In an unprecedented case, several Tanaka Works manufactured airsoft guns have been ruled real firearms, and so their possession and sale are subject to immediate ban. Tanaka Works themselves, now apparently an illegal arsenal, have been raided by police with a view to prosecuting.
The ruling, based on tests carried out by police, means that the guns now fall fully under the remit of the stringent Japanese Sword and Firearms Control Law, which essentially restricts weapon possession to all but criminals and police, and as a result owners are being ordered to immediately turn in their now illegal firearms.
Some one thousand of the models have already been sold, all as toys and so unregistered, so recovering them all may prove difficult. 800 of the now weapons were seized from the premises of Tanaka in addition.
Police investigations established that two of the models made by Tanaka Works, their S&W M500 CASYOPEA and Colt SAA .45 CASYOPEA, each available in long and short barrel versions, possess the capability of firing a 0.2 gram ball bearing using explosive propellant, without any modifications whatsoever.
This is deemed to have the potential to wound, and thus police hold it can no longer be considered a toy.
Via Sanspo. You can also see a review and videos of the Tanaka M500 in action.
It seems difficult to ascertain whether this is a case of the manufacturer being fools for creating low power handguns, or of the police suddenly altering their criteria for evaluating these toys as handguns or not.
Odd that an airsoft manufacturer would knowingly manufacture and sell firearms, and by the looks of things their models are not too dissimilar from other models?
Airsoft manufacturers will doubtless be having a very nervous look at their designs…
to be honest you can use anything and eerything as a weapon nowdays, you just need to have a creative mind to figure it out. like a piece of paper could be deadly, a paper clip, a pillow, the mouse pad, some lube even lol. now im a professional airsoft player in the USA and i play with guns that shoot 400-750+fps (feet per second)with .20g-.30g and the most they do is just leave nice bruises and some times on a rare occasion if you are retarded and shoot close range, pierce skin. airsoft is not lethal in any way hence the name airsoft or “soft air” guns. and since im mentaly disabled i have plenty of time to just sit around and build custom guns and looks at pronz all day lol. and last i checked TANAKA has some really bad guns that sucked and only shoot if your lucky maybe up too 400fps.
feeling lucky… punk?
first they ban guns, stabbings go up, then they ban knives, forkings go up, then they ban forks and you know what? Now the WHOLE COUNTRY eats with chopsticks.
The people will use chopsticks to fight, Masataka used a pair of them early in Tenjou Tenge so it can be done… Then they will have to start putting restrictions on hands.
nice guns. I want that. 😀
those guns look fucking awesome O.O