Airsoft shops have been raided

i was talking to the owner of practical tactical and he said airsoft shops have been getting raided left and right and all import of guns into canada has stopped and if we dont act soon airsoft will be shut down and banned

anyway theres the problem what we have to do is get NFA on our side to help us make a good case to save the sport. also 1 had written letter counts for 100 votes to a Politician so if a few of start writing and reading up on law we'll give airsoft a fighting chance

for more info on letter writting and all of the other legal BS go talk to the guy at Practical Tactical he knows alot and is willing to help save the sport

i hope you will all want to save the sport

This seems so what old news...

But to save you and I time, here are some links to ASC www.airsoftcanada.com, that have tons of information about the raids.

I am sorry to do this, but I am going to move this to the trash, as we have had this topic shortly discussed on this forum, and although I agree that some sort of action should happen, but what is going to happen is people are just going to be offended by the horrible internet manner that comes across on internet forums.

[edit] Here are some links that I dug up:

http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=28733&highlight=raid
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=28556&highlight=raid
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=28275&highlight=raid
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=28750&highlight=raid

Thanks for your input, but its time to go to the trash... has anyone noticed that every thread which talks about the raids has been locked?

lol, yeah, they're all locked because Airsoft has been getting shut-down for 10 years now. How many different stores have come and gone? We have more stores now and with better selection than before. Seriously, the stores that got shut down charged too much anyways. Canada has never had such selection and prices that we have now!

http://www.ascarmoury.com/
http://www.aasurplus.ca/airsoft/
http://www.buyairsoft.ca/catalog/
http://www.warcraftgames.ca/airsoft.html

-Doug

asc armoury is no longer bringing in guns from what I have heard...I can't find the conversation but it said somewhere that they are done bringing in guns until something changes.

Daes, you couldn't be more wrong. Let me fill you in on the latest in the world of airsoft in Canada:

ASCA - down to 12 guns total. Rumours abound this week that they are "done" (I have it on extremely good authority that they've let the owrd out to select people about this)

A&A - Mark is tightening up sales to only members of the MAA and/or people he trusts and has dealt with in the past. He's told me as much this morning.

Buyarisoft.ca - HFC guns, a few springers. Better selection at Wal-Mart.

Aimazon.ca - SDU guys from Calgary. Virtually no inventory. Basically pre-order only

RaygisLasvegas - ASC "group order" guy. He brings in guns once or twice per year, again mostly pre-order.

WarcraftGames - Matt stocks very little in guns, and what he does get in is usually gone like the buffet at Fat Camp.

There are no more importers in Canada willing to sell to the public. I know of a couple of guys who do have a license to import, but they will not for anyone until the CBSA quits being cubicle-Nazis about the whole thing.

We lost 11 major retailers in the last 12 months, more than has ever been lost in all the time I can remember. Any one of those retailers had more guns at any one time than all the retailers listed above have combined.

This is a very dark time for airsoft in Canada, the worst in it's history. Guys better wise up to the reality of it all or by next year, you won't even be able to buy BBs.

Do we have this topic somewhere where new folks can find it easily? Might be worth putting back just so we have somewhere to reference when someone asks agian.

Guyver correct me if I am wrong but the only raid that happened was in Vancouver to Peter Kang's store right? Stories at Company Quarter Master seem to grow with time. The other stores that closed were because of seizures of shipments and loosing any garuntee that gun orders would come through.

Heh heh, see, Mike was right, these threads are dangerous. I follow the optimistic folks who continue to say, same old, happened before, will happen again. Mind you I do agree with everyone about CBSA being Nazi's.

Stores ONLY get shut down when they break the law. Selling guns to minors, improper use of licenses, etc. That is what happened to the lower-mainland BC stores. The other stores that followed suit shut down due to the scare fo being shut down or CBSA/customs being jerks and seizing legit stuff.

Airsoft is not going anywhere, there are no new laws saying that it is banned. Yes, importing can be a pain, but it always has been.

