Shipping Blasters from the US to the UK or other Countries

[crazyjediman24[501st]]

This thread is making me sad. Deactivated guns being difficult to ship, that's one thing. Rubber or resin replicas, though? That's crazy. Pick one up. Clearly not a gun.

 

Sent from my Imperial communicator.

Edited June 11, 2017 by crazyjediman24

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

This thread is making me sad. Deactivated guns being difficult to move, that's one thing. Rubber or resin replicas, though? That's crazy. Pick one up. Clearly not a gun.

 

Sent from my Imperial communicator.

Thing is they look EXACTLY like guns. Up close maybe not but you can't expect a firearms office to stop and inspect the weapon before they decide if that you are a threat or not.

[crazyjediman24[501st]]

Thing is they look EXACTLY like guns. Up close maybe not but you can't expect a firearms office to stop and inspect the weapon before they decide if that you are a threat or not.

Oh no, that part I completely agree with. My issue is with customs regulations. Carrying them, in public, is a totally different can of worms.

 

Sent from my Imperial communicator.

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

While you are allowed to OWN deacs, replicas, toys, ...... whatever, you are not allowed to have them open in public.

This part of NDs post covers it : "Toy guns that look like real ones have to be stored in a locked container for transport."

Even if you have a gunlike thing you are allowed to have, you are only allowed to bring it out of your house in a locked carry case. So trooping with it is not allowed by the law, unless you have it all the time inside the container/suitcase. No Stormtrooper with a blaster, more like a Stormtrooper lawyer or businessman.

 

At an organized event or something related you might get lucky and have no problems (most LEOs know SW), but there is no guarantee for that. One officer in a bad mood, or panic People could bring you in serious trouble, getting arrested, seized blaster, ...... .

To avoid that we talk to the local police prior of an event to get a permit to carry replica weapons and inform the authorities about it.

That makes sure that in the unlikely event that someone is calling the police because of armed persons, the officer on the phone is knowing what's going on.

That system is working great so far.

[Truimphmark[TK]]

The thing is it's how the holder (Stormtrooper) acts with said blaster and always the local police know what your doing.Not long ago in the U.K. A man was shot dead by police for carrying a wooden chair leg under hes coat. Also may add that don't think he was carrying it to repair a chair I think he had intended to use it as a weapon but that I'm not 100% I've shipped blaster to Sweden,Germany, Netherlands and Belgium I've had a few stopped but that was dew to the guy at DHL rather than customs

[Locitus[Admin]]

Well so far I've only spoken of *owning* a replica. Not carrying it around town. But I've so far never had any problems with trooping since it's always been at private venues, not your average street down town.

[swibowoj[TK]]

Shipping blasters (assembled or parts) from overseas to my country Indonesia its almost too difficult.

why almost ?

Customs officers here its so unpredictable..

 

Case 1.

My order sent through post office, E-11 blaster black resin kit from DDay was confiscated by customs, they asking did I have permit letter from Chief of Indonesia Police to import that gun parts..  

even I said its movie props replica. So not passed. I have tried twice by asking DDay to declared as resin parts and did special wrap so the shape not too looks like a gun, still not passed.

 

Case 2.

My orders sent through post office, E-11 blaster yellow resin kit from Doopy Doos. passed.. no problem.. in fact I ordered Doopy Doos kit for third times without any problems with customs. 

 

Case 3.

My fellow Outpost TK member, shipped from US his E-11 and DL-17 Hyperfirm via DHL, and declared as "not a blaster and not as Star Wars props" I forgot what he declared, passed through with no problems form customs even the shape are assembled guns.

 

Case 4.

My other fellow Outpost TD member, hand carry (luggage) his resin assembled E-11 and DL-17 RS Props fly from UK to Jakarta, passed through with no problems from customs, even the blaster are assembled (DL-17 two parts)

Edited June 14, 2017 by swibowoj

[m4vrick[501st]]

Sounds very dangerous to what that fellow on case no. 4 did. Who's that idiot ?? 

[Kacrut[501st]]

Sounds very dangerous to what that fellow on case no. 4 did. Who's that idiot ??

LOL! and here i am afraid to buy a monk's cloth from the state LOL!... seriously did the customs officers asked you anything?

[m4vrick[501st]]

LOL! and here i am afraid to buy a monk's cloth from the state LOL!... seriously did the customs officers asked you anything?

No questions at all... went through x-ray, no beep beep..

[Addertime[TK]]

From my experience, you can ship parts as long as there are no pieces of the firing mechanism involved.  I've ordered pistol grips, scopes, scope mounts, etc. from the US to EU with no problem. Complete replicas are a different story. According to a TSA agent I spoke with, they are treated like real firearms for the purposes of shipping and travel.

 

But even with parts and kits, things are not always cut and dry. Here's a little situation I had recently...

 

I work at the USG facility overseas. Ordering firearms or replicas through our diplomatic/military mail system is a no go as they would be stopped Stateside but local mail is fair game because local (EU and German) laws are in effect. So, I ordered a DoopyDoos DL-44 kit ("kit", as in solid, cream colored resin... in pieces, is the operative word here) and had it shipped from England to Germany. There were no customs issues as it was within the EU but our own security had a conniption fit when it arrived at Post. A buddy of mine in the mailroom called me and said, "You need to get out to the mail screening room NOW. You got a package and security is flipping out." I, of course, knew exactly what it was so I wasn't the slightest bit concerned.  

