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“All BB guns and airsoft guns do look like a gun, so everything meets those two criteria.”
Similar to paintball, airsoft is a competitive sport where enthusiasts use realistic-looking ‘firearms’ to shoot 6mm plastic pellets at the opposing team.
“It’s really overtaken paintball as the shooting-sports fun game,” Wasilewicz said.
Part of the draw is the realism, with many spending thousands to ‘look the part’ with realistic-looking weapons and gear not to mention its use in both police and military training programs.
Both Chong and Wasilewicz stress the high levels of safety embedded in the culture, particularly when dealing with guns that resemble the real thing.
By AI HEPING in New York | China Daily | Updated: 2021-02-08 09:36 Share CLOSE AR-15-style rifle barrels sit on a cart as workers assemble the gun at Davidson Defense Store in Utah on Thursday. [GEORGE FREY/AFP]
Fears from Capitol riot channeled into record-extending run of weapon sales We can t keep guns on the shelf, Charles Weston, owner of Drum Magazines in Kansas, Missouri, said of the rush on sales since the riot at the US Capitol on Jan 6 that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer.
Gun sales in the United States hit a historic high of 2 million in January－also the month President Joe Biden took office. The figure extended a record-setting surge that began when the coronavirus pandemic took hold in early 2020.