Of course, as everyone knows, this is only one side of the arguement. I will be quiet now, everyone throw their last word in, and then one of us will lock the thread

-Doug

If you remember our conversation on this topic over coffee (at least for me anyways) was that the CBSA is really going hard on guys who they feel violate their license. These are the retailers I know of who lost their import license:

Canadian Airsoft
Double Edge Airsoft
Rangers Airsoft
M1 Airsoft
XP, APEC, Blue Seas (Peter Kang)
SpecArms

The other dealers like ASK and 007 basically lost their suppliers, so out they went as well.

Now, with Trumart gone and it's successor ASCA gone, A&A restricting sales heavily, who of any real significance is left? The CBSA has been informing the CFC of who imports what, who to watch for, etc. and the CFC swopps in and license gone. Instantly with no warning. Then when shipments arrive, license is revoked, shipment seized. Bye-Bye to lots of $$$ for the retailers, for some so much that they could never recover.

Keeping this in mind, how can it be that we will ever have the selection, price or availabilty thet we had a year ago? Easy, we won't, unless a law changes in our favour.

I hate to be blunt here, Daes, but your line of thinking is by far the most dangerous. When will you realize that the sky is falling? When the first piece hits the ground, or when it all comes crashing down on your head? Sticking your head in the sand will only lead to your suffocation and will not allow you to see your foe sneak up on you.

The sky is not falling. It already fell!!!

Hey, i was just about to buy my airsoft gun this week, but i should probably hold off until this is sorted out, no offence, but i don't want to sink all that money into something that may be made illegal, but i'll do what i can to help out.

I think its time to get a move on to the US, or overseas, anyone else wanna come? I hear Australia is nice this time of year... did I mention that I have a place to stay there?

Heh heh, got to look up your airsoft countries better. Airsoft is BANNED in Australia. Think you can get bolt-actions through but everything else is toast. See, Canada ain't so bad after all

New Zealand, semi-only. I looked into this years ago when I was thinking of living there.

-Doug

Well I was more leaning to the way of surfing and snowboarding, forget airsoft... my buddy lives right off the beach and about hour and a half from the mountains...

As for airsoft, I would lean to the motherland (Asia)... well atleast for me its the motherland...

Good point, heck, live in Ausy land and then do the ocassional trip to Hong Kong and some of the holy mecca's of Airsoft. Doesn't actually sound that bad!

Mind you, Ausy land is doing the old law fight to get Airsoft cleared so you never know, it might be legit sometime soon.

-Doug

Sketchy stuff that is in Canada is OK, don't get scared off. They are talking about importing by retialers, if you get a gun in Canada and treat it well it will last you for years and years. They arn't going to come crashing down your door they'll just make it harder to import the guns (if you get you then it doesn't matter) and some accesories.

I do remember that chat MacGuyver (you and your specalized coffee) and really apprehiate the time you took to chat with me. I was swayed the way of McGuyver that as things go unless you get into the sport soon that it's going to get really hard to continue growing this in canada.

sorry for re-posting and old topic but i didn't realize it was been going on for so long anyway i still do sum sort of action to keep it legal

Well, it looks like everyone is kicking up a storm on ASC again about a few things, ASCA is one for example. So, join in the debate, follow the events, and keep everything to ASC. Looks like maybe this time the poop has hit the fan for Ontario (after BC's out-lawing of TM years back).

But please, please, keep this all to ASC, thus the thread is locked.

Quoting HoJo here:
The most important point for everyone on this site to bear in mind is that possession of replicas is not illegal - it is explicitly defined in our Criminal Code. Owners have nothing to worry about. There has been no change in that law, and none on the horizon.

So, if you are concerned (which you probably should be), then if some action is taken by ASC community, ie. sign a form, write a letter, etc. then hop on and do your part.

-Doug

here's a link to the new from Ontario
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?p=431083#post431083