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We live in a smaller town outside of Eugene. We do live in our small city's limits. Our backyard backs up to a greenway and it's fenced in. We have a dead end street on the side and a neighbor on the other side.

My husband and I are not gun enthusiasts. We've never owned guns. I grew up around them, but my husband did not. So both of us know very little about laws or what's permitted and what isn't. . I do know gun safety from growing up around them.

Our 13 yr old son has finally worn me down to let him have one. The one he got is electric and shoots at 330fps.

Is it legal for him to target practice in our backyard or should we drive him somewhere?

If it is legal, would you still advise it? I do not want my innocent teen being shot because a nosy neighbor though he had a real gun and was a danger to someone. We do not know our neighbors very well, but the one next to us is a retired cop and the next to him is a cop. Our neighbors across from the dead end are both teachers. So, I'm also taking that into consideration. I have a strong respect for following the laws and making sure I set a good example for him. I don't want to allow him to do something that could potentially get either of us in trouble or killed.


Thanks in advance,

A worried mama!
 
Totally depends on your city ordnances, best bet is to look them up or make a call.
Some places label anything that shoots a projectile a "firearm"....I found out the hard way as a teen when two Gresham cops showed up after a neighbor called about "boys shooting guns" in the back yard. That was 30+ years ago....
 
I'd consult your local responding agency to see if there any ordnances that deal with airsoft. I would not permit your child to take it anywhere without supervision. Lay some hard ground rules about not pointing/shooting at anyone. If kid breaks the rules, smash said airsoft gun with a hammer. A good olace to start are the four basic firearms rules.

1: Treat all guns asbif they are loaded, and make sure he knows others will donthe same when it comes to his airsoft.

2: Never point it at anyone or anything he doesn't intend to shoot.

3: Keep the finger off the trigger until he is ready to shoot.

4: Make sure of the target and what is beyind it.

Maybe let your neighbors know he has it so they aren't surprised.
 
We live in a smaller town outside of Eugene. We do live in our small city's limits. Our backyard backs up to a greenway and it's fenced in. We have a dead end street on the side and a neighbor on the other side.

My husband and I are not gun enthusiasts. We've never owned guns. I grew up around them, but my husband did not. So both of us know very little about laws or what's permitted and what isn't. . I do know gun safety from growing up around them.

Our 13 yr old son has finally worn me down to let him have one. The one he got is electric and shoots at 330fps.

Is it legal for him to target practice in our backyard or should we drive him somewhere?

If it is legal, would you still advise it? I do not want my innocent teen being shot because a nosy neighbor though he had a real gun and was a danger to someone. We do not know our neighbors very well, but the one next to us is a retired cop and the next to him is a cop. Our neighbors across from the dead end are both teachers. So, I'm also taking that into consideration. I have a strong respect for following the laws and making sure I set a good example for him. I don't want to allow him to do something that could potentially get either of us in trouble or killed.


Thanks in advance,

A worried mama!

Wise of you to worry. As for is it legal? Places like this are the worst place to seek legal advice. Anyone can say anything. Unless someone shares a link to your locality take anything said with a healthy dose of salt.
As for the gun, I have a few of the battery powered full auto ones. I bought them to chase off cats and dogs without harming them. I can fire it into my bare hand but it seems to scare hell out of strays.
Now if he is practicing in back yard this could be a problem. Many will freak out over anything looking gun and call 911. Be safer to set him up inside for it. If the one he has is like the one I have it's harmless other than making a mess maybe.
 
Wise of you to worry. As for is it legal? Places like this are the worst place to seek legal advice. Anyone can say anything. Unless someone shares a link to your locality take anything said with a healthy dose of salt.
As for the gun, I have a few of the battery powered full auto ones. I bought them to chase off cats and dogs without harming them. I can fire it into my bare hand but it seems to scare hell out of strays.
Now if he is practicing in back yard this could be a problem. Many will freak out over anything looking gun and call 911. Be safer to set him up inside for it. If the one he has is like the one I have it's harmless other than making a mess maybe.

I hadn't even thought of letting him do it inside. What a great idea! We have a garage too he could safely do it in with the door closed and we don't have windows on our garage.

I'll call the local sheriff and see what he says. I didn't realize laws were by city, I thought it was by state. Good to know!

Thanks everyone!
 
I hadn't even thought of letting him do it inside. What a great idea! We have a garage too he could safely do it in with the door closed and we don't have windows on our garage.

I'll call the local sheriff and see what he says. I didn't realize laws were by city, I thought it was by state. Good to know!

Thanks everyone!

Sadly. Cities and counties started to get into this long ago. When my kids were teens, long time ago, they were shooting air guns, not air soft, air guns, in our back yard. Then one day I read in the paper about a guy being arrested for this. I looked it up and damn if the city had not passed a law making air guns the same as a firearm. If one of our neighbors had call the Police I would have been in hot water. I made them move inside after that. Had to of course set up protection for the pellet and BB guns. Most of the air soft can't hurt anything. It would be pretty easy to set up some kind of trap where he could even use the pellets over and over again.
 
