[Ricochet]

There are no restrictions on airsoft such as magazine capacity, etc. The 'uncontrolled firearm' designation was put into effect strictly for a classification with the happy purpose of making it legal to airsoft in a system, that at the time, threw them into a grey or legally ambiguous state. The whole 366 FPS thing is a guideline that is really only in practice by the CBSA, and this 214 ruling, was used in court to determine that what buddy used in the incident was indeed a firearm for the purposes of the criminal code, which, if you understand the whole point of the ruling, had everything to do with intent, and nothing to do with whoops. Airsoft guns are airsoft guns, nothing more, nothing less. A whole set of rules was brought in place by the Canadian Firearms Program strictly to make them legal for us, not less. In the firearms act it states that any device that mimics a firearm with near precision is a replica, so the airsoft guns that don't have some obvious giveaway to being a toy, could be deemed replica, except that replicas do not cause bodily harm. Let me explain; would your .308 bolt action be an illegal replica of you had it customized to look just like an M16? Nope, it wouldn't, it still functions as it functions, making it no different. What makes a firearm a firearm in the safety act? The ability to cause bodily harm is one part of clarification, and that has been neatly applied to airsoft to exempt them from replica status. So forget the 366 FPS guideline, as long as they can cause severe bodily harm, then they are legal. On the far, far, far other end you have what makes a firearm a firearm for the sake of the criminal code and other legislation. This is so a slingshot, potato gun, etc, do not get designated as firearms, so people can have them, except also have reasonable limits so some asshole doesn't design a potato gun that has the power of an abrahms tank. 500 FPS AND 5.7 joules, which in the case of airsoft guns, make them in no way safe to shoot at another human being even while wearing all reasonable safety gear. So now that that crap is spelled out for you, here's where we sit today. For the instances of commiting a crime with an airsoft gun, you can be charged as if it is a real firearm. As an uncontrolled firearm, it isn't subject to the same control laws, hence the title, as a controlled firearm. Things like storage and magazine capacity don't apply here, so you CANNOT get charged with a firearm related crime for transporting it open in your back seat, nor necessarily flashing it in public, although I wouldn't recommend these things. There are other, non-firearm related crimes, that they could charge you with if they saw fit, but because for the purpose and intent on the gun side of the crime is not there, this whole 214 FPS ruling is totally irrelevant and can serve no purpose nor precedent. However, let's say you rob a store with an airsoft gun, which could make the gun a key component in the crime, ie robbery versus armed-robbery, then the 214 ruling comes into play as a baseline for your airsoft gun to have been fairly represented as a real gun in the crime itself, as would've been the intent of the perpatrator. See the big gaping differences? Here's the funny part; if buddies airsoft gun could not have caused serious bodil harm (under 214 FPS) and mimicked a real firearm with near precision, he could still not only get charged with it as it was represented in the crime as a real gun, but he could've landed an additional charge for being in possession of an illegal replica or 'prohibited device'.

I looked up this morning and the sky seems to be right where it needs to be still.