Legislation being pushed in New York would redefine BB and pellet guns as “imitation weapons,” raising the legal age for buying one and requiring that said “weapons” be painted brightly.
The bill is S9215.
Hard Air Magazine noted, “This legislation would require air guns to be transparent or brightly colored and have a plugged barrel, effectively banning current models as they would no longer be able to fire a projectile.”
A companion piece of legislation, A10701, goes even further than S9215.
The text of A10701 says “‘Imitation weapon’ means any device or object, INCLUDING AN AIR RIFLE, PELLET GUN, OR ‘B-B’ GUN, made of plastic, wood, metal or any other material which substantially duplicates or can reasonably be perceived to be an actual firearm…”
Moreover, the text of A10701 makes clear that paintball guns–i.e., “paint pellet gun[s]”–are also targeted in the legislation.
Also, A10701 uses the label “imitation weapons” to lump air guns in with actual firearms, bringing them under the purview of laws that already pertain to real guns.
For example, A10701 says:
All gun industry members who manufacture, market, import or offer for wholesale or retail sale any qualified product OR IMITATION WEAPON in New York state shall establish and utilize reasonable controls and procedures to prevent its qualified products OR IMITATION WEAPONS from being possessed, used, marketed or sold unlawfully in New York state.
Other aspects of A10701 are even more egregious.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military HiLastory with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
