The Shilin District Court on Tuesday sentenced Liao Ying-hsi (廖英熙), owner of airsoft gun manufacturer G&G Armament, to two years and eight months in jail for violation of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例).
The case stemmed from 2015, when police seized an airsoft gun model G960 and ammunition and forwarded it to the Criminal Investigation Bureau for further analysis.
The bureau concluded that if metallic bullets were used and the gun were equipped with a 22kg canister of gas, the bullets would exit the gun with between 24 and 32 joules of kinetic energy.
Photo: courtesy of Liao Ying-hsi
Liao was indicted by prosecutors, as the results exceeded the legal threshold of 20 joules.
During court hearings, Liao said that products made by his company were in full accordance with regulations for toy guns as written by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which state that the standard for gauging the level of danger for toy guns is based on the pellets — non-spherical bullets for air guns — which must not be made of metal, should not be injected with liquids and must be used with the propellant suggested by the manufacturer.
G&G Armament specifically recommended that users load the gun with 12kg gas canisters.
Liao had the same gun tested by the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, which found that the product met regulations.
However, the presiding judge ruled that the economics ministry’s regulations and the act were two separate matters.
The judge said G&G Armament’s gun met the definition of “gun” as specified in the act: “Any sort of equipment that can shoot metals or bullets and has the capability of damaging or injuring others.”
The capability of causing harm should be judged according to “the maximum capability” and there was nothing wrong with testing G&G Armament’s product using the most powerful propellant on the market, the judge said.
While the company has explicitly stated that users should outfit its products with 12kg canisters and warned people not to use metal pellets, 20kg canisters and metal pellets are easily obtainable on the market and would therefore make the G960 product dangerous, the ruling said.
Liao said he was surprised at the ruling and that he would launch an appeal due to the different standards used by police and the ministry, adding that the government should seek to unify such standards as soon as possible, or the majority of Taiwan’s airsoft gun manufacturers would be forced to leave the nation.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS