Silverton "Pellet gun" scare *6/10 UPDATE*

[Mr. Technicality]

And THIS is why we don't play airsoft in plain view, within city limits, without notifying the neighbors, without notifying law enforcement, etc., etc. At least they had permission to play on the field. 1/5 is still terrible, but better than 0/5.

[DJ]

Why did the police cite them for disorderly conduct, instead of citing them for shooting within city limits?

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They were probably just too lazy.
The whole thing is pretty much everyone's fault. Those guys should not have been walking down the street with airsoft M4's. The cops, if they were going to charge them with something, probably shoudn't have given them a discon. The people shouldn't have freaked out just because they saw a gun. The reporter should not have referred to airsoft guns as "pellet guns" which sounds dangerous to the public.

Google ORS chapter 166, "disorderly conduct" and you will see why. Any competent defense attorney would have a field day with that charge, but many of the criminal statutes leave a lot of room for interpretation. My educated guess is that after having made such a big deal out of the situation, that the local cops had to have a charge in order to save face due to the amount of resources expended. I would not be surprised if the DA throws out the charge.

[Archangel 06]

So, is the Silverton Field within the city limits?

If so, how do we justify using it...private property?

[Jester316]

So, is the Silverton Field within the city limits?

If so, how do we justify using it...private property?

The Silverton field is private property, owned by the family of Ivan. We have permission from his parents to use the land for airsofting.


We have also had a couple of real gun shoots at the same area, in full view of the main road (quite a ways from it, but still in view), and we have never had an issue with the police coming out.

[Catch22]

The silverton field is probably outside of the city propper. Outside of city limits you can shoot.

[Ivan Daylovich™]

Yes the Silverton field we play at is private property outside city limits.
It has been cleared with our neighbors long ago. So they know what's going on.

[Bubba]

Yes, the Silverton field is not within city limits.

Edit- Ninja'd

[Blackbriar]

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pb ... 0106100348 More stupid people, just what we need

[Catch22]

While he shouldn't have been been carrying it in the open.... He really didn't do anything illegal.

[Chachi]

You know what wouldn’t be a bad idea, is to have a reputable member of the airsoft community contact the Statesman and let them know that the majority of our community are responsible, good quality people. I know the main argument against that is that no press is good press, but at the same time we are getting kicked in the teeth as a community by these very few idiots that are representing us to the public. The reputation of airsoft is getting worse and worse with these kinds of situations and the general consensus is forming against our favor. Ben Martin from AONW has written a couple great articles lately and had some quality interviews on the local news. Maybe he would be a good one to take this on. Or Matt, as owner of this site and organizer of our community, might be a good choice too. Maybe an email to the author of those recent news articles just saying that we would like to clarify things as a community that we are safe, respectful of the law, respectful of our surroundings and environment, and just looking to be a part of a hobby with like minded people. With that said, we are unhappy with the way that these people have given this sport a bad name of late, and we just want the general public to truly understand what we are doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the paper ran with it, giving it great coverage.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[ogrejager]

Ivan, you really need to talk to your neighbors. This is getting silly.

[malik]

People need to use their brains. If they had been real guns the idiot neighbors would've heard the shots. That and there'd be screaming and yelling. The fact the idiots in the house called the cops is pretty sad. That the cops felt the need to pull their weapons for plastic guns.... even sadder.

[DJ]

While he shouldn't have been been carrying it in the open.... He really didn't do anything illegal.

Thats my question too. If he had been open carrying a RS pistol would the police have arrested him? did he menace or something similar the "motorist"?

[Partiro]

The dude didn't do anything wrong. So I guess it is illegal to leave your house with your airsoft gun in front of your house to get your mail now... Hmm.. I guess I will have to discreetly pack my guns in my car every time I want to go airsoft or else I will risk getting a citation from the cops. He can go to court and fight the ticket and the court will drop it, but this is just bad publicity for the airsoft community in general.

[Cap n pickles]

For all we know, a few of these idiots are on AP. Also, was the area they were playing in within city limits?

Airsoft will evolve like paintball did.

I remember talking to some of the vets that came out of vietnam and found paintball, they started playing and people accused them of training terrorists and other retarded things.

Here is how retard media works; They find this subject, and find all the words and define what "INSERT SUBJECT "AIRSOFT" is. As it "appears" Airsoft is dangerous, Airsoft is deadly, Airsoft is a training tool.

While some of those are true, they blow the meaning out of the water.


Some simple facts:

Airsoft guns can be converted to fire real ammunition?

This may be true to a certain degree, but you can convert ANYTHING to fire live ammunition. all you need is something to hold the round, and a hammer to hit the primer.

People use airsoft guns to hold up banks and perform robbery's, they look to real!?

Yes they do, but people have been robbing anything and everything since we can remember. Its never going to stop, as its just part of the way things are and how people act and what they do upon those actions. now they are just using something that cant shoot real bullets or even hurt someone to the point that they threaten there life. Its in fact safer for people to rob a store with an airsoft gun than a real one!


its just some examples of how they blow everything out of the water.