Brad Martin and his son Ben sell Airsoft BB guns at their store in Cornelius, Oregon. A recent shipment of 30 of the toy guns were intercepted and seized by ATF agents when they entered the country at Tacoma, Washington.
Martin disputes that the guns can be converted. Another reason for the seizure is that they were missing the orange tip mandated on imported toy guns.
Link -via J-Walk Blog
The Martins said they buy their stock from Taiwan because the merchandise is less expensive. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized a shipment of 30 in October. That shipment is worth around $12,000 and the ATF is promising to destroy the entire shipment.
Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said the toys can be easily retro-fitted into dangerous weapons.
Martin disputes that the guns can be converted. Another reason for the seizure is that they were missing the orange tip mandated on imported toy guns.
The Martins said they've received shipments before from Taiwan that were missing the orange tips and were simply asked by customs agents to drive up to Tacoma and paint the tips orange themselves. They are wondering why it is an issue now.
Link -via J-Walk Blog
Sounds like it WAS an issue before, and ATF was lenient enough to work with them to fix the problem the first time. Why do they expect exceptions to be made for them a second time?
I do think that it is illegal for airsoft guns not to have the orange tip though.
We are talking about something designed to fire 6mm, .2 or .25 gram plastic BBs.
Customs ? ATFE
Two different agencies.
Seems fair to me. 30 toys in a 40-ft shipping-container full of toys are shown to be missing a safety feature that was mistakenly left off the order by the foreign vendor. It can easily be retrofitted by the importer, but we should impound and destroy the whole shipment in order to make a statement that small-business owners should know better than to do business with anyone who is less than 100% perfect in their order fulfillment process.
Seems to me there must be more to the story. Like the ATF had a tip that these were real guns (otherwise why wasn't this jsut a customs issue??). Instead, ATF turns up, makes a big to-do about it and feels the need to asser dominance by destroying everything, making it seem worthwhile.
Before I got to the "orange tips" part, I was wondering about what law they would cite for confiscation. But apparently, the missing orange tips is grounds for confiscation. Just like driving 105 on the highway when the limit is 65, the cop can give you a warning, a small ticket (traveling too fast for conditions), an actual speeding ticket, or they can book you on reckless endagerment. All depends.
See Lou Dobbs on the case of David Olofson, railroaded for 30 months in prison because his rifle malfunctioned
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB237rfvHys
@yank
Like paintball guns, airsoft can start at $70 and go up to hundreds of dollars. $12k may have been retail value, not wholesale value.
The statement in the article that troubles me the most is this one: "With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun" Crenshaw said.
Aside from outward appearances, these guns have nothing in common with actual firearms. They could no sooner be turned into machine guns than could a raw block of wood or a billet of steel.
The fact that Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw even made this statement leads me to question both his judgment and his competence. If he believes these toys are a legitimate threat, then maybe he'd be better suited at another government agency, like OSHA.
Ooooo...he's so smart. Maybe he should transfer to the DEA and pull all the opium poppies out of old women's gardens. The DEA needs more good men.
1. Barrel
2. Upper receiver
3. Lower receiver
I bet I know exactly what happened. Some customs agent thought he found a bunch of illegal guns, called BATFE to get a bunch of kudos for blowing the whistle, BATFE took everything, realized they really were toys, then made the "conversion" comment to justify it rather than admit their mistake.
I am not really willing to waste $250+ on this though.
erm, i don't think you've thought this all the way through. my advice is to not try this.
Keep sticking up for the ATF here because you're a bunch of sheeple. The same for cops and swat of the same... Tax and revenue collecting jackboot thugs who are so inadequate that they need to stick together and bully others.
Ever think that those who have guns or rifles can simply PAINT THE TIPS ORANGE to look like toy guns instead? Bad guys don't play by the rules.
As my 6 year old would say, "A-DUH!"
Jack
PS - They keep pushing and violating people's rights. It's now to the point where they are going to have to watch their own backs and worry about their family and loved ones. Personally, I'd hate to be a cop in these current economic times.
2nd: ATF well basicly any other other country that guy who says "can be converted to weapons" would say goodbye to all jobs in the future for making himself a total idiot...
3rd: converting airsoft gun to a weapon to fire live ammo... yes i can do that whit water pistoll allso: take real gun parts, saw of the grip from plastic water pistol ==> hot glue the plastic grip to a real gun OMG ITS A WEAPON!! THEY CAN BE MODIFIED AMAGAD ?!?!?
4th... ATF use google... where is airsoft originally from... Japan... why its from Japan... they cant have real fire arms there... sooo... do i need to draw a picture here...
5th... Lets all give a big hand to the Kelven Grenshaw from the youtube video: he most likely will win the Darwin Awards 2010... or be a good 2nd place:
http://www.darwinawards.com/