Coming Soon To America?

The article below comes from the current (August 2016) issue of Airgun World which is "Britain's Biggest-Selling Airgun Magazine" -- and, yes, it is an absolutely real commercial magazine. It is not a industry trade journal, but rather it is meant for the shooting public in Great Britain. The magazine looks much like a typical Gun magazine in the US, with articles on guns and hunting, except, of course, that the guns are all air guns because that is what most of the public have been limited to.

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DON’T SURRENDER- SELL!

The Shooting Party, based in Shenstone, Staffs has responded to the new laws coming into force in Scotland, which require people who do not have a licence to surrender their airguns to the police, with their ‘Don’t Surrender - Sell!’ campaign

The Shooting Party (TSP) of Shenstone, Staffs, UK, the Shooting and Outdoor Pursuits company, announced today the launch of their ‘Don’t Surrender - Sell!’ campaign.

‘Recent press reports suggest that 12,500 legally-held airguns have been surrendered during an amnesty organised by Police Scotland, that ran between 23rd May and 12th June, for those members of the public who did not want to go to the cost - £72 [$94.55 at today's exchange rate] for a five years - or the trouble of applying for the new Scottish Air Weapons Certificate that will be mandatory for shooters wishing to own airguns in Scotland from 1st January 2017. A staggering figure, but what is even more staggering is that those shooters surrendering their prized airguns did not receive a single penny in compensation’, said Mike Hurney.

‘Whilst I consider the new legislation totally unjustified, not supported by the evidence, and draconian and damaging to the Scottish economy, I am even more appalled that law-abiding citizens are having to part with their own property, purchased in good faith, and lose thousands of pounds in the process. That is why we have launched our ‘Don’t Surrender - Sell!’ campaign. We will buy, for cash, at current market value, all types of sub-12 ft.lbs. airguns, rifles or pistols, PCP, springers or Co2, and once condition and price has been agreed, we will arrange collection anywhere in Scotland - at our cost. Once the unwanted guns are received and inspected, full payment will be made the same day’, Hurney added.

‘I would urge all Scottish shooters who do not wish to apply for the new certificate to join their compatriots who have already converted their now unwanted airguns into £100s in cash, by selling, not surrendering’, concluded Hurney.

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Note the mention of "sub-12 ft.lbs" in the list of what they are offering to buy rather than having people surrender. That is because the limit on air guns is those with UNDER 12 foot-pounds of energy. Above that, air guns are treated like firearms.

So how much energy is 12 ft-lbs? Not very much by our standards.
A typical .22LR produces between 80-160 ft-lbs from a rifle barrel, or 50-70 from a 2" pistol barrel

Manufacturer's specs for air guns in the US tend to be slightly inflated, being based on absolutely the best figures possible, but as an example, the Benjamin Trail NP XL in .177 with a claimed max velocity of 1500 fps using lightweight alloy pellets would produce about 24 ft-lbs, fully double the limit for an "airgun" in the UK.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have something like the Crosman Spring powered break barrel Model CY6M77 ("Raven") with a MSRP under $80, a rated velocity of 495 fps and 6.0 fpe.

It is a very small step up from the Raven to Crosman's $90 "Phantom 1000" (model CS1K77A) still shooting .177 pellets but rated at 18 fpe, much too powerful to be allowed under the $95 Scottish Air Weapons Certificate.

I wonder if President Chelsea Clinton will let us keep our air guns once her momma's SCOTUS decides that the 2nd Amendment meant bare arms instead of bear arms.

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Coming Soon To America?