Army Times:

EL PASO, Texas — Four Fort Bliss soldiers have been arrested on felony charges after a recent BB gun shooting spree in which one man was wounded in El Paso.

Police made the arrests Friday, a week after residents reported that vandals had been driving around shooting at residential windows, vehicles and at least at one person…

Each soldier faces a first-degree felony charge of engaging in organized criminal activity-aggravated assault with a deadly weapon since they allegedly worked together to shoot a man with the BB gun, Sambrano told the El Paso Times for its Saturday editions.

The inaugural 12-week season of ActionAirgun kicks off today. Here’s the kit I mentioned last week:

ActionAirgun Advanced Shooting Kit

I’m participating in the first season, and I’ve signed my son up to compete, as well.

Here’s an intro clip:

Recently got a chance to check out the new Official ActionAirgun Advance Shooting Kit from ActionAirgun:

Welcome to ActionAirgun - the world’s only action target shooting sport that utilizes the internet to create a heart pounding global competition.

Whether you’re new to airguns, or a skilled shooter, ActionAirgun is your chance to show the world what you’re made of. All you need is an 8′ by 16′ space to set up a range in your home, garage, basement, or club. The rest of the standardized equipment is available exclusively with the ActionAirgun Advanced Shooting Kit. Each week you’ll time yourself shooting Courses of Fire downloaded from the site, then upload your scores and see how you stack up.

The kit looks pretty good:

This Advanced Shooting Kit contains everything you need to get started:

(1) AAG-M1911-A1 all metal semi-automatic CO2 powered gas blowback pistol
(2) 25 BB capacity CO2 magazines
(1) LCD shot timer w/wrist strap
(10) CO2 chargers
(2000) Precision Ground BBs w/speed loader
(10) High Density Polymer Targets
(2) pairs of poly carbonate safety glasses
(1) ambidextrous holster
(2) target stands with printed placement grid. Important: Save the target stand wrapper to use with courses of fire.
Complete online instructions

The $20 fee for a 12-week season seems reasonable.

The above kit retails for $299.99, but one kit can be shared by multiple shooters. There’s even a option to form a ‘fireteam’ of 5 for team competition. One thing I can’t really speak to is the quality of the gun compared to other airsoft-type guns, so it’s hard to know whether the $300 price tag is a good value or not. I can see that, if you buy one kit and you average three shooters per season for three 12-week seasons spread over one year, you’ve spent less than $35 per shooter season (plus entry fee) for a year of competition and fun.

Murdoc’s not real familiar with airsoft-type gear and competition, but I’m going to participate in the inaugural 12-week season which begins September 22nd. I will be posting regularly on my experiences as long as everyone promises not to laugh when all the teenagers beat me.

My 13-year-old son may be playing, too. He’s not going to promise not to laugh if he beats me.

Is anyone else out there competing?

Check out ActionAirgun’s web site for more info. I will be posting more in the coming days.

UPDATE: Meant to include this from the AAG message board in response to a question about the gun:

We are using a WE double stack 1911 that’s roughly based on the STI 2011. BB capacity is 25 and the capacity of the 12 gram CO2 Cart is about 50 rounds of rapid fire and 75 of just plinking. We tested about 15 guns including the Western Arms and Tokyo Marui.

and

The most expensive part of the kit is the timer. It’s a CED 7000 that’s just a joy to work with. It has more features than we’re currently planning on using but as the sport progresses it’ll be right there with us. It’s been modified for AAG so it’s more adaptable to the softer report (bang) of the airsoft gun and works well in an enclosed space like a garage or outside if that’s where you’ve setup your course.

Here are a couple of new photos from the fun in Denver:

A police officer holds a machine gun along the route of the ‘Recreate 68′ march near the site of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado, USA on 24 August 2008. The protesters are calling their movement ‘Recreate 68′ referring to the tumultuous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago

“Machine gun”!

I pointed out the plan to use the Veritas Mark IV during the convention a couple of months ago.

Mecosta County, Michigan:

Two people were were arrested Tuesday morning in connection with shooting paintballs at several homes and mailboxes.

