Buying Airsoft Replicas and the VCRA

Chances are you are very keen to buy an airsoft replica (if you have not done so already).  In 2007 a bill was enacted called the violent crime reduction act, or VCRA. Before this act you could walk into a shop and buy an airsoft replica. Now things are a little more complicated but RIF’s (Realistic Imitation Firearms) are still available to almost everyone, if they get involved in airsoft.

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A few sections of the VCRA focus on banning the sale and purchase (but not ownership) of RIFs, a category which includes realistically coloured airsoft replicas. After the airsoft community won the long battle against the government and because the abuse of replica firearms was nothing to do with replicas sold to airsoft skirmishers, the government allowed airsoft skirmishers and a few other groups a ‘specific defence’ against the act which allowed us to continue buying RIF’s. So if you are a skirmisher, you are allowed to buy airsoft replicas without restriction.