of trouble seeing as we weren't doing anything illegal as most people assume with airsoft guns.
Now, we have had people walk by and kind of look at us for a brief second but can tell by the orange tips they're not real guns. But on this one occasion a lady walking by looked at us and walked away as usual. One of my friends telling me earlier she did actually pull out a cell phone.

It just so happens that later when we were in the middle of a game my friend who was on the other side of the house walking up towards the front door area and on to my side, turned the corner where there were about 4 cops and 2 SWAT team members were tactically and silently moving further into the backyard, and when he turned the corner they promptly told him to "FREEZE! DROP THE WEAPON! DROP THE WEAPON! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" which he did, and i was thinking at the moment, my teammate had gotten close to the other guy and was within 5 feet, (our "freeze range") but when i heard them say drop the weapon, i definitely knew it wasn't him so i put my gun on the ground and ripped off my goggles and balaclava, went up there and one of the cops told me to sit down.

I happened to look over behind me and my friend was on the laying on the ground face down with his hands on his head getting searched. I kept telling the cop "they aren't real! it's airsoft!" so afterwards when the cops had thoroughly understood they weren't real steels, they were telling us we didn't actually do anything wrong. But when they received the call from that lady they had to think they were. So that lady was just too oblivious and couldn't tell the difference. The first moment was pretty heart pumping and adrenaline rushing... and the cops were actually remarking on how similar our guns were to theirs. And one said " i was *this* close to pulling the trigger on him." so yea, that was my day.

[Fluffywuffy]

Cool story bro






Try not to play with airsoft guns in your front yard?

[sparks50]

Its hard to have any sympathy with you.

We put up posters, and call the police to tell them what we are doing and where.

[DevilDog812]

why? airsoft is legal, it just losers who think kids shouldnt be introduced to anything weapon-like who are ruining it.

as to how oblivious people are, i used to hunt geese on a golf course near my house. in the morning, we set up a bunch of goose decoys on the green. when it got lighter out, people came out for a walk around the course, and i cant tell you how many people tried walking up to the decoys to scare them away. some people had to touch them to realize they were fake, even though they didnt make any noise and didnt move. and some people still just walked away looking confused after that

[sparks50]

I would argue that it is criminals, along with some bad parents that is the big threat to airsoft. and If the police experiences that airsofters keep creating dangerous situations, what are they going to ask the politicians to do?

[DevilDog812]

Originally Posted by sparks50

I would argue that it is criminals, along with some bad parents that is the big threat to airsoft. and If the police experiences that airsofters keep creating dangerous situations, what are they going to ask the politicians to do?

airsoft guns have orange tips on them to let you know they arent real guns, if you see three kids shooting eachother with orange tipped guns and laughing about it and having fun, i doubt they would think it is a dangerous situation. the lady was just clueless, like many people these days.i would agree about the criminals being dangerous to it, but it shouldnt be that way. criminals should be damaging to any gun rights, real or not real. if you ban all guns to stop criminals, then only criminals will have guns and the general population will be defenseless

[lonelyjew]

My friend's brother had the same thing happen, they were on school property though so they deserved what they got. Me and my friends used to play games in the yard and our guns don't even have orange tips! Never had any trouble, I mean if you ever hear the things fire you know they aren't real.

Also, just a lesson I learned, wear a mouth guard. My first big game, in the first round, I had half a tooth shot out by a BB.

[TmanEd]

About the same thing happened to me with a paintball gun, except I was in a car. My brain farted, and I forgot to put the gun away. Someone walked past, thought it was a real gun, and called the police. The paintball gun in question here looks like it has two barrels, and it has a pump handle on it.

[sparks50]

Devildog: I agree, but airsoft toys are not classified as firearms. At least not under federal law. I am a libertarian.

i doubt they would think it is a dangerous situation. the lady was just clueless

Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public. I know that in Florida, a lady even managed to call the police on small kids forming guns with their fingers.

[Liquid_Cow]

A hunting buddy of mine was heading out for an evening of coyote sniping (completely legal) with his highly customized and super accurate AR-15 (looks like an M-16) slung over his shoulder. A cop who was driving by saw him walking into the field, slams on the brakes and jumps out of his car, weapon drawn (but not pointed at him) and demands that he drop the weapon. My buddy ask why, that he's just going hunting, the cop is incredulous "you can't hunt with a machine gun!" Long story short, eventually the game warden shows up, walks up says hi to Brian, asks him how many rounds in the magazine (for hunting the limit is 5) and tells the cops "yeah, he's good" then walks away... dumbfounded cops go back to drinking coffee and driving in circles.

Now my buddy avoids walking in the open to the field, sticks to the tree line where he's less likely to be noticed.