Ohhhhhh.... SCARY!

But... but... It looks so real!

A gun rights organization has launched a Freedom of Information request following a decision by federal Customs and Border Protection agents to seize a shipment of toy pellet guns and a determination by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that they could be converted into machine guns so they must be destroyed.

Government agencies have explained that the Airsoft toys, made of a soft pot metal and lacking a firing mechanism, easily could be converted into a true weapon capable of automatic fire.

"Our firearms technology branch classified this as a machine gun," BATFE Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said in a report assembled by Gun Owners of America. "With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun."

"With minimal work". He's either got to be joking or is just plain ignorant and should not be employed where he is.

Imagine trying to fire an AR-15 round in a barrel made of some sort of base metal.

Jason Jonah of Andy and Dax Surplus said:

it looks like a gun, but the insides are completely different, the design is different, and the material it's made of is just not strong enough to fire real ammunition.

If somebody tried to fire real ammunition, it mostly likely would blow up the toy.

The gun would come apart and the pieces fly at you. If it weren't the ATF making these accusations, I'd laugh, but they must be taking it seriously. In all my years, I've never had anyone talk – even laughingly – about changing these into weapons.

Jopnah said it would be about as easy to convert an Airsoft into a real weapon as transforming "your Cuisinart or any other electrical appliance into a real gun.

For starters, you would need to buy a real barrel, a real receiver and firing mechanism, a real magazine clip and a stock to fit the receiver. About the only thing you could re-use from this toy is the box it came in. Just the hydraulic buffer in a real AR-15 costs $129.95.

But it looks so real! That's what must have the deciding factor in the BATFE's firearms technology branch's decision to classify this toy as a REAL machine gun.

Time to clean house in that particular BATFE branch and replace the resident idiots with knowledgeable people... If possible. People who actually know what a hydraulic buffer is.

left click to enlarge

See the gun Jessica is holding in the above picture? I made it in my workshop from PVC pipe, wood and plastic sheeting. I hope the BATFE's firearms technology branch never learns of it... Jessica and I will be in serious trouble.

It's not nearly as detailed as an Airsoft AR-15, it's just a crude model of a computer game weapon built for a photo shoot. But it looks scary!