Hearing On SB798 Today. Will The Politicians Get It?

The airsoft industry and community in California, together with the paintball community, and the paintball industry (who are crossing their fingers that the exemptions for their own would go unnoticed in the Committee during the hearing), will be gearing up today for the hearing on CA SB798 by the Committee on Public Safety. Last night, the airsoft community had a pep rally to increase the morale and determination of the community that the bill gets defeated.

The airsoft industry and community in California, together with the paintball community, and the paintball industry (who are crossing their fingers that the exemptions for their own would go unnoticed in the Committee during the hearing), will be gearing up today for the hearing on CA SB798 by the Committee on Public Safety. Last night, the airsoft community had a pep rally to increase the morale and determination of the community that the bill gets defeated.

Why Paintball Got Exempted? Is It Through Good Reasoning or Plain Political and Personal Connections?

One significant story written by Kimberly Dvorak for the Examiner gives us information on how paintball came to be exempted by Senator Kevin De Leon from SB798, which doesn't make sense as there are many paintball markers that look like replica firearms. She writes that former Assemblyman Fabio Nuñez is a friend of state Senator Kevin de Leon. Fabio Nuñez lobbies for Mercury Public Affairs, the lobbying firm that was hired by the Paintball industry to get an exemption from SB798.

This is the same Nuñez who exploited his personal relationship with then Governator Schwarzenegger to commute the sentence of his son for murdering a fellow student.

Paintball fields in California, especially the major ones which also cater to airsoft players are still in support of the airsoft community's fight against SB798. They credit a lot to the airsoft in helping them support the business as one paintball field owner commented at the Save Paintball In California Facebook Page:

As we have written before, the Paintball players are very much in disagreement with how the Paintball Industry's turn-around in their fight against SB798, leaving airsoft hanging in the air after getting the assumption. The Facebook Page Save Paintball In California is dotted with comments by paintball players stating that airsoft and paintball should fight this bill together. Though the admin of the Facebook page thoroughly ignores the posts and have buried their "support the bill" stance in the face of such comments why the Paintball industry "sold out".

Will Brightly Colored Guns Minimize Gun Violence? We Doubt It.

Knowledgeable firearms experts have been pounding in this reasoning: it doesn't work. It will induce law enforcement officers into a false sense of security thinking that bright colored firearms are merely "toys" and would provide any criminal valuable seconds, and for the police officer, a second too late to react. Real steel firearms can be painted bright and thus, can be used to commit crime.

Furthermore, a study made by the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics in 1990 show that bright colored toy guns did not correlate to a decrease in children being shot by police officers.

In the same Examiner story, this entry goes:

Internationally recognized airgun expert, Dr. Robert D. Beeman Ph.D. concurred and said, “As an independent airgun expert, I oppose Senate Bill 798 because it would create a false and dangerous sense of security concerning airguns capable of serious human injury and death… It would increase accidents and incidents of serious injury and death among both the general public and police officers.” He continued to explain that, “This is primarily a behavior problem, not a product problem. Proper behavior virtually eliminates the danger attributed to such products. In any case, traditional airguns firing metallic projectiles should be exempted from SB 798 for safety reasons.”

Most of us in the airsoft and real steel firearms community know that deadly firearms can be colored bright, and people will want to shoot with duracoated "Hello Kitty" firearms, or whatever cartoon design they want on their firearms. The photo below shows how an AR-15 was turned into a cute and cuddly, harmless looking rifle

The owner of this "Hello Kitty" firearm says that it is 100% legal in California, as it complies with the restrictions in place. But now, some law enforcement organizations around the US have posted the photo of this "Hello Kitty" firearm to warn officers that they might not be able to distinguish the real ones from the "toys" and many officers would rather err on the side of caution, and might just shoot first and determine later if the gun was real or not.

We have already made the arguments on the economics of why a bill such as SB798 would be more counterproductive rather than uphold the protection of citizens. The big question is, would SB798, if signed into law, be in conflict with Federal Law? The Airsoft Industry is determined to go to court if it goes beyond the State Assembly. The Examiner article also mentioned about AB 962 which was a bill to ban mail to order ammunition sales was deemed unconstitutional.

Will this be a long drawn out battle? We hope not. It can be shortened if the airsoft and paintball communities would untiringly continue petitioning the legislators to kill SB 798. With the hearing today, we hope that airsoft and paintball would be able to present their case together to state that SB798 does not serve any purpose above existing laws and that good education of parents and children on the proper use of replica and even real steel firearms would be better. The Airsoft Safety Foundation was established for that purpose.