I recently ran across this really in-depth introduction to Airsoft, a sport that I had heard of but never really looked into. In undergrad I played paintball a few times, and it was a blast; I’ve always wanted to get into it, but work and other things have never permitted me the time.
I’ll be moving to Austin, TX at the end of the month, though, and I’m definitely going to check out the Airsoft scene there. I know my wife will be super excited about the prospect of me spending lots of money on Airsoft gear… or not.
At any rate, I had no idea that Airsoft’s origins were in the Japanese gun ban:
Airsoft originated in Japan in the 1980s. It came out of the nationwide ban of all firearms. Airsoft guns were designed to very closely emulate real firearms and later evolved to become purely recreational in nature. They are now becoming increasingly popular, among military and law enforcement agencies, for use as training tools.
The rest of the author’s site is excellent, as well. My only real knock on the guy, Zach Billings, is that he appears to think that Gerber still makes good knives. I need to introduce him to Tony Sculimbrene , who can sort him out on that point.
