Airsoft Safety and Everything You Need to Know

Airsoft is really fun, however, it can cause a lot of injuries when airsoft equipment is handled incorrectly. Airsoft safety is one of the things that you always need to keep in mind when you are out there playing.

It is important to always remember that an airsoft gun is not a toy. It can cause serious injuries and one of the worst cases is having hit in the eye.

Therefore, making Airsoft Safety your top priority when handling your airsoft guns is a must.

Airsoft Safety Rules

Rules vary from region to region and different states regulate Airsoft differently

The rules below are basic airsoft rules that you have to observe both in and out of the field and different laws in the US to keep you and your fellow players safe in and out of the field. 

First, let’s discuss the most popular airsoft safety rules.

1. Don’t Brandish Airsoft Gun in Public

Brandishing an airsoft gun in public is both illegal and dumb. Airsoft guns are almost identical to their more dangerous relatives and people will not be able to tell the difference between an airsoft gun and a real firearm.

It is therefore extremely important to ensure that you never bring out your airsoft gun in public places. This includes:

  • Roads
  • Parks
  • Schools
  • Public Transportation

One good way of safely storing away your airsoft gun is placing it in a gun case or a protective bag. 

2. Never Point an Airsoft Gun at Anyone Outside of an Airsoft Game

Whether jokingly or intending to scare them, this is a very dangerous thing to do. If the person who you are pointing the gun at does not know that it is an airsoft gun, they may respond in a defensive way that may hurt you or them.

It is especially unwise to point an airsoft gun at a police officer. This could potentially get you killed since the police officer will be acting in self-defense.

3. Play in Official Airsoft Fields

When playing airsoft, try to visit official playing fields rather than shooting in your backyard. While you own the place, there are still bystanders and neighbors seeing you holding a gun. They might mistakenly think you’re holding a real gun and call the police. 

If you really have to, try to talk to your neighbors or even local police that you are conducting a friendly airsoft game. This way, you are not mistaken for holding a real gun and your neighbors won’t panic.

4. Eye Protection Must Be Worn

This is the most important protection that you should use. Despite being experienced with airsoft, it is still advisable to wear your goggles all the time. 

Airsoft Safety

Also, remember that people in your area might not be wearing one. Tell your friends and family to wear safety eye gear and if you’re playing in your backyard, consider your neighborhood as they are also at risk. 

You might just want to play in an official field in this case. 

5. Always Consider an Airsoft Gun as Loaded

Keeping this assumption will keep your mind alert when handling your airsoft gun and when others are handling their guns around you. Other things are going on in our lives and distractions are inevitable. 

Most accidents happen when you get too relaxed when handling dangerous equipment so treat your gun as if it’s loaded at all times. 

6. All Safeties Should Be On Until You Start Your Airsoft Game

You should ensure that everyone in your team maintains this habit and create ways of enforcing this habit. 

There’s a reason why guns have safety features and it is to keep you and other people around you safe. 

7. Keep Your Finger off the Trigger

Keep your finger off the trigger until you have your target in sight. If you’re not yet ready to shoot or if you simply have no open shot, just keep your finger off the trigger. 

Players often get excited and tend to get trigger-happy. As a result, they end up shooting at something unexpectedly. Friendly fire is common but you can avoid this. 

8. Never Shoot Through the Safe Area

There are safe areas in an airsoft field and must not be shot at all times. People here are not prepared for an airsoft match and might not be wearing their protection gears. 

Always keep the safe areas safe and free from any shot. 

9. Have Proper Footwear

Airsoft fields are usually rugged and one of the injuries you will need to protect yourself from are sprained ankles. You need to have boots that provide proper ankle protection.

Hiking boots like this one provide good ankle protection and will protect you from injuries when you are running on top of rocks and bushes.

10. Always Point Your Airsoft Gun Below Your Waist

Point your gun below your waist and not pointed up risking anyone from being shot in the face. This will protect you from hurting anyone if your gun does go off unintentionally.

Keeping this habit whenever you handle your airsoft gun will prepare you for when your gun is actually loaded.

Airsoft Safety Tips & Tricks

Below are safety tips that will keep you and your fellow players safe when playing airsoft.

1. Eye Protection

Get a pair of goggles that are impact rated. Getting ANSI Z87.1 goggles like the ones below will give you maximum protection since they have been tested for impact resistance.

2. Safety Word

You need to have a safety word that would be used when an accident happens in the field. This should communicate to the rest of the players that something needs immediate attention and requires the game to stop.

Having everyone in the field know this word will prevent gameplay from continuing and attending to the incident first. 

3. Clear Your Airsoft Gun After Each Game

Your gun may have some BBs left inside even after removing the mag. To ensure that your gun is safe to carry into a safe zone, pull the trigger for a few seconds for AEGs to discharge any ammo that may still be in the barrel.

This precaution prevents any accidental firing of the gun and hitting anyone that is outside of the field or even in the safe zone. This also protects you from laws governing your state since most states penalize airsoft usage in public.

4. Remove Mag From Airsoft Gun Before Leaving the Field

Since people do not ordinarily have eye protection in the safe zones of an airsoft field, all magazines must be removed from airsoft guns when entering the safe zone.

Here is a video done by Storm Riders on airsoft Safety tips when in the field.

Airsoft Safety Tips for Kids

Airsoft can be fun for kids. However, with the safety concerns that exist for airsoft, it is important to ensure that the kids are playing safely and that they do not get themselves in trouble or hurt others when playing airsoft.

1. Age Requirement

If your child is interested in playing airsoft, you need to first find out whether it is legal for minors to handle airsoft guns. Most states don’t allow minors to use airsoft guns on their own but some allow them as long as there are companions. 