I do not want my innocent teen being shot because a nosy neighbor though he had a real gun and was a danger to someone. We do not know our neighbors very well, but the one next to us is a retired cop and the next to him is a cop. Our neighbors across from the dead end are both teachers.

I don't want to allow him to do something that could potentially get either of us in trouble or killed.

It's time to be proactive and meet your neighbors. Take a picture on your phone of your son holding his airsoft gun and make sure the orange muzzle is visible. Bake a batch of cookies. On a nice Saturday afternoon take your son, your phone, the cookies, but not the airsoft gun, go door to door and introduce your son and yourself to your neighbors. While you neighbor is munching on one of your cookies tell him/them that your son has an airsoft gun that he might be shooting in the backyard if it is legal. Show your neighbor the picture of your son with the airsoft gun and point out the orange muzzle that shows it is not a real gun. Tell them there is no reason to be alarmed, and they should feel free to call you if your son is bothering them in any way. That should keep them from calling the cops. Repeat with each of your neighbors.

Make sure your son knows that if he is approached by law enforcement he should immediately drop the airsoft gun and put his hands up.

In two years, police killed 86 people brandishing guns that look real — but aren't
Police across the country say that they are increasingly facing off against people with ultra-real-looking pellet guns, toy weapons and non-functioning replicas.

Such encounters have led police to shoot and kill at least 86 people over the past two years, according to a Washington Post database of fatal police shootings nationwide. So far this year, police have fatally shot 43 people wielding the guns. In 2015, police also killed 43.

Police recovered a wide variety of the weapons in the fatal shootings, but almost all had one thing in common: They were highly realistic copies of firearms. Of those, 53 were pneumatic BB or pellet guns that fire small-caliber metal balls or pellets. An additional 16 were Airsoft guns, which use compressed air cartridges to fire plastic BBs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...cec35b1ad25_story.html?utm_term=.600307422f9e
 
As others have said it depends on your local city ordinances. Some of them ban slingshots,
bow/arrow/crossbow and more. IIRC there was a thread here a couple of years ago about a
??Salem?? ordinance that if taken as written banned squirting ketchup, spitwads, and blowing
the wrapper off of a drinking straw. (anything that moved a projectile by means of compressed
air)
 
Not to add to the monkey works, but, Air Soft are NOT firearms and so they are not normally restricted by age or any thing else regarding firearms! That said, A call to your local Sheriff dept should answer all your questions, and depending on the county, they may offer to help with a firearms safety training session for you and your son! As long as your not in Multinohoma County, you shouldn't have any issues! And even then, maybe stop by the office as ask to speak a Deputy and ask that deputy in private! Most Multico Deputies aree good stand up people unlike their boss who is not to be trusted with ANY THING!
 
Taken from the Eugene City Code:

4.885 Weapons-Discharging Firearms.

Except on established ranges, no person other than a peace officer in line of duty shall discharge a gun, including spring or air-actuated pellet gun, air gun or BB gun, or other weapon which propels a projectile by use of gunpowder or other explosive, jet, or rocket propulsion.

4.895
Weapons-Bean Shooter, Toy Pistols, Etc. No person shall use, cause to be used or encourage the use of a bean shooter, toy pistol or other contrivance or invention used in shooting or throwing beans, stones, pebbles, arrows, or other substances or things, in or on a street, park, lane, alley or other public place except on established ranges.


A quick and dirty read of that says no, you can't shoot the airsoft gun because it is a BB gun by general understanding of the word (although it is technically incorrect, they are different).

Your best bet is to ask the City Police, as they will be the ones upholding the ordinances, or ask the City Attorney for a decision in writing.
 
Is a BB gun a firearm? Is a pellet gun a firearm?

I'm sure almost no one on this forum would say yes because we know how they work and don't consider them firearms, but that doesn't change the wording of the City Code which lists BB guns under the firearms section.
 
Taken from the Eugene City Code:

4.885 Weapons-Discharging Firearms.

Except on established ranges, no person other than a peace officer in line of duty shall discharge a gun, including spring or air-actuated pellet gun, air gun or BB gun, or other weapon which propels a projectile by use of gunpowder or other explosive, jet, or rocket propulsion.

4.895
Weapons-Bean Shooter, Toy Pistols, Etc. No person shall use, cause to be used or encourage the use of a bean shooter, toy pistol or other contrivance or invention used in shooting or throwing beans, stones, pebbles, arrows, or other substances or things, in or on a street, park, lane, alley or other public place except on established ranges.


A quick and dirty read of that says no, you can't shoot the airsoft gun because it is a BB gun by general understanding of the word (although it is technically incorrect, they are different).

Your best bet is to ask the City Police, as they will be the ones upholding the ordinances, or ask the City Attorney for a decision in writing.


This is for Eugene. We do not live inside the city of Eugene.
 
Yes I misread your opening statement.

You need to look at your cities ordinances. Most Oregon cities just copy and paste from another city or directly from the ORS.

If it doesn't say anything you should be fine, it's not against state law or County ordinances.
 

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