Japan to ban powerful toy air guns
 

Hmmm

From another source, not as bad as it sounds.

We've got a more-or-less official 500-something fps limit in Canada, the Brits have their 300fps. It looks to be really more of a celing on power than a serious ban. Consider what people in Asia sometimes upgrade their guns to, it doesn't seem like that bad an idea.

No, it doesn't seem all that bad... I'd rather be limited in energy and velocity terms then have to go through licensing and registration.

There's nothing wrong with what they're doing. Two days before I left Yokohama in December, the Japanese govn't put a law in stating that only those over 18 can purchase airsoft guns... and y'know what??? The store owners are following the law!

Wow, if only Canada and America would follow suit.

It looks like they're implementing a limit pretty close to the 1J limit in the UK.

a 6mm pellet has a frontal area of 0.282cm^2. At 3.5j/cm^2 that's 1J. A stock AEG (280fps) is about 0.7J. They're implementing a 100m/s limit w' 0.2g pellets ~333fps

swords need licensing too?.. lol. funny

I think sharpened swords are restricted here in Canada too.

Thats the problem with the internet....any kid can buy a sharpened sword if he persuades his college friend. I know a 16 year old that just one of them Katanas...this is also the dude that got the springer from Kuramae.

No, unless you mean there's an age restriction and the common sense of not carting it around in public.

Hard to believe a 16yr old can afford a Katana. I bought a set when I was in Japan... cost as much as a compact car.

I believe its one of those cheap imitation ones but its quality seems in between. I have no idea how much it costs but that kid is spoiled and its just after chinese new years so who knows how much he spent on it.

Katanas only cost about $150 here... or half that online.

Anyone that bought an airsoft gun could buy 5... or so.


It's weird, but kids have alot of money these days.... :innocent:

A Katana you spend $150 on is prob. more of a toy or decoration then an actual sword.

I don't think licensing would be that bad. It would require people to be of proper age and to go through the proper training. If it was ammended to the gun control laws that persons owning an airsoft rifle were required to have a valid FPAL and go through the CFSC it would get rid of a few problems. As to registration there is no way to do this unless you brought all your airsoft gear to a local shop and had them stamp it with a registration serial number. That would cost millions to set up and with all the AEG/GBB/SPRs out there, it probably wouldn't work.

Just my thoughts,
Gravetech

Similar shootings occured at my local McDonalds last August and cost me a 450 dollar rear windshield.

Limiting the power of airsoft guns won't solve any problems, you have to get airsoft and other pellet guns out of the hand of idiots stupid enough to do drive by shootings with them.

Although they've been trying to do the same thing with real guns for decades with only limited success.

I suspect that your windsheild was popped with a pellet gun. Upgrading an AEG to the point of piercing glass isn't that easy. It takes a heck of a spring to push a pellet through automotive glass. I'm guessing the only easy ASG to use to bust windows is the KJW M700. On propane it can push just over 500fps w' 0.43g pellets without modification. Conversely pretty much any Crappy tire pellet gun can damage windows.

And registration on ASGs?! Wouldn't be practical with all the chop shopping going on. It's not hard enough to open up a mechbox and put in super torque up gears and a heavy spring. Sell your stock plastic body and upgrade to a metal one and your registration goes with someone else.

The 3.5j/cm^2 limitation is an interesting way to limit projectile energy. I initially thought that someone could obey the limitation and shoot larger projectiles and deliver a dangerous hit. Crank up the frontal area so you can deliver more energy but meet the energy/area limitation. On closer inspection it actually gets less harmless as you increase projectile size.

If you scale up a pellet, the frontal area increases by the square of the diameter, but the volume increases even further (by the cubic). That means if you double a pellet's size, you quadruple the frontal area and therefore quadruple how much energy you can impart to the pellet. Sounds bad, but you also octuple (8x) the pellets mass so the velocity of the pellet actually decreases by about 30% (1/sqrt2).

So if you were at the energy limit and were shooting 6mm 0.2g pellets you'd hit 333fps. If you shot 12mm 1.6g phat pellets, you have to be shooting 233fps to be at the energy/area limits which is actually not too far off from what is determined to be a safe paintball velocity.

It's a very complete specification really. It even anticapates shaft projectiles like arrows. Arrows have small frontal area so you're not allowed to pack much energy into them. Furthermore, they're heavy so that bit of energy doesn't result in very high flight velocities. Probably makes them completely useless actually. Japan has some love of ceremonial archery. I'm guessing they'll allow it because it's not too amenable to drive by arrowings. You'd need a convertible so you could stand up and clear the limbs. You also only get one shot.

The specification does not appear to limit total discharge energy so I guess moscarts and shotguns are ok as long as the individual projecticles don't exceed 1j each.