21 November 2008

Paintball legislation update for those interested...New laws from 15 Jan 09

21 November 2008 | kieran AP

Morning all,

For those who aren’t aware, the ACT Firearms Legislation was amended this Jul, with amendments coming into effect 15 Jan 08. I have a few enquiries with the AFP that I am still waiting for responses for regarding the actual implementation of the new laws, however, the paintball specific elements of the legislation at this time are:

2. Personal ownership of markers. At present paintball markers are prohibited weapons in the ACT. After Jan 15 you will be able to apply for a ‘license’ with a specific category for markers. The actual licensing model is still being addressed by the AFP and again, when details come to hand I will place the info on my website.

2a. What is known is that a person will have to satisfy a MANDATORY requirement to have participated in 4 tournaments prior to applying for the license. The field operator ie me, will then have to provide the detail to the AFP who will then issue the appropraite license. This is to restrict marker ownership to the ‘serious’ paintballers. If you want to know the back ground for that requirement, send me an email (it wasn’t my idea!)

2b. Adventure Paintball will be running a series of Friday twilight/night tournaments through Feb/Mar to allow people to qualfiy for their marker license.

2c. Once you have a marker, you have to store it in compliance with the Firearms legislation. At this stage it appears that only fields will be able to store markers (but again I am waiting for clarification from the AFP). Again, I will update as more info comes to hand.

2d. No advice yet on costs or requirements for PTA, or waiting periods. Again, as soon as I know info, it will be on my website.

3. Recognition of licenses granted in other jurisdictions. This will allow people who have markers legally licensed elsewhere to have that license recognised in the ACT. Still a problem for people from NZ, US and most of Asia where markers are classified as toys and aren’t licensed, but still a big step forward for the ACT.

3a. Importantly this will mean you can now bring markers in and out of the ACT for general play, tournaments etc.

Overall, a huge step forward for paintball in the ACT.

Any questions/comments, be happy to answer them…

kieran AP

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kieran AP11:33 am 24 Nov 08

@ GottaLoveCanberra thanks for the positive review 🙂 and as for the legislation, it had to be done for paintball to be viable as a business in the ACT. Just a shame the guys who have been in operation for 10+ years didn’t bother (or didn’t want?) to get it done.

@ willo 2

willo4:31 am 24 Nov 08

how many paintball operators are there in canberra???

p112:04 am 22 Nov 08

Interesting that at the side of the page I am viewing now, there is a ad which links to a body armour company. Interesting both due to the specific thread, and also the fact that you can’t legally own such a product here.

GottaLoveCanberra7:57 pm 21 Nov 08

I played on Kieran’s fields last weekend and was highly impressed by the way he runs his op.

Also, kudos to you for having any sought of change made to ‘firearms’ legislation.

utah6:35 pm 21 Nov 08

Once you have a marker, you have to store it in compliance with the Firearms legislation.
With the marker and paint balls stored in separate safes? Phew! I can’t tell you how much safer I feel, knowing that you crazy paintballers will be compelled by law to lock up your inert balls of bio-degradable non-toxic paint.

Also, does the legislation only cover paintballs, or do I have to lock up the half-tin of Taubmans I keep in the shed?

PsydFX3:30 pm 21 Nov 08

kieran AP said :

@PsydFX above re: Tournaments.

I have the qualified staff, the equipment and the organisation to run tournaments and I have run the only tournaments run in the ACT in the last 4 years. So if I was running tournaments before the legislation came in, why wouldn’t I run tournaments after the legislation comes in?

Also, how exactly is someone going to satisfy the requirement for attending tournaments if tournaments are not held????

Maybe take a look at what I said again as I wasn’t suggesting that you don’t run tournaments, I was suggesting that advertising a tournament for the specifc purpose of gaining a license could potentially be miscontrued by the registra as not a legitamate tournament.

kieran AP3:15 pm 21 Nov 08

@PsydFX above re: Tournaments. I have the qualified staff, the equipment and the organisation to run tournaments and I have run the only tournaments run in the ACT in the last 4 years. So if I was running tournaments before the legislation came in, why wouldn’t I run tournaments after the legislation comes in?

Also, how exactly is someone going to satisfy the requirement for attending tournaments if tournaments are not held????

@p1 marker cost: come down one weekend and speak to the 8 or so Pro/semi pro paintballers that I have working for me. They can discuss the pro’s and con’s of each marker type and indicative price range. Then you can look on-line with some information backing you up.

various re: fogging. Best answer as above is to ask for thermal goggles when getting issued masks (they don’t cost extra to normal masks) or buy your own goggles with thermal lenses to be guaranteed. Also, if you are prone to fogging, wear minimal clothing and try to control your breathing…..

PsydFX2:42 pm 21 Nov 08

LlamaFrog said :

general question, every time I have played paintball the goggles mist over very quickly is there anyway to fix that?

I have the same problem – not during the hotter months though, anyway, most ranges will have Thermal Googles, but you need to ask before you are on field.

wot said fred2:41 pm 21 Nov 08

LlamaFrog said :

general question, every time I have played paintball the goggles mist over very quickly is there anyway to fix that?

buy your own with a double layer thermal lens

or, don’t move so much 🙂

PsydFX2:37 pm 21 Nov 08

p1 said :

What will a paintball marker cost in the Canberra market do you think?

Once you have a license you should be able to purchase at any of the Australian Online Paintball stores, have a look at them for an idea of pricing.

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