To buy an airsoft weapon in the UK you must have a valid airsoft defence.

This is not a licence, it is basically just proof that you intend to buy an airsoft weapon for use in airsoft.

An airsoft defence could be a UKARA or membership with the British Airsoft Club, and various other forms of defence.

You can only obtain an airsoft defence once you are over the age of 18.

To get an airsoft defence the law is that you should play at least 3 games of airsoft, and that you must have been playing for at least two months.

You can still buy an airsoft gun without a defence, provided you are 18 or older. If you choose to do this we would, by law, two tone (paint in a bright colour) parts of your chosen weapon. This is because an airsoft gun is considered a RIF aka Realistic Imitation Firearm, because they are so close to the real steel, whereas when you paint parts of it in a bright colour it becomes an IF aka Imitation Firearm. The reason being that the bright colours make it look less realistic to the public, and therefor less likely to be mistaken as real, were it to be used for any other purpose than airsoft.

When you order a gun from us you will need to add your defence details in the comments section of the cart. If you do not have a defence you will need to write the colour that you wish to be used for two toning your airsoft weapon.

Here is what's stated in the VCRA (Violent Crime Reduction) Act:

For airsoft skirmishing, the Association of British Airsoft is putting in place arrangements to allow retailers to check that individual purchasers are members of a genuine skirmishing club or site. The key elements of these arrangements are:
1. new players must play at least 3 (three) times in a period of not less than two months before being offered membership
2. membership cards with a photograph and recognised format will be issued for production to retailers
3. A central database will be set up for retailers to cross-check a purchaser’s details
4. member’s entry on the database will be deleted if unused for 12 months.
The defence for airsoft skirmishing can apply to individual players because their purchase of realistic imitation firearms for this purpose is considered part of the “holding” of a skirmishing event.