The reason why I do all the swimming for ships in my club is because I'm the only one who knows the secret to fending off those vicious pond-sharks. All you need is a little elbow grease and some headlight fluid, but those are not easy to find.
Two different issues here - 1st, the old - "well, paintball is legal in NJ so this must me". First, read the law. There is a specific exemption for paintball calibers (they are over 3/8" caliber). Our guns do not meet that exemption. Period. 2nd, "Well, I would argue that they don't fire with sufficient force to cause injury." Right. And we require safety glasses why? Because you "can argue it" don't make it so. And where do you make this argument? Not with the cop seizing your ship and/or arresting you. You make this argument in a court, when you are up facing charges, with your ship in the hands of the prosecutor. After thousands of dollars in legal fees. Good luck on that. If you can't readily buy BB's that might be a hint, but is not dispositive. It is not the BBs that are the firearms under the definition, it is the guns. If you legally posses a firearm, why regulate the ammo that it uses? But, NJ may. I have seen this question come up on almost every forum out there. Everyone is looking for an out. But the answer remains the same. NJ law is what it is. If you have questions about the law, don't speculate, don't argue about what you think it should be, read the law (it is available online), and read it thoroughly. A portion of it was quoted in an earlier post. It really is not Sanskrit or Greek. If you are left unsure, ask your local public (district attorney) legal official, and get a letter from him stating his opinion that it is OK. That might help you with the cops. As for the description of the guns originally requested, wow - that is a quite topic with all the variations out there. Perhaps: a system designed to use CO2 or air pressure at no more than 150psi to propel a projectile or multiple projectiles, ranging from.177" to .25" diameter. Cheers,
Ok, but airsoft is legal, thats 6mm(which is below the size for the paintball exception) rounds traveling at slightly higher velocities, i dont see how our guns are any more dangerous than those,(as an aside, there have been a lot more crimes committed with airsoft guns than our cannons) but anyway those would seem to fall under the same catagory as our cannons and so by extention we would be legal. and you can poke your eye out with nerf toys so maybe those should be outlawed too. And you use those arguements when you go ask them if its legal or not not when they are arresting you, that would be retarded, but it might get you some additional charges. Ive read the law many times and reading the law and looking at what is available legally and what isnt makes me think that what we do is ok. You're right that the best way to find out is to go ask someone who would know, nobody disagrees with that, just nobody has done it and has a definate answer so thats why we dont know for sure. If we had a place to battle here in NJ it would be a larger issue, but we dont. But really you arent going to get in any trouble for having a warship that shoots bbs if you arent out causing trouble or getting in trouble for something else. Unless you're causing trouble i bet any cop that sees you doing it would think its pretty cool and you wouldnt get in trouble. Most of the cops ive ever dealt with are actully pretty chill if you arnt causing any trouble. you cant count on that but i think the moral of the story is it comes down to common sense. Dont do anything stupid and chances are you wont get in trouble. Maybe i should go look up the DA's office and find out for real so we can have a real answer. (then again if he says its illegal i dont think im going to do anything different than I already do, im still going to go drive my boat around locally(not with ammo but i dont drive it around loaded if im not battling anyway) and im still going to go up to NY to battle it anyway.) I think all/most states regulate ammo to some degree or another, certian types of rounds are outlawed most places.
Another common misapplication. Just because the law hasn't been enforced against airsoft (probably due to the perception that it cannot do harm - and, by the way, where do you get that the velocities of airsoft ammo is higher?*), doesn't mean it is legal. After all it is marketed as "soft" and "harmless". The enforcement authorities are probably "buying" the "harmless" aspect and not enforcing it (after all, if challenged, they might have to prove it could cause injury). Until someone gets their eye put out or some other tragedy occurs. And, to equate our guns with airsoft is also bogus. The question is not just velocity but also mass. Put it this way - do you want to equip your ship with airsoft guns? Think they will penetrate 1/8" silkspanned balsa at 10 feet 1/2" below the waterline? You will be welcome to bring your airsoft gunned ship to our pond. You can easily see the flaw in your argument by the fact that BB guns (much closer to ours) are regulated under the law. As, I understand, are slingshots. Good luck. * After a little research, it appears that stock airsoft has a muzzle velocity around 280fps, give or take, for a .12g pellet. This is indeed, higher than the Big Gun allowable for 1/4" of around 165-185fps at one foot from the muzzle. However, iron is considerably more dense than the plastic used, therefore the energy is much higher. At a .12g airsoft, you are looking at about 1/2 joule. For .2g about 2/3 to 1 joule. For steel, close to 1g or more, a lot more energy (say 5 joules), all with the same footprint. Try shooting airsoft at the special 2" foam we use for penetration testing and see what you get. And, remember, this is with our guns tuned down to meet penetrability standards - they are capable of much more. Legal authorities will take note of the regulator and note that it can be turned both ways.
