Pea shooters illegal

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It's interesting to note that a pea shooter is easily distinguished as the mouthpiece always has a small cross moulded into it, to stop children inhaling the pea and choking to death, as used to happen in the good old days.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Of course this stops them being used as a multi-shot repeater weapon as per Dennis the Menace with a whole mouthful of peas…

[Grizzly bearParticipant @grizzlybear]

What about my RPG?

Bear..

[Guy LambParticipant @guylamb68056]

I hope you store your RPG in a tin box just like the other explosives we keep come 5th Nov each year. Your shot gun however, should you feel the need of such, MUST be kept in a tin box with a tiny pad lock on it, for extra safety you understand.

Guy

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Grizzly bear on 12/12/2020 17:16:07:

What about my RPG?

Bear..

No problem provided you put some blue tape across the front sight. They're a bit sharp and you wouldn't want to inflict a nasty cut…

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

SOD,

The problem is that a pea shooter could be used to fire a poison dart. If you exclude toys what about toy blowpipes intended to fire plastic darts that will equally well fire harmful ones? I agree totally on the orginal public or actual use ban, but this law appears purely to make it easier to proscecute. And prohibition laws generally don't affect criminals getting hold of items. Banning guns has not reduced gun crime. And the EPP regulations are not just registration, it requires background checks, significant paperwork and fees. Criminals just steal a car battery and pour the acid out.
There also seems to be an issue where normally law abiding citizens appear to be more likely to be proscecuted and have harsher penalties levied than persistent long term wrongdoers who have no assets, plenty of time to sit around fighting any charge and probably a much better idea of the law, what to say or not to say.

Robert G8RPI.

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Just to take this to daft extreme.

Nerf guns.

Soft foam darts.. add

Tungsten Tig electrodes

and for extra sauce lanthanided electrodes …………

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/12/2020 10:44:57:

The British system (Scots and English) has a series of checks and balances to protect citizens from misinterpreted and over-zealously applied law.

Dave

This may surprise you Dave. Shocking waste of resources and court time.

**LINK**

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Guy

I presume you are being facetious about storage of shotguns, because present requirements are a cabinet of specified thickness of steel and two, not one, but two seven lever locks and the whole being very firmly attached to the building structure.
Dave W

[Cabinet EnforcerParticipant @cabinetenforcer]

Posted by jason udall on 12/12/2020 20:48:19:

Just to take this to daft extreme.

Nerf guns.

Soft foam darts.. add

Tungsten Tig electrodes

and for extra sauce lanthanided electrodes …………

No need to do anything daft with the darts, It's easy to make a nerf gun (that fires standard foam darts) which is an "air rifle" or even a section 5 firearm.

I own a nerf gun which would need a license if I lived in Scotland.

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Elastic bands will be illegal next    

Edited By roy entwistle on 13/12/2020 09:43:12

[Andrew EvansParticipant @andrewevans67134]

Sturgeon and whales caught in UK waters must be offered to the Queen by law. It's crazy that police are wasting their time enforcing this when yoofs are mugging oaps. This country has gone to hell in a handcart.

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

For those hoping to get £15 for three…. As set out in the guidance, compensation will not be paid for any claim that totals less than £30.

I think these laws are either quick vote grabbers (probably not in this case) or practice from some new junior minister /civil servant to introduce a bill and watch it get amended. Getting some practice in might be OK but using up court time to rule on pea-shooters is wasteful.

The samurai sword law was similar – not allowed to sell curved blades over a certain length. An amendment said that any hand-made blade was exempt which is a rather large loop hole. If you don't want any hand finishing, then you can always make a straight one and call it a ninja sword.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Vic on 12/12/2020 21:40:09:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/12/2020 10:44:57:

The British system (Scots and English) has a series of checks and balances to protect citizens from misinterpreted and over-zealously applied law.

Dave

This may surprise you Dave. Shocking waste of resources and court time.

**LINK**

Not at all. An obnoxious individual found not guilty by the system he so despises. Checks and balances in action! I wouldn't have minded if it had gone the other way and he'd been fined. His website suggests he has an agenda, and that clip is full of bad advice.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think for one second the law is anything but an ass. Contact best avoided in my opinion. It's an imperfect system. But, for the reasons demonstrated by the youtube link, there's a big gap between untested law implying a pea-shooter is an offensive weapon and actually getting a conviction.