Be sure to learn of these laws before letting your child engage in airsoft.

2. Laws and Rules

Sit down with your child and lay down the rules for them on how to use an airsoft gun. You can start by giving the following rules:

  • Airsoft can’t be played outside of a sanctioned airsoft field
  • Airsoft guns must always remain in a gun case or gun bag until you arrive at a sanctioned airsoft field
  • Safety gear must be worn at all times when you are at the airsoft field
  • Under no circumstances can the airsoft gun be pointed at anyone outside of the airsoft field
  • The magazine of the gun should always be detached from the gun unless you are in an ongoing game

These rules are just a suggestion and can be adjusted to suit your needs. However, safety should never be understated and proper gun-handling habits should be formed. This ensures that your child learns airsoft handling as second nature.

Airsoft Injuries

BBs are generally tolerable if shot from a distance but there are other injuries that can happen in an airsoft field. Aside from serious eye injuries, airsoft can also cause other kinds of injuries.

1. Eye Injury

Eye-related injuries in airsoft are quite common. When someone injures their eyes while playing airsoft, it is most likely that they were not wearing proper eye protection.

In the event of an eye injury, the eye must be looked at by a doctor to prevent loss of eyesight. However, here are a few tips on the first aid you should perform before getting the injured person to the doctor.

First Aid

  1. Tell the person not to rub their eyes
  2. Check their eyes to see if there is any foreign object in the eyes and wash them off with clean water
  3. Put a sterile gauze or bandage on the eye and ask the person to hold it
  4. Take the person to a hospital immediately

Here is a short video showing you how to do it:

2. Fall Injury

Fall injuries happen quite often and come from various causes. Good airsoft fields have many obstacles and may be set in nature where there are a lot of rocks and logs in the field. The most frequent injury in the airsoft field is sprained or rolled ankles due to running through the uneven terrain in the field.

First Aid

When someone rolls their ankle in the airsoft field, you need to follow the following steps:

  1. Rest the injured limb to relieve pressure from it
  2. Put ice or ice cold water on the limb if it is available
  3. Apply compression on the ankle area through a bandage as shown in the video below
  4.  Elevate the foot for as long as it is possible.

Once you do this, Get the person to a hospital as soon as possible to prevent the injury from getting worse.

3. Serious Fall Injuries

When playing in a multi-story facility or in areas that have high elevations, the risk of falling is real. When this happens, you need to know what to do when someone from your team or another team falls.

Head Injuries

Check for signs if the person is:

  • Unresponsiveness
  • Head wound
  • Dizzy or nauseous
  • Lost memory
  • Headache
  • Confused

Major Head Injuries

Check for signs if the person is:

  • Unresponsiveness to the surroundings
  • If the person has leakage of fluid from their ears, or nose
  • If the person’s pupils are unequal

What You Need to Do

If the person is alert to the surroundings and things happening around him, the injury may be minor. The injury may be slightly serious and needs attention if the person can only respond when you speak to him.

If the person can only respond to pain, the injury is more severe and needs immediate attention. However, if the person is completely unresponsive, you need to get this person to a hospital as soon as possible.

Watching for these signs is crucial. Nonetheless, head injuries are nothing to be taken lightly even if it’s just minor injuries. It’s still best to check with a doctor just to be sure. 

First Aid for Minor Head Injuries

When someone suffers from a head injury in the airsoft field, you need to follow the following steps:

  1. Place an ice pack on the hit area if it is not bleeding to reduce the swelling
  2. Keep the scalp wound under pressure to reduce bleeding
  3. Prevent any player from getting back to an airsoft game, even when he says he feels fine until they are assessed by a doctor.
  4. Advise the injured person to get checked by a doctor if their condition gets worse

Here is a video that talks about how to handle head injuries.

Airsoft Safety Gear

Here are some of the gears that you might need in an actual airsoft game. You might also want to check the links as these are considered good products in the market.

1. Airsoft Protective Vest

Airsoft Protective vests help in guarding your chest against BBs that may be shot at close range. It’s also a great way to store your other gears so you can easily access them. 

2. Airsoft Goggles


The proper airsoft safety goggles should naturally exceed ANSI Z87.1 High Impact Requirements. This keeps your eyes safe even when high-velocity BBs come at you from close range.

3. Airsoft Mask

Airsoft Masks help protect your face from the sharp sting caused by BBs hitting your face. Plus they look tactical and cool. 

4. Airsoft Protection Kit

Padding on your knees will help you prevent scrapes when you hit the ground if you trip over a branch or rock. Falling is common in an airsoft field, so try investing in lower body gear. 

5. Airsoft Helmets

A good airsoft helmet will help you prevent serious injury if you trip and fall when on your airsoft game.

Being a common injury, this gear becomes an important one as well. Plus they also look cool when you have them on.

6. Airsoft Gloves

Aside from looking cool, Airsoft gloves help shield your hands from BBs which might also come from close range.

Your guns become visible in the dark or corners of buildings which makes your hand prone to being shot. Having a glove on solves that problem.

7. Airsoft Neck Protection

A normal scarf would do when you want to protect your face but you may also want to have custom gear.

8. Airsoft Gun Cases

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A good airsoft gun case will protect you from a world of legal challenges. It also helps you get your airsoft gun to and from an airsoft game without brandishing it in public which is a crime and can get you in serious legal trouble.

Conclusion

Staying safe should be a priority amongst airsoft players at all times. There are serious injuries that can result from poor handling and following safety rules. 

If you’re unsure, you can always ask your pears or search the internet. Airsoft is truly engaging and can be played safely as long as you follow the rules of the game.