Banning Backyard Airsoft, a plea.

[Exarach]

Hey guys, quick proposal for you.
The last couple months I have waded through this forum, I have noticed a larger trend of games being posted that very obviously classifiable as Backyard Airsoft. Backyard Airsoft (ByA) as we all know, is a very bad idea, and could have serious ramifications for both our sport, and all of the participants involved.

If anyone has been following the news, you will have seen that the number of airsoft related shootings, and similar incidents, have been on the rise lately, and media attention of our sport has greatly increased. This brings with it a whole new share of problems, and we have to do something to alleviate it.

I can stand here and preach about the dangers of backyard airsoft until I turn blue in the face, but I am not going to, there are already other threads that do that, I do however, have a proposal.

Over the past few years I have begun to expand out of my AA bubble, and join other airsoft sites around the net, and Backyard (illegal) airsoft is a problem shared by all of us, however, one temporary measure that I feel is extremely effective in combating ByA  is the disallowing of games, and game posts that advertise airsoft within city limits, and other unapproved areas.

I propose that AA adopt this measure. Rather than merely turn our heads and shake our fingers, its time to become proactive. "O, we know the guy who owns the land" "No, its cool its under an overpass, but all the cops are cool with it" "Its behind the old walmart!"

Phrases like this are prime examples of the recklessness that goes on with ByA, we hear them, or a phrase so similar that it is like to be interchangeable, all the time. Its time we stopped just saying its a bad idea, and watching the CNN news reports of players who are being arrested by police, or watching some random news station tearing our sport to shreds as a scapegoat to youth violence or crime.

Its time we as a community, as the great, diverse group that we are, stood up and took a stand against this trend that is ruining our sport forever.

Lets get a new report button for the reporting of Backyard or unsafe airsoft games, and hve those threads clamped down upon and removed, lets get together and be more proactive in finding safe sites to play, and in discouraging others from engaging in unsafe airsoft activities.

We are all brothers here guys, and whether or not we like some less than others, what happens to one of us, is going to affect all of us. Its nice to sit and hope that things are going to change, but its never going to happen until we get out and do something about it,  

So lets start now. Lets start having more safe areas to play, and finding and posting new Ao's that have been cleared with the owners and any related services, and if nothing else, can we please stop, and be proactive in encouraging others to stop running around in the street with Airsoft guns, or playing in the sight of others because they think its awesome.

Its time we began to change this pattern of behavior, even a little at a time, before we lose our great sport forever, and a change can only happen from within the airsofting community. Lets start now. Take a stand guys, because if we don't change our ways now, we never have the chance too....

A few hours of fun isn't worth the cost.

[GhostSOCOMM4]

I agree. Good move Exarach.

[Ganef]

If you think a game posted on this site is a ByA event then hit the (!) button and we will get to it. Maybe if people followed the rules in the classifieds we would have time to moderate the games posted.

[Bambi-troopers]

Yeah. I dont like when people put games right next to, or in neighborhoods or comunities. Causes to many issues with locals and such. But i do think its OK to play in state land, or if you own alot of land, and you want to play on your own area. Thats just my opinion .

[xXmusicimpactXx]

Agreed. A good way to help curve this trend would be to have more fields, and more importantly, at a lower cost. Some people (myself included to an extent) can't afford to pay $20 for field entry every time they airsoft. Free or discounted games at the Rebel Union field, FighterTown, etc. are a great idea, and I think if other fields such as Fort Adobe and Vanguard adopted this tradition of even just occasional discounted/free days, people would be more likely and willing to attend regulated fields rather than unsafe public games.

[Exarach]

Agreed. A good way to help curve this trend would be to have more fields, and more importantly, at a lower cost. Some people (myself included to an extent) can't afford to pay $20 for field entry every time they airsoft. Free or discounted games at the Rebel Union field, FighterTown, etc. are a great idea, and I think if other fields such as Fort Adobe and Vanguard adopted this tradition of even just occasional discounted/free days, people would be more likely and willing to attend regulated fields rather than unsafe public games.

I agree, but thats not really what I am talking about, there are plenty of land that could be used for free play areas throughout the outskirts of Phoenix, we just have to go find it, and get the proper clearance.

[xXmusicimpactXx]

Subject: Banning Backyard Airsoft, a plea.

Agreed. A good way to help curve this trend would be to have more fields, and more importantly, at a lower cost. Some people (myself included to an extent) can't afford to pay $20 for field entry every time they airsoft. Free or discounted games at the Rebel Union field, FighterTown, etc. are a great idea, and I think if other fields such as Fort Adobe and Vanguard adopted this tradition of even just occasional discounted/free days, people would be more likely and willing to attend regulated fields rather than unsafe public games.

I agree, but thats not really what I am talking about, there are plenty of land that could be used for free play areas throughout the outskirts of Phoenix, we just have to go find it, and get the proper clearance.

That sounds good to me. I'm willing to do a bit of driving if the AO is decent (and free lol). Though convenience could also be another factor. Some people are just too lazy to take even a 25 minute drive to somewhere on the outskirts of Phoenix or a similar location, and would rather risk their own safety and the safety of others if it means they only have to drive 5 minutes out instead. Fort Adobe I think is in a very reasonable location, as such they have become my main field of play.

[kman94]

Does this include plinking or just actual games?

[Ganef]

Does this include plinking or just actual games?

