Gel Blaster in Australia
Gel-blasters, hydro-blasters, gel-guns. All different names for a new type of toy firearm. The middle man to a typical cheap water pistol and the much more heavy duty paintball gun. Welcome to the gel blaster gun world.
How Gel Blaster Work?
A regular gel blaster working in kind to a spring-piston air gun – though shooting soft gel pellet that has been soaked in water for up to 4 hours – gel blasters have a piston inside a chamber that sits against the inserted pellet. Once fired the piston moves the air in front of it and moving the pellet to the fastest speed it will achieve.
What Gel Ball used for the Gel Blaster Gun?
The gel ball using required certain hardness to hold the shape to handle the impact, so that it won’t break inside the chamber, as well as bring accuracy, regular orbeez like gel balls will not be suitable.
With the rise of competitive gel blasting, Shrapgel is the overall favourite due to its rigidity and firmness. Shrapgel can be shot to achieve the speed needed to be accurate, and are approved for use in blasters without fear of damage to your equipment.
Are Gel Blaster legal in Australia?
Government verdict varies regarding legality of gel blasters, possibly due to only recently becoming popular. A few months ago the clarification came from a judge in QLD that gel blasters are indeed not a firearm, the one assume importing is allowed.
However, the laws vary between states to states, importing gel blaster is still prohibited in some states, and some may requires a permit. Once permit has been received Australian stock is not confiscated when shipped domestically but each state still determines whether you must apply for a permit to buy Australian stock.
For example, in Queensland doesn’t require a permit or license for any toy guns considered a replica. In addition, some reports are coming from South Australian residents saying that no problems have arisen from owning a gel blaster without permit.
Gel Blaster is defined as an imitation firearm by the custom, so you could always check your local state law to see if an imitation firearm is allowed or not in your state. So far we aware QLD and SA does not require a permit to own it.
Though being harshly criticized as unsafe and a forebear to violence, many airsoft clubs and paintballers are adopting the gel-blaster as a fun outdoor activity. Just like you wouldn’t consider a Nerf gun a firearm due to it’s soft darts, we do not class a gel blaster as a firearm but as a recreational activity. When kept to playing around instead of roaming the streets, the gel blaster with shrapgel is very similar to the airsoft in America. Which, perhaps due to its longer existence has clearer expectations and laws, all allowing airsoft.
We see the gel blaster being an entertaining backyard hobby and certainly not a firearm. When using Shrapgel a gel blaster is a safer alternative to paintballing due to the pellets breaking down upon impact and disappearing, also its cost much less than the paintball for sure.
I played in my backyard in NSW seems fine, they are fun