Dave

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember12892]

[This posting has been removed]

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

The Tufnol blowpipe sowed the seed for the 20mm conduit and compressed air powered blowpipe, the ammunition was to be short pieces of cable, this proved to be difficult to fire as the rubber sleeving did not slide down the tube very freely, French chalk was tried as was swarfega but neither worked as hoped for, a change of ammunition to a 5/8” bolt shank, this fired very well but the ricochet when it hit the next vice on the bench was very fortunate that it hit no one, after an elevation adjustment the next shot left a significant crater in a brick wall, we decided to quit while we were ahead with that experiment.

Mike

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Posted by jaCK Hobson on 13/12/2020 11:14:33:

For those hoping to get £15 for three…. As set out in the guidance, compensation will not be paid for any claim that totals less than £30.

I think these laws are either quick vote grabbers (probably not in this case) or practice from some new junior minister /civil servant to introduce a bill and watch it get amended. Getting some practice in might be OK but using up court time to rule on pea-shooters is wasteful.

The samurai sword law was similar – not allowed to sell curved blades over a certain length. An amendment said that any hand-made blade was exempt which is a rather large loop hole. If you don't want any hand finishing, then you can always make a straight one and call it a ninja sword.

That I why I said three blowpipes 3×14 = £42 and 42 is more than 30

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/12/2020 12:04:49:

Posted by Vic on 12/12/2020 21:40:09:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/12/2020 10:44:57:

The British system (Scots and English) has a series of checks and balances to protect citizens from misinterpreted and over-zealously applied law.

Dave

This may surprise you Dave. Shocking waste of resources and court time.

**LINK**

Not at all. An obnoxious individual found not guilty by the system he so despises. Checks and balances in action! I wouldn't have minded if it had gone the other way and he'd been fined. His website suggests he has an agenda, and that clip is full of bad advice.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think for one second the law is anything but an ass. Contact best avoided in my opinion. It's an imperfect system. But, for the reasons demonstrated by the youtube link, there's a big gap between untested law implying a pea-shooter is an offensive weapon and actually getting a conviction.

Dave

I think the point of the video is that geting a not guilty verdict for this type of procecution is the exception not the norm.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/12/2020 12:04:49:

Posted by Vic on 12/12/2020 21:40:09:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/12/2020 10:44:57:

The British system (Scots and English) has a series of checks and balances to protect citizens from misinterpreted and over-zealously applied law.

Dave

This may surprise you Dave. Shocking waste of resources and court time.

**LINK**

Not at all. An obnoxious individual found not guilty by the system he so despises. Checks and balances in action! I wouldn't have minded if it had gone the other way and he'd been fined. His website suggests he has an agenda, and that clip is full of bad advice.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think for one second the law is anything but an ass. Contact best avoided in my opinion. It's an imperfect system. But, for the reasons demonstrated by the youtube link, there's a big gap between untested law implying a pea-shooter is an offensive weapon and actually getting a conviction.

Dave

I’ve generally agreed with almost everything you’ve said in the past Dave but I’m wondering now if being made a moderator has gone to your head. Calling someone an obnoxious individual just because he managed to successfully defend himself in court against a malicious prosecution is reprehensible.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 13/12/2020 15:06:41:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/12/2020 12:04:49:

Posted by Vic on 12/12/2020 21:40:09:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/12/2020 10:44:57:

The British system (Scots and English) has a series of checks and balances to protect citizens from misinterpreted and over-zealously applied law.

Dave

This may surprise you Dave. Shocking waste of resources and court time.

**LINK**

Not at all. An obnoxious individual found not guilty by the system he so despises. Checks and balances in action! I wouldn't have minded if it had gone the other way and he'd been fined. His website suggests he has an agenda, and that clip is full of bad advice.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think for one second the law is anything but an ass. Contact best avoided in my opinion. It's an imperfect system. But, for the reasons demonstrated by the youtube link, there's a big gap between untested law implying a pea-shooter is an offensive weapon and actually getting a conviction.

Dave

I think the point of the video is that geting a not guilty verdict for this type of procecution is the exception not the norm.