Are you going to make a post organizing a meeting of guys to plink?

You need to follow rules of your area, but this announcement is mainly for games.

[Shadow]

To be brutally honest, I think this includes plinking.  You have to take it from the outside perspective.  PD doesn't always know if you're just plinking, playing a game or gangbanging in a wash.  They see it as: kids/people with guns that look real, shooting at something... dangerous.

Take the example of the kid from a few years ago who decided to run trails in full gear with his gun to train for the USMC.  He was alone.  He wasn't even shooting.  He was viewed as a potential threat and treated accordingly.

Use your brain when it comes to this and see it from a perspective besides your own.  Yes, this includes just target shooting...

[kman94]

To be brutally honest, I think this includes plinking.  You have to take it from the outside perspective.  PD doesn't always know if you're just plinking, playing a game or gangbanging in a wash.  They see it as: kids/people with guns that look real, shooting at something... dangerous.

Take the example of the kid from a few years ago who decided to run trails in full gear with his gun to train for the USMC.  He was alone.  He wasn't even shooting.  He was viewed as a potential threat and treated accordingly.

Use your brain when it comes to this and see it from a perspective besides your own.  Yes, this includes just target shooting...

Even in a yard, fully enclosed in a 6 foot high cinderblock wall, I guess I can see some of the danger.

[Dilligaf]

Don't take things out of context guys now this topic is specificly to deal with the issue of games or matches if ur just plinking in all honesty number one have the Damn orange tip on trust me it puts pd at ease when they see that tip. Number two if u want to run in full gear to train or just plain out condition self that is fine but why are you doing that in an area were the police can get to you anyway... why would u want to condition yourself in a suburb street with full gear go find a mountain and climb the thing... reaper all the way all day

[axisofoil]

Don't take things out of context guys now this topic is specificly to deal with the issue of games or matches if ur just plinking in all honesty number one have the Damn orange tip on trust me it puts pd at ease when they see that tip. Number two if u want to run in full gear to train or just plain out condition self that is fine but why are you doing that in an area were the police can get to you anyway... why would u want to condition yourself in a suburb street with full gear go find a mountain and climb the thing... reaper all the way all day

A. People have put orange tips on real-steel and used them to kill plenty of people. Good luck with that if you happen to point the gun in their direction, even WITH the orange tip.

B. The guy they're talking about wasn't in an urban area, he was out in the woods/scrub.

[pballeraz]

Honestly I've never played anything but what can be called "Backyard Airsofting." We play at my friends house and he has several acres on a horse ranch. The neighbors are fine with us playing, we don't allow people to play unless they have legitemit eye protection, and we call siesfire when "nonplayers" enter weapon range. I don't find anything dangerous about it other than the dangers that come with playing airsoft anywhere.

[Bully Dog Airsoft]

Honestly I've never played anything but what can be called "Backyard Airsofting." We play at my friends house and he has several acres on a horse ranch. The neighbors are fine with us playing, we don't allow people to play unless they have legitemit eye protection, and we call siesfire when "nonplayers" enter weapon range. I don't find anything dangerous about it other than the dangers that come with playing airsoft anywhere.

I think that you should be ok, that is if you have at least 4 acres and are surrounded by trees and or brush/ cover. And you don’t have any close neighbors. I think that Exarach and the others are trying to get kids that play in urban areas close to people and houses to realize that it isn't a safe thing to do. [-X

I can remember a long time ago I was invited to join some kids with their so called “team” (turns out it was 8 kids with wal mart guns) ](*,)  at their field with two members of my team. We got their and realized we were playing behind their church in a lot that was covered in mesquite trees. There were apartments all around us, and yes the cops showed up. It was after the first game when we came back to "base" to reload. The cops calmly walked over and started asking us what we were up to. After explaining everything I actually had one of the cops shooting my stubby killer haha! Even though they were cool with it, looking back it was reckless and probably could have turned out bad if one of the kids that wasn't on my team pointed one of their guns towards the officers. After that I decided that it wasn’t a good idea to play their again, so I decided to get legit and to it the safer way.

 I do know for a fact that we are allowed to play at our personal field in Cottonwood now. Because down on the river we don't have to worry about anything accept transients and horseback riders (we have a safety method to make sure that we know that they are their). I also got the green light from the chief of police as well as three current city officials. Now I don't know that something like this would blow over in Phoenix because of its size. But being that Cottonwood is a small town I didn't have to much trouble. They even said it would be cool to do it at one of the local state parks, just so long as we had a $1,000,000 + insurance policy!!!! :shock:  So my team and I opted for the river haha! [smilie=armata_pdt_20.gif]  

The safety method that I use at the Cottonwood field is to take signs and post them outside of our field limits on the trails that lead in to the field. Tied to the signs are Air horns, on the sign in gigantic letters it instructs them that we are having an Airsoft skirmish and to blow the horns if they need to get through the field. We have had a few people come and use them to get by, one couple on horseback thanked us because the paintballers that come down and play just kept shooting while they were trying to cross the field! Needless to say the paintballers haven’t been back. Being that the land that we play on is privatly owned we kinda ran em off, it feels good to know the owners sometimes! But as a safety precaution this is a  nice way to cover trails that people might be traveling on. [smilie=armata_pdt_34.gif]

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to explain how we do things at my field to make sure that if I post a game it doesn't get flagged! Btw nice post Exarach! [smilie=armata_pdt_06.gif]