New York Targets BB Guns. Crosman Responds With Full Auto.

Like the omnipotent moral busibodies they are, New York lawmakers are moving to regulate BB guns, pellet guns, and air rifles as “imitation weapons.” Crosman, apparently uninterested in reading the room, just rolled out its first electric full-auto BB rifle.

The bill, S9215A, would require air rifles, pellet guns, and BB guns to meet the same bright-color visual standards already applied to imitation guns. It would also raise the purchase age for covered air guns to 18.

Then came the Crosman Raiden.

The company describes the Raiden as its first electric full-auto BB rifle, chambered for .177 steel BBs, with selectable semi-auto and full-auto fire, an 80-round magazine and speeds up to 430 feet per second.

It runs on a rechargeable battery instead of CO2 cartridges, includes a USB charger and speed loader, and is marketed for backyard plinking and target shooting.

In other words, while Albany is trying to make BB guns look less like guns, Crosman introduced one with tactical styling, a Picatinny rail and full-auto capability. The timing may be accidental. The comedy is not.

As Bearing Arms‘ Tom Knighton reported:

As it’s a BB gun that looks like an AR-15 style rifle, and New York officials are already losing their minds over BB guns, apparently, this is the funniest thing I can even think of an air gun company doing, even if they didn’t mean to.

And I don’t think they meant to. I really don’t, if for no other reason than it takes time to create a new product and bring it to market, and there just hasn’t been enough of it to make this a true response.

It’s just a nice middle finger to the state, basically saying that the company doesn’t care.

Honestly, I’ll actually be surprised if that provision actually becomes law, if for no other reason than the fact that shooting BB guns is such a time-honored tradition in America, and not just the rural parts. I grew up in a city, after all, and all of my friends and I had our BB guns that we’d take with us when we’d go fishing or camping. It’s a non-issue, and New York state is a silly place if they actually consider this for more than half a second.

The measure has sparked pushback from critics who contend New York lawmakers continue to broaden firearms-related regulations into areas that have historically fallen outside traditional gun control efforts.

For now, the bill remains pending before the Senate Consumer Protection Committee.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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