Not how I decode that chaps website or his colourful account of what happened. Do policemen really slither into court? Surely the point of the video is a rant against his solicitor, the policeman, and almost everyone else involved?

Not everything on the internet is trustworthy! No checks on content in this example, just an individual venting his spleen. His whole account could be round objects. Unverified opinion, not fact. Policemen are fitted with cameras giving defence and prosecution a fairly trustworthy account of what happened. I'd love to see the recording of what this chap actually said and how he said it!

Is there any evidence that getting a not guilty verdict for this type of prosecution is the exception rather than the rule? Or evidence that the courts wrongly find people guilty in these cases? I don't know.

Dave

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Cow parsley stalks and elderflower buds were all the rage at school.

Cheers, Tim

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

In my irresponsible youth when first working in Drawing Office we would roll up a big plastic drawing sheet to make a tube, then make darts by making a cone from the same material slightly bigger, snipping cuts up the rim to make it fit in, then a pin through the pointy bit with masking tape to hold it in. Anyone bending over the plan chests to find a drawing was fair game. Wonder we didn't have someone's eye out.

[DiogenesIIParticipant @diogenesii]

Just to shake you out of your reminiscences, these are what they are trying to control

Amazon UK 2.25" Heavy Gauge Wire Darts .40 Caliber

'Outdoor Sports equipment, apparently.. ..I guess most of you were teenage engineers once, if you can imagine what the possibilities are for making these a serious weapon, you can bet that it's already been done..

I should say that until this thread came up. I had no prior knowledge that such things were considered a plaything…

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/12/2020 18:55:37:

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 13/12/2020 15:06:41:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/12/2020 12:04:49:

Posted by Vic on 12/12/2020 21:40:09:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/12/2020 10:44:57:

The British system (Scots and English) has a series of checks and balances to protect citizens from misinterpreted and over-zealously applied law.

Dave

This may surprise you Dave. Shocking waste of resources and court time.

**LINK**

Not at all. An obnoxious individual found not guilty by the system he so despises. Checks and balances in action! I wouldn't have minded if it had gone the other way and he'd been fined. His website suggests he has an agenda, and that clip is full of bad advice.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think for one second the law is anything but an ass. Contact best avoided in my opinion. It's an imperfect system. But, for the reasons demonstrated by the youtube link, there's a big gap between untested law implying a pea-shooter is an offensive weapon and actually getting a conviction.

Dave

I think the point of the video is that geting a not guilty verdict for this type of procecution is the exception not the norm.

Not how I decode that chaps website or his colourful account of what happened. Do policemen really slither into court? Surely the point of the video is a rant against his solicitor, the policeman, and almost everyone else involved?

Not everything on the internet is trustworthy! No checks on content in this example, just an individual venting his spleen. His whole account could be round objects. Unverified opinion, not fact. Policemen are fitted with cameras giving defence and prosecution a fairly trustworthy account of what happened. I'd love to see the recording of what this chap actually said and how he said it!

Is there any evidence that getting a not guilty verdict for this type of prosecution is the exception rather than the rule? Or evidence that the courts wrongly find people guilty in these cases? I don't know.

Dave

Thank god there are some Magistrates with some common sense.

**LINK**

“In my opinion Derbyshire Constabulary has shown a lack of judgement in pursuing this most meritless of cases”

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Posted by Vic on 16/12/2020 13:24:29:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 13/12/2020 18:55:37:

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 13/12/2020 15:06:41:

<SNIP>

Is there any evidence that getting a not guilty verdict for this type of prosecution is the exception rather than the rule? Or evidence that the courts wrongly find people guilty in these cases? I don't know.

Dave

Thank god there are some Magistrates with some common sense.

**LINK**

“In my opinion Derbyshire Constabulary has shown a lack of judgement in pursuing this most meritless of cases”

Indeed, it appears the police were trying to "make an example" of the owener of a website that points out the errors of the police.
Now imagine it's after March 2021 and the police visit the guy and find a blow pipe (pea shooter). Under the new law that is enough to get the guy a custodial sentence with little defence possible.
Most people don't even know the original law exists never mind that it will extend to posession on your own property from next year. An innocent "toy" made to shoot spit balls or darts on your own property could possibly get you locked up. I was just trying to raise awareness so people can make their own informed decisions on that they do.

Robert G8RPI

[Author]

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