Mecosta County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call of a house being shot several times with paintballs, and saw a suspect vehicle leaving the scene. Deputies searched the area after briefly seeing the vehicle and then losing sight of the suspects.

After seeing several other houses that were hit with the same color red paintballs, deputies found the suspect’s vehicle parked behind a house. The car had red paintballs on the floor of the passenger compartment.

Deputies contacted the residents of the home, who admitted to shooting the paintballs. Both suspects were arrested and taken to the Mecosta County Jail.

The fact that they call them the “residents” and do not call them “teens” makes me wonder if they were, well, older than teens. Not that teens should be excused from shooting up stuff with paintball guns, but it’s beyond ridiculous for so-called adults to carry on like that.

Stuff like this helps give paintballers a bad name and gives those who would increase regulations on the equipment more ammo. Thanks, guys.

Franklinton, Ohio:

An 18-year-old man armed with a BB gun was fatally shot while trying to rob the residents of a Franklinton home yesterday afternoon, police said.

Police arrested his two alleged accomplices, one of whom was his brother, and charged them with murder for taking part in a crime that resulted in his death.

The new Ohio castle doctrine law doesn’t take effect until September. The dead intruder apparently held the BB gun to the head of the homeowner’s girlfriend.

Don’t commit crimes. If you do, don’t do it with BB guns.

Ryan Narcisco, a 20-year old mall clerk, might go to jail for keeping a BB gun in his car.

Mandatory 3-year sentence, no parole, for unlawful possession of a firearm.

According to a commenter, the NJ definition of a firearm

shall also include, without limitation, any firearm which is in the nature of an air gun, spring gun or pistol or other weapon of a similar nature in which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, compressed or other gas, or vapor, air or compressed air, or is ignited by compressed air, and ejecting a bullet or missile smaller than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, with sufficient force to injure a person.

Via Instapundit.

Denver stocks up on pepper weapon

Rocky Mountain News:

Denver police are stocking up on guns that fire a pepper spray-like substance instead of bullets - a less-lethal weapon used to disperse crowds - in advance of the Democratic National Convention.

The department recently ordered 88 Mark IV launchers and projectiles at a cost “in the low six figures,” the company that makes the weapons stated in a news release Monday.

The request was for delivery in advance of the DNC, according to Louisville- based Security With Advanced Technology Inc.

The convention, scheduled for Aug. 25 to 28 at the Pepsi Center, is expected to draw thousands of protesters to sites throughout Denver.

Here’s the Veritas Mark IV:

• .68 Caliber
• 15 Round Magazine
• Air Supply in the Magazine
• One to one scale to an M4
• Point target Accurate to 50 Meters
• Easily index between rounds at the chamber
• Hard Target / Area engagement to 100 Meters
• Accepts most aftermarket accessories for M4/M16

More info at Veritas Tactical.

The City of Denver doesn’t want to release specifics of what they’re spending money on in preparation of the convention because they fear it will give protest organizers an opportunity to counter the plans.

The comments section of the news story has a bunch of (apparent) Lefties thinking that it’s going to be “Right-Wing Extremists” who are rioting at the DNC. Yeah. Whatever.

I can’t decide if all the “Recreate 68″ talk is serious or not. Or, rather, I can’t decide if the talk is seriously going to attract serious people. There’s no doubt a certain lunatic fringe element wants to wreak havoc, but whether or not they will gather sufficient numbers or like-minded people is uncertain.

I’m guessing that the big riot is going to be a letdown for all the hippies, though I won’t be surprised if I’m wrong.

Don’t tell Murdoc that this isn’t from a comic book:

And don’t tell him it doesn’t look like fun.

What’s particularly awesome is the fact that it comes complete with a 21-piece task force of:

• Infantrymen
• Tanks
• Gunners
• Trucks
• Cruisers
• Battleships
• Jet Planes
• Bombers
• Riflemen
• Spaceships

And this:

Makes your friends’ toys outdated

With an advertised price of $1.00, this was from before Murdoc’s time. But boy oh boy, would I have wanted one.

From Lileks’ gallery of BB Gun Ads, which starts with this:
(more…)

Headline: Boy, 8, shot five times in playground attack

Time to add a new category: BB & Air Guns. It’s going under Gear, not Guns.