Having dropped the ball on the outright banning of gelbasters are QPS now concidering classifying them as firearms. Reading between the lines, it appears so;
https://www.facebook.com/Ausgel/For those not into FB;
Summary: Importer/Retailer/Venue/Player Meeting with Queensland Police Service Weapons Licensing
Feel free to share this far and wide.
Today, several store owners met with Queensland Police Service (QPS) Weapons Licensing. Present were: Donnybrook, Tac Toys, GBA, Hawkex, Ausgel, Spec Ops, Taidi Toys, Armoured Heaven, Tac Edge, Toowoomba Skirmish, Mango Hill Paintball, Command Elite Hobbies, Aussie Fun Times, Gel Tac, X-Force Tactical and several others. The discussion was in relation to introducing safety awareness to the world of Gel Blasters and to forge a path forward where we can all continue to enjoy our sport.
The event coordinator, A/Sergeant Tony Tatkovich from Weapons Licensing, was very welcoming to all participants and was able to maintain an atmosphere of light-hearted humour throughout. This was very encouraging to see. Tony identified himself as a Gel Blaster owner along with several other QPS ‘sworn’ officers. It should be noted that leading up to this event, there were a large number of people who messaged Ausgel with advice and question requests and a number of them were QPS Officers who already play at many local fields, discretely. Very cool.
There are however some genuine concerns that all lay outside of the ‘organised skirmish/sport’ crowd. Some statistics provided by QPS are as follows:
Incidents involving Gel Blasters
2017 – 5
2018 – 26
2019 – 31 (so far)
Of these, approximately 50% were calls of service (for police assistance).
23 of these incidents (approximately 37%) involved 18-year-old males.
‘Millions’ of blasters have been sold since their introduction to Australia.
The underlying police concern is in relation to people causing panic by displaying gel blasters in public places. Police acknowledged that there will always be ‘bad apples’ in any community, however, they also indicated that they want to be proactive in reducing incidents of this nature. All participants seemed to agree that this is an issue. QPS have advised that they would like stores to include an information sheet (yet to be officially released) either inside, or attached to, gel blasters at the point of sale. All retailers and importers agreed to this, once the material is available.
Police indicated that there will be a weblink available in the future to the information pamphlet as well as additional information pertaining to Gel Blasters and penalties for misuse. This will be viewable by the public.
Tips provided (by QPS and/or other participants) include:
• If you purchase a gel blaster, engage with your neighbours and let them know you have a toy blaster. This may prevent unnecessary calls for service.
• Use common sense when using your blaster – don’t run around your front yard in view of the general public.
• Don’t walk into a shopping centre with your blaster openly displayed.
• Transport your blaster in a bag or box to and from game venues – keep it concealed.
• If you are a retailer, use your judgement regarding who you sell to.
Statements/affirmations made by QPS Weapons Licensing are as follows:
- Gel Blasters are Toys.
- Gel Blasters are toys, regardless of the material they are made from (plastic or metal) – as long as they fire gels and not firearm ammunition. Thanks for asking the question Geltac. Metal handguards/bodies are ok at this point in time.
- Weapons Licensing are working with Ballistics in relation to FPS / KJ impact of gel balls. They reiterated a few times that if you upgrade your blaster, you are upgrading your toy – while upgrading of toys is not policed, they are in talks with Ballistics. [There will likely be more direction on FPS/KJ limits in the future – DT].- QPS are in communication with South Australia Police who also allow Gel Blasters within their communities.
This was a great meeting, very positive and discussions remained respectable between stores and QPS. Well done to all participants and for your mature approach to this first discussion with QPS.
More meetings will come in the future, you will all be kept well and truly up to date by Ausgel and the abundance of other stores who attended.
-Dan