Important Safety tip

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Hazards of being mistaken for a real firearm

There have been unfortunate instances in which an airsoft replica firearm have been mistaken for a real steel firearm. In these rare cases players must know how to act; making it clear that they are not armed with a weapon, while still acting as if it were a real firearm. Some safety precautions you can take so that no confusion arises are: not removing the orange tip, informing surrounding public about airsoft, and playing in private areas. The major distinction between a real firearm and an airsoft gun is the shape of the magazine feed area, which contains a round circular opening through which the pellets pass. Thus, releasing and removing the magazine can assist in distinction between an airsoft gun and a firearm.

Orange-tipped airsoft gun muzzles

There have been countless cases of airsoft guns being mistaken for real firearms, and many cases where armed law enforcement units have responded to tips of unlawful firearm use. This is the main reason that American federal laws require minimum 6mm (approx. 1/4") orange tips to be present on all "toy guns" (including airsoft replicas) transported within and imported into the United States.

However, the effectiveness of such measures remains open to debate, because these orange tips can be easily removed, covered, or painted away at any time. One prominent case occurred in Longwood, Florida when a student threatened fellow classmates with an airsoft pistol and was subsequently shot dead when he aimed it towards an officer. The orange tip mandated by US Federal law had been painted black.[18] Airsoft players will generally do anything to avoid using the orange tip on their guns because it makes them more visible at a distance when they play. The majority of airsoft guns now lack orange tips even if they originally had them, even in localities that require them, so this type of legal regulation would be impractical to enforce in all instances. This is often the norm if the airsoft gun is used only in private or restricted game locations that are not usually accessible to law enforcers. Furthermore, theatrical or movie productions may require the absolute lack of any markings that would distinguish a replica gun from a real gun, so there are regulated exceptions to the orange-tip rule.

Furthermore, their legal imposition means that criminals can attempt to disguise real firearms as toys by painting the tip of the barrel orange, or vice versa.[original research?] For police departments that are already hampered by a lack of resources to enforce America's laws on actual firearms, the additional task of tracking down and constantly monitoring non-lethal replica guns could result in much more lax enforcement of the orange-tip rules.