Compressed air weapons legal for all?

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"No Country For Old Men" style?
 
Some states consider "air" weapons to be "firearms" (NY is one) with nothing differentiating them from each other. Owning, possessing, and/or transporting an air rifle requires the same as owning, possession, and transporting a full and true rifle.

Even here in gun-friendly Colorado, it is illegal to have any sort of air rifle (airsoflt, pellet, etc) in most public spaces while perfectly legal to have a loaded firearm openly strapped to your belt.

Checking your local laws should do the trick.
 
Florida specifically outlaws 'spud guns' (Darn! Spoils our fun!), and you have to check local laws and codes regarding BB and pellet guns. Some places they are as restricted as firearms. I am still miffed that I can't legally hunt squirrels with my magnum pellet rifle! I can with the .22 rimfire, and the .22 magnum-level pellet rifle is very nearly as powerful.
But laws are still behind the times regarding pneumatics.
 
Can I have a stick and a rock everywhere? Lol.
 
Ever hear the phrase about bringin a knife to a gunfight?

Avoiding trouble is best, but if no retreat is possible then a real gun is the best choice.
 
Run away is the best strategy. Works for King Arthur so must be good. Do not know anyone who survived well after a gun fight. Everyone looses.
 
LeeRevell said:
Florida specifically outlaws 'spud guns' (Darn! Spoils our fun!), and you have to check local laws and codes regarding BB and pellet guns. Some places they are as restricted as firearms. I am still miffed that I can't legally hunt squirrels with my magnum pellet rifle! I can with the .22 rimfire, and the .22 magnum-level pellet rifle is very nearly as powerful.
But laws are still behind the times regarding pneumatics.

I bet it's due to kids. If they allow pellet & BB guns, little punk kids will go crazy with them all over the place and sooner or later, they'll start blasting car windows for fun. While it's less likely that a kid will get their hands on a .22LR rifle or pistol to go around the neighborhood shooting squirrels.
 
I believe it is because air-guns are not protected by the 2nd Amendment yet real-guns are.

Thank you NRA (and other gun rights organizations) for protecting our rights all these years. If it were not for these organizations, our .22LR rifle would be just as regulated (read: banned) as those air rifles.
 
MK7 said:
I bet it's due to kids. If they allow pellet & BB guns, little punk kids will go crazy with them all over the place and sooner or later, they'll start blasting car windows for fun. While it's less likely that a kid will get their hands on a .22LR rifle or pistol to go around the neighborhood shooting squirrels.

The laws have changed with the times. When I was young I could walk the highway along the forest, carrying my .22 singleshot rifle and pot squirrels. A cop drives by and waves at me.
We took a shotgun loaded with blanks to high school to use as the stand-in for the cannon in the band's rendition of the "1812 Overture", shooting into a metal trashcan on cue backstage.
Try doing that now! :(
I don't know where it all went belly up. Less parenting in later years? Kids never being taught proper firearm safety, or concern for others?
Anyhoo, today's kids are missing those simple pleasures we enjoyed forty years ago. And I managed to never put my eye out with my Red Ryder (still have two of them even now!)....... :)
 
In the state of Massachusetts they have a mandatory 1 year sentence if you are caught with a single B.B in your possession without a state issued F.ID (Fire-arms Identification Card).....and worse is people have been jailed for it!!
 
How about a compressed gas nail gun? My husband used to work in a small business building Park Model trailers. He would stand on one side of a two bay shop and his co-worker would stand on the other side of the shop and they would "shoot" at each other with their big pneumatic framing nail guns. Many carpenters remove the safety so they can shoot nails into tight spaces where the head of the gun will not fit. Down side is they are dangerous. A 16ga framing nailer shooting at someone 100 ft away would do serious damage. A compressed gas framing nailer should shoot about as far. You would have to modify the safety to allow you to shoot a nail without the safety nose being compressed.

http://www.homedepot.com/s/gas%20nail%20gun?NCNI-5
 
Lucky mike said:
In the state of Massachusetts they have a mandatory 1 year sentence if you are caught with a single B.B in your possession without a state issued F.ID (Fire-arms Identification Card).....and worse is people have been jailed for it!!

Dang thats bad. I have never been East of the Mississippi ,but once. I dont think I would ever go North of the Mason/Dixon if I traveled that way.
No Disrespect intende. I had lots of buddies from up in Maine that were wilder than us Texas Boys:)
 
Lucky mike said:
In the state of Massachusetts they have a mandatory 1 year sentence if you are caught with a single B.B in your possession without a state issued F.ID (Fire-arms Identification Card).....and worse is people have been jailed for it!!

This is scary. Are there any other states or cities with such laws? I love shooting air rifles and wouldn't want to accidentally drive through such states while having stray pellets in my van.
 
From Wikipedia

==================================================================
Although the federal government does not normally regulate air guns, some state and local governments do; the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has complied a list of states and selected municipalities that regulate air guns, finding that 23 states and the District of Columbia regulate air guns to some degree. Two states (New Jersey and Rhode Island) define all non-powder guns as firearms; two states (Illinois and Michigan) define certain high-power and/or large caliber non-powder guns as firearms; three states (Connecticut, Delaware and North Dakota) define non-powder guns as dangerous weapons (but not firearms). The remaining states which regulate air guns impose age restrictions on possession, use, or transfer of non-powder guns, and/or explicitly regulate possession of non-powder guns on school grounds

New York City has a restrictive municipal ordinance regulating air guns. New York state law prohibits anyone under the age of 16 from possessing an air gun. Air guns were previously banned in San Francisco, but a state preemption statute struck down the ban, and the San Francisco District Attorney declared them legal as long as in compliance with state law.


==================================================================

Beyond that you would have to actually check each county/city ordinance before passing through them. As I have said, in my case here in Longmont, CO, any form of air gun (airsoft, or pellet) is 100% illegal in public while a proper gun is perfectly legal to carry into your local bank (which I do regularly). Since air-guns are not protected by the 2A, they are the perfect example of what "common sense gun laws" (ie ban) would look like if we did not have that protection (and organizations like the NRA).
 
Lucky mike said:
In the state of Massachusetts they have a mandatory 1 year sentence if you are caught with a single B.B in your possession without a state issued F.ID (Fire-arms Identification Card).....and worse is people have been jailed for it!!

erm.....as (over) regulated as the state sometimes is, that is just not the case, as seen in question 2.

http://www.mass.gov/eopss/firearms-reg-and-laws/frb/frequently-asked-questions.html

No FID or permit is required for an adult to possess or purchase bb, pellet or paint ball guns and ammo.
 
I tried to order a Remington 22 pellet rifle online several years ago. Even though I live outside city limits I have A Saint Augustine address and the company could not ship to me because the city prohibits shipped air guns to residences. Guess they don't want their historic windows shot out!

I found out that I could order it from Walmart in city limits and pick it up at the store no problem.

Interesting shipping restriction list by location http://www.pyramydair.com/shipping-restrictions

and here is a quick list of states with air gun laws http://pelletgunzone.com/air-gun-laws/
A SEEKER
 
That is a great link A SEEKER http://pelletgunzone.com/air-gun-laws/ thank you.

Keep in mind that city and counties may also have their own, more restrictive, ordinances ON TOP of the state laws. So, every few miles you drive you come into a whole new set of laws... that you have no clue what they are of course.
 
Van-Tramp you are right about the county and city thing. There were problems in Florida where some cities were making their own laws banning concealed carry to permit holders. Luckily the state legislatures made a new law and counties and cities in Florida can no longer enforce and have to follow state law now.

Hoping the rest of the states I am permitted in follow suit.
A SEEKER
 
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