A Scottish man was charged with a criminal offence after posting an image to Facebook showing him in Airsoft gear, on a Facebook group filled with hundreds of similar images.
Airsoft is similar to paintball, but minus the paint, and there are Airsoft societies, ranges and shops across Britain.
The images showed Christopher Turnbull in black combat gear, posing with an Airsoft rifle, The Register reports, and he was charged with posting images that were ‘grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing manner’.
Turnbull was cleared at Falkirk Sheriff Court in August.
In letters sent to prosecutors, his solicitor questioned why the case even went ahead in the first place.
His solicitor wrote, ‘My client’s concern is that he wonders why he has been singled out for prosecution from the fifty thousand or so other members of the United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Association who regularly post these types of images on social media.
‘I am not sure if you are aware of the fact that Airsoft is an extremely popular leisure pursuit all over the world, as well as within Central Scotland where there are skirmish sites in both Grangemouth and Bonnybridge.’
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