Thought I`d just pop this in here, although its been mentioned on other forums I only came across it by accident the other day, and some other airsofters may have missed it.
According to the ABA, in order to buy and sell airsoft guns after April, you will have to be registered, this means at a site which is taking up the ABA scheme. I normally play at a private site hence why I nearly missed it. Our nearest commercial site reckons membership of this scheme will cost between
Nope... you'll be able sell without the required membership. However YOU will be liable if the person you sell to is not a member... not them!
You also will not be able to import unless you have the appropriate registration.
I for one have been following this very carefully.
The price for registration with the ABA may be
Interestingly Soldier of Fortune (kit retailer) emailed this around today :
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We thought you might like to know the following information about Metal Replicas.
Our current stock of replicas is expected to be the last we ever have! This is because the metal replicas are imported from Spain, and we expect a new law to come into effect this year which will ban the import of metal replicas. This law will not ban replicas that are in the UK but we won't be allowed to import any more. So current stock will be the last ones ever. Judging by current stock levels and how quickly we sell these we expect to sell out in about 4 weeks.
Please note the new law (which has no commencement date yet) will not affect the ownership of replicas but just the import and retail of them.
You can see all the replicas in our NEW Products section of the Re-enactors Catalogue on our website. http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/reenactors/select.asp
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Im guessing this is based around the same thing.
No longer involved in airsoft.
Commencement date is april 6th aparently
Pretty certain they have got the wrong end of the stick - dealers will be able to import and can sell to film/stage/reenactors purchasers and to bonio fido airsofters, subject to as yet undefined status (club membership blah blah).
Looks like early summer before the HO and ABA sort it (for us skirmishers).
Pretty certain they have got the wrong end of the stick.
Unless they know something that we don`t ? 
Was thinking about all this and suddenly had a thought. Are we classed as airsofters or reenactors? As airsofters we are to be regulated, as reenactors we are exempt. Admittedly its a mute point as the regulation is about sales of airsoft items not reenactor items, but just a thought.
No longer involved in airsoft.
Pretty certain they have got the wrong end of the stick.
Unless they know something that we don`t ?
Unless they use this to sell what stock they have by inducing panic then, once the HooHa of the act has settled down, restocking and claiming they made a mistake? This is SoF we are talking about, not exactly new to the game of turning a quick buck.
They are about the only one stop shop for dressing up, but they are a business. They will sell you anything to make money, the accuracy of the item is not of interest to them, thats your job to ensure it's right.
Since the start of the year they have bought all of the stock of Sherwood Armories, a very nice company selling de-acts. The stock appears on the SoF website with
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
I think Poacher has hit the nail on the head, it's a way of them clearing a few bits of kit in a VCR induced panic sale.
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Diggah... to count as a reenactor you have to be a member of a group with suitable PLI insurance cover...
Its exactly the same deal that airsofters will get... except we have to members of a site... (I say we... but I'm in both camps these days!)
ahhh right. I had a look on the ABA site about all this after I posted here. It appears that they dont know how its all going to work as the government havent quite worked that bit out either, dispite pushing ahead with a start date of 6th April.
An interesting point they made was that airsoft would never get exemption as its simply too difficult to separate out the airsofters from the springer kiddies in the eyes of the law, so regulation was always more realistic. They also mentioned some form of nationalised ID to make airsofters easier to identify.
Sounds like its either going to be a rushed job in time for April, or its all going to be very confusing for all concerned.... or both.
No longer involved in airsoft.
Hmm just had another look into this. Looks like the Home Office are now dalying around and have told the ABA its now more likely to be late spring/early summer. I wonder how much recent highlighted gun crime will affect it tho.
As an aside, IF the government is to go ahead with a manditory enrolement/registration scheme would it be possible to add our own outlet for this and use WWII airsofting as a membership scheme? Personally I know I could be moving around a lot in the next year or so and so dont want to commit to any one site. However I know I will continue to WWII soft (4 years this April I think ) and would prefer to be registered that way.
Its another mute point as the HO have yet to put their money where their mouth is and actually commit to anything but worth a thought.
No longer involved in airsoft.
No membership of this site would not be acceptable. The Government clearly states that you must be a member of an airsoft site with PLI.
We are never going to set up a site and are never getting PLI!
Ahh ok. Just a random musing 
No longer involved in airsoft.
Well after the news last night and this morning I don't think things are looking good again.
I fear we a just going to be part of a 5 year plan.
First you get on a list then the list of people have to get a licence then after they have got some money out of you for a few years and real gun crime is still on the increase, the list will be a confiscation list that you have given them.
I know there are many of you that feel the same as me!
I am informed I now have to have PLI for my jeep and replica 30 cal at car shows.
I have been informed of a club that gives
Free speech is expensive these days!
I'm getting more and more militant about crap spouted on TV and in the papers. So bad that i have the PCC email address, the OFCOM email address and the BBC & ITV ones sitting right on my Outlook "contacts" list.
I fired one off to ITN last night about the late evening news yesteday. Completely inaccurate reporting needs to be held to account.
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Why? What did they say?
No longer involved in airsoft.
Good I didn't think it was just me, most mornings I seem to send in an email to GMTV 
That guy in that shop last night was not given a chance to comment he was just painted as being the devil for selling a CO2 pistol legally that as far as I know can not be made to fire live rounds.
The kid first asked if he could buy a Brockock revolver and the shopkeeper rightly said they are banned because people were converting them to fire and they could then blow up in your hand.
The ITN news then accused him of lying just to make him look bad.
The shopkeeper then said the next most powerful pistol was the CO2 29F, which the kid bought.
He then allegedly took it to a local pub and some bloke said he would make it fire live rounds for
Free speech is expensive these days!
You're telling me a news organisation took pub chat and stated it as fact? Hell when Im down the pub, a few ales and I'll tell you I can make Nelson sail again! That not news, thats sensationalist crap that belongs in tabloids and the Weekly World News! (which is a hilarious read if you're bored).
For
No longer involved in airsoft.
The media in this country are absolutely piss poor, its not a modern phenomenon, they`ve had a history of being politically led by one group or another ever since newspapers started to be sold to the masses over a hundred years ago. This has unfortunately flowed over into television media. When I had Sky I used to regularly watch Euronews, its surprising what else is going on in the world besides that which is spouted on the home grown channels. Another point is that for a young unknown journalist, the gun question in the UK is a sensationalist and cheap option for him or her to concoct a story and present it to their editor and get themselves known. As has been stated on the previous posts, with a bit of editing they can make law abiding shopkeepers seem like pure evil, slip some geezer in the local pub