Originally Posted by
Geezer
BF seem confused on the difference between a RIF and an airgun. A guy on another forum in a similar situation eventually got a kind of apology from BF (and his local cops) who backed down over a replica BB firer air pistol. Eventually.
We can debate endlessly where BF etc are on the spectrum from:
(a) decent public servants doing their best and correctly enforcing the law post-Brexit in order to stop the flow of illegal guns into the U.K., including non-RIF airguns and so stemming their supply to crims, kids, etc;
to:
(b) jumped-up little Hitlers enjoying their new powers to muck about with legitimate and legal imports from the Continent to law-abiding adults while bulking up the stats on how many “deadly weapons” they have seized.
But it doesn’t really matter. Importing from abroad to a private address rather than an RFD does now feel like a significant risk of everything from minor hassle to full-blown court case and possible conviction if the judge is in a bad mood, and probably not worth the bother IMHO.
I appreciate that’s a pain for people used to getting bargains from Schneider or Krale, but tough. If you found a really nice Walther 53 FST or Diana 58 on GerGun, routing it via an RFD surely wouldn’t be too big of a deal?