Replica Guns

Here is a BBC report on a call for greater control of replica guns because they are being misused by criminals and thugs. The BBC are seeking submissions and here is mine:

The usual solution of banning an item because it is misused by a minority will no doubt be top of the control freaks agenda, focusing as they do on the object rather than the criminals and thugs actually responsible for the misuse of the object. We have already travelled very very far down that road; for instance consider the complete ban on all real handguns. All this has achieved is to destroy a sport and ensure that only criminals have guns, and we have seen in recent years that they have them in abundance.

Now plastic BB firing replicas are firmly in the sights of those that believe they have a God given right to dictate what their fellow citizens should be allowed to do in their spare time and what they should not. For instance the sport/hobby of airsoft skirmishing is one of the fastest growing legitimate and safe pastimes in the UK, but the control freaks will not bat an eyelid when it comes to trying to prevent others from following the hobby. It is in their nature to scapegoat the innocent and they must take responsibility for the results of their actions.

For instance, the 170 million pounds the government spent removing legally held guns from sportsmen and women could have been used on resources to get guns out of the hands of criminals but, instead, it was frittered away. And still the killing goes on.

We have some of the harshest firearms legislation on the planet and it is failing. That is the result of identifying an object with criminal behaviour rather than getting down to the business of fighting crime, deterring criminals and punishing the wicked.