Please help the Swedish airsoft community in legalizing gas-powered airsoft replicas!

[NonEx]

Hey guys,

I would like to ask you for your help and support.

As of current gas-powered airsoft replicas are technically illegal in Sweden due to the way the law is worded.

I am trying to spread awareness and collect signatures for our petition.

Please visit http://www.swegaslegal2013.info/ for more information.

Thank you!

/ Chris

[NonEx]

Breaking news! We just reached our initial goal of 1000 signatures! Took just under 72 hours.


But why stop now ? I'm going to leave the petition open to run until the question is actually resolved, so keep the names coming!


Big thanks to everyone!

[FirestormX]

I signed it. Good job getting 1000+ signatures!

[Brian McIlmoyle]

how does a signature from some guy in Canada, help your cause in Sweden?

why would law makers in your country give a rats ass what people in Canada think?

[kullwarrior]

Originally Posted by Brian McIlmoyle

how does a signature from some guy in Canada, help your cause in Sweden?

why would law makers in your country give a rats ass what people in Canada think?

If they don't check who knows? This practice has been used quite frequently.
The Officer who oppose the repeal of DADT was one example: Bunch of long retired (before 1994) officer or their widow sign it for them.

[FirestormX]

I glanced through the recent signatures when I was signing, and the vast majority are Swedish.

Since airsoft is played in multiple countries, it doesn't hurt for lawmakers in Sweden to see the opinion of people who currently live in countries that do legally have green gas weapons.

When making municipal bylaws, you would probably look to other municipalities that have passed similar bylaws, to see how it went over there. If you're passing a provincial law, you'd consider what happened in other provinces. If you're passing a federal law, it couldn't hurt to see what similar laws have done to other countries.

But in this case, I think it's really just about the numbers. The vast majority of those who signed are Swedish. Having 10% of the 1000+ signatures coming from international players won't make the government look at it, and say "pah, it's foreigners trying to influence our laws". They'll just look at it and say "here's a signature with 1000 signatures".

[NonEx]

Thanks for your support guys, and I understand your question. I recieved similar comments on another forum, so I will paste in my reply from that forum here as well;

The comment was basically; "A petition is useless and has no effect (in general), and international names discredit the petition as a whole"

"

Trust me, the website and petition was the last thing I did in this project.

I have had an open dialog with the responsible parties within the Government, Parliament and Department of Justice since early last year.

This past june an update was made to the law in question and all signs pointed towards that it would be changed and updated as per our requests, but it was "forgotten" and left out...

The resposible parties are very aware of the issue, they have the paperwork for the solution but simply are not implementing it due to it being seen as " a small matter", which in the larger context it may be, but not for the Swedish airsoft community.

This is just the final push, bonus, icing on the cake, the last piece of leverage ...

As a matter of fact it has become clear to me that European and International airsofters are very much affected by this when they plan to come to games in Sweden (which host a couple of very big and popular mil-sims each year), they run the risk of actually having gas-powered airsoft replicas seized if they are unlucky.

So no, global support and awareness is not counteractive IMO. And many people fully understand the situation and want to help contribute.

So far the respons has been great and the comments people are leaving with their signatures are very interesting to read.

"

No, it is not about numbers or volume, far from it. It was simply and added bonus that I wanted to push this over the edge, domestic or foreign, it doesn't really matter.

The beauty of how this was done is that everyone was tunneled through the website, read and (hopefully) understood the information, made a conciouse decision that it was not right, then signed the petition and left, in most cases, a very nice and constructive comment along with it.

That to me means alot more than just someone giving up their name to a random petition online.

Also, judging by the signatures and comments, a majority of them are from Swedish players, and the majority of the overall names are from airsofters around the world.

It helps if we can prove that there is global understanding and support for the issue at hand.

The petition is not sanctioned or required by the government here to pass the law, it was my own idea and initiative just to have a little something extra.

I hope that clears things up and thanks for your time and help!

[NonEx]

Quick update.


I have just recieved a reply from a representative from the Department of Justice where they acknowledge that they have taken part of the information we have sent them, and they are starting to process the question (for real). I also have established direct contact with this representative to continue the dialog onwards.

Good news indeed.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, this even though I haven't even shared the petition with them yet

[NonEx]

Hi all,

Just got some breaking news in my mailbox this morning.

It appears that along with a proposition to make the general laws regarding crimes related to firearms the governtment have also specifically included a proposition to change the laws regarding airsoft weapons to legalize gas powered airsoft guns!
The proposed laws will take effect on Jan 2nd 2015 if voted through.

More information: http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/18591/a/237870

https://www.change.org/petitions/jus...rsoft-replicas

A big thank you to veryone who got involved, signed the petition and spread the word around to help us with this.

Hopefully this will pass without a fuzz and we can finally start enjoying the full spectrum of gas powered GBBs without any problems!

[siggypoo]

Wow, I'm sorry I missed this! I spent too long as a classifieds lurker.
It's really great to see your hard work coming to fruition, and that you fought for what you wanted in a manner commensurate with your government.
Ask for whatever you need, and I'm sure communities everywhere will continue to rally behind you.

[NonEx]

Apologies for the necro. But it's worth it this time

Just wanted to check back in with you to let you know that I have gotten official confirmation that the law has been accepted and will be implemented/valid starting as of January 2nd of 2015. From that date gas-powered airsoft replicas will be legal in Sweden.

A big thank you to everyone who helped us out and showed support.

Thank you!

[siggypoo]

That's great to see! Congratulations on that.

[J-Man19]

If only Canadian politicians could work this quickly...

[thebreadbandit.]

That's amazing - great job on spearheading the cause NonEx.