A message from Pyramyd Air:
No more black airguns!
“If you enjoy shooting your Walther PPK/S or a Crosman C11, you better
get used to them being ALL red or ALL blue or ALL green — or
completely clear!
California State Senator Kevin de Leon thinks your black airguns are
dangerous and has proposed CA Senate Bill 798 to stop you from having
them. SB 798 states that all airguns MUST be painted brightly. No more black guns!
Some background:
In December 2010, three boys were shooting their airsoft guns in a public park. It was dark, but
their pistols had orange muzzles. The police confronted them and ordered them to put down their
guns. Two boys complied but the third did not. He was shot and suffered severe injuries.
To prevent another such occurrence, Sen. de Leon had a knee-jerk reaction and wrote SB 798 to
stop EVERYONE from buying, owning or shooting black airguns.
It gets worse!
This new law also affects airsoft guns, which millions of people safely use for re-enactments,
skirmishing and maintaining firearm proficiency.
If you hate orange muzzles on your airsoft guns, what are you going to do when the ONLY airsoft
guns you can buy, carry or shoot are red, blue, green or completely clear?
California’s Penal Code prohibits the sale and distribution of imitation firearms. BB devices, which
are listed as airsoft guns and BB guns, are specifically excluded from that law. HOWEVER, SB 798
adds airsoft guns and BB guns to the list of imitation firearms that are prohibited UNLESS those guns
are brightly colored.
YOU are guilty
Because you shoot a “BB device,” Sen. de Leon thinks you’re not a responsible person and must be
forced to have brightly colored guns for your own protection. Basically, he’s saying you’re guilty by
association because you shoot one of these guns!
While we sympathize with the boy who was injured in last December’s incident, that does not give
Sen. de Leon the right to include every airsoft or BB gun owner as someone who needs the
government to tell them what to do.
What you can do:
If California passes this bill, other states will get similar bills going. Whether you live in California or
elsewhere, show your support for airsoft and airgun owners everywhere.
Go to the Pyramyd Air Facebook page to download a letter that you can send to Senator de Leon
and your own California representatives about SB 798.