I walk into the room and there are two armed local guards and a federal agent, all looking very nervous and waiting to question me about the package. Undaunted, I said, "So, I hear I have a package?" At that moment I saw it and walked over to examine it.

One of the guards stammers, "Do you know what's in this?" 

"I do indeed. It's a resin replica kit of a blaster prop used in Star Wars." I noticed by this point that the package is open, so they've not only x-rayed it, but opened and examined it as well.
I'm grinning and trying not to laugh. I open the box and pull the ziplock bags containing the resin parts out of the box. "The pieces are SOLID resin. See? No moving parts."

 

The guard says, "But... but... it has a firing pin."

 

"Nope. No firing pin. No springs. No bolt. No ammunition. Solid plastic. The metal parts are just screws and couple of decorative pieces." They looked at the pieces carefully and became very apologetic. I scooped up my box and was on my way. 

The point of this story is that these are people who carry weapons all day, every day and yet they couldn't determine that these were hunks of plastic after examining them so it's easy to see that postal workers or customs officials may also err on the side of caution and reject the package.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Addertime

[jordanewcastle]

I have just ordered a Sandtrooper commission from RS Propmasters in the UK for delivery to Australia, I am thinking about cancelling the E11 & DLT-19 as I highly doubt that they will clear Border Security, Customs Australia have told me that they will be seized upon entry, and that I will need to contact the Police to obtain a permit in order to get them through, and that is not guaranteed.

 

Had anyone else had to deal with this in Australia?

 

UPDATE (21/10/2017): I have been in contact with Customs Australia who have told me that the DLT-19 and E-11 will be seized upon entry into the country as they fall under prohibited items, they have instructed me to contact my state Police in order to secure a permit to have the items released, 2 days after emailing VicPol I am yet to receive a reply.

 

Tonight I have emailed RS Props in order to cancel the DLT-19 and the E-11 from the order, but they have assured me that they have successfully imported them to Australia before when shipping them with an Import Form, in light of this, I have asked them to continue the order as planned and will keep this post updated for anyone wishing to place an order of their own.

Edited October 21, 2017 by jordanewcastle
Updated information

[m4vrick[501st]]

On 10/19/2017 at 9:36 AM, jordanewcastle said:

I have just ordered a Sandtrooper commission from RS Propmasters in the UK for delivery to Australia, I am thinking about cancelling the E11 & DLT-19 as I highly doubt that they will clear Border Security, Customs Australia have told me that they will be seized upon entry, and that I will need to contact the Police to obtain a permit in order to get them through, and that is not guaranteed.

 

Had anyone else had to deal with this in Australia?

 

UPDATE (21/10/2017): I have been in contact with Customs Australia who have told me that the DLT-19 and E-11 will be seized upon entry into the country as they fall under prohibited items, they have instructed me to contact my state Police in order to secure a permit to have the items released, 2 days after emailing VicPol I am yet to receive a reply.

 

Tonight I have emailed RS Props in order to cancel the DLT-19 and the E-11 from the order, but they have assured me that they have successfully imported them to Australia before when shipping them with an Import Form, in light of this, I have asked them to continue the order as planned and will keep this post updated for anyone wishing to place an order of their own.

Hey Jordan,

 

Care to share what happened to your DLT19 & E11 shipping from RS? Did it go through? 

 

Thanks mate

[jordanewcastle]

Hi all, very sorry for the delay, I have moved house and been over run at work, so I have had to shelf the SW hobby for a while, GREAT NEWS, all armour and BOTH blasters were successfully delivered to Melbourne, Australia without issue! Now that I have a full kit I will be pushing forward with my application.

[Ru4scuba[TK]]

Moved question to new thread...

Edited November 17, 2018 by Ru4scuba

[northernmunkey1]

Newbie here just read the thread and still not sure.

 

I am looking to import the Blasterfactory Boba Fett Blaster kit to the UK.  My worries is that customs will think it's a real weapon and destroy it.  The kit is mainly bare metal with wood stock and believe it has working parts but is a display piece only and not an airsoft gun.

 

Do I need some sort of import documentation from HMRC first or will it sail through customs with no problems.

 

I have tried looking on HMRC but they only mention firearms and swords

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Many countries do need some documentation, you could reach out to the UKG I would think they would have some info https://www.ukgarrison.co.uk/

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Some other info:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/import-controls-on-offensive-weapons

 

Further information about importing firearms

You can find your local police force on the UK police website.

Information about Home Office licensing of firearms is available at Firearms Licensing.

You can enquire about Home Office firearms licensing requirements and legislation by emailing public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk .

Information about DIT import licensing for firearms can be found at Import Controls.

You can apply for a import license for firearms on the DIT Import Licensing Branch’s Import Case Management System.

You can enquire about DIT import licenses by emailing enquiries.ilb@trade.gov.uk.

Guidance for ferry staff and operators about imports of firearms into the UK from the EU.