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Toys guns seized by the government

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In summary:

I think the Government has gone too far, And i need help spreading the word and fighting in court as i've run out of pension to fund it, I need Money and exposure to keep fighting.

The full story:

From 1994 to 2005 I was an Australian soldier, I saw active service twice in East Timor and was medically discharged for injuries I received during my overseas service. I receive a pension from veterans affairs and some money from my superannuation.

When I discharged I was pretty emotional, I felt alone and had been shunned by those I served with in the main with a few key peers as exceptions. I was not presented with a the customary small wooden plaque that most soldiers receive when I left. I wanted a way to honour my service, something to hang on the wall. At the time i was still fighting with DVA to get my pension so my funds were extremely limited. So i searched for something i could hang on the wall, without paying hundreds of dollars. however most of the things i found i just could not afford. By chance i happened across the concept of "cosplay" with my membership of facebook groups relating to movies, tv series and science fiction. Here i discovered for about $40 i could buy a hollow plastic toy that resembled the rifle i carried overseas, but it would need a lot of modelling work to become what most people would call a "replica" or even worry the public.

This is one of the Toys i've been importing for over ten years that is suddenly Totally illegal 

This is one of the Gell ball blasters, notice the high amount of colour to make it clear its not real?

Find a gel ball blaster for yourself and make your own decision

By a quirk of fate, combined with my background in logistics i imported a few boxes of these "taidi" toys for friends and family, next thing you know i'm getting emails from shops asking for them. So i set up a facebook page and helped others legally import these toys. After a while there was some politics so i started getting permits from Queensland police to import them. EVERY time the permit would come back clearly defining these as NOT FIREARMS for the purpose of the law.

Facebook site for Taidi Toy Guns

However time went on and the products in China evolved. The sport of Airsoft is illegal in China as it is here in Australia so Chinese companies made toys based on the same concepts as the "nerf" brand, but they chose a non toxic biodegradable plastic sachet which is commonly used in gardening as the projectile. After being involved in these toys for a while i could plainly see they were not the same as "airsoft" which is a highly accurate replica, even made of the same metal at times firing hard plastic 6mm bb's. These were effectively banned in 1996 after the terrible events at Port Arthur. I was convinced these toys were NOT airsoft. However in February this year Australian Federal authorities seized my imported toys calling them "replica" and "soft air" what they were saying is that i was importing RESTRICTED FIREARMS. Ironically some of the seized toys i had imported with a permit on many occasions. But now they were suddenly illegal? So after lots of appeals and tens of thousands of dollars of legal fees in administrative appeals i'm totally tapped out and now have a very large personal loan servicing the legal costs.

I need help with the legal fight, Have a look at the attached pictures and decide for yourself how dangerous these "restricted firearms" are. They are no more dangerous to the public than other TOTALLY legal items such as the "denix" brand of replicas found openly for sale in many Queensland stores.

What is a "denix" like?

The federal police is calling them legally a fully fledged Firearm, and so are the Customs authorities. They have served me and I am off to court in a few days...

See the bright colours? Also the scale is not accurate and parts are not interchangable with a real firearm

Please help me fight this silly definition of something built and designed for small kids to play with. Have a look at some of the pictures of what they call dangerous and make your own decision.

I fully support Control over military style weapons, the public does not need an m16. But these cannot fire BB, or fire ANYTHING other than some innocuous water filled balls!

I think the government has gone too far, I think they don’t like the idea of the "appearance" of some of the toys and are using everything at their disposal to make these illegal. Thousands of Australians already have these toys they have bought them on ebay or other large websites, this case will make them CRIMINALS in my opinion... for owning a fancy Nerf gun that can shoot 20 meters? lets be serious about this..

Finally if the law is blind, why is the little guy getting hauled into court while big companies are selling these every day without any repercussion? I didnt serve for 11 years FULL TIME in the Army to be treated this way in a country that i helped in a small way keep "free"

Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $5 
    • 6 yrs

Organizer

Travis Goldie
Organizer
Walliebum QLD

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