In recent years, incidents involving people brandishing a weapon-like objects or threatening passers-by have increased. In response, the Ministry of the Interior wants to include tighter restrictions on air, paintball and signal guns in Estonia's Weapons Act.

There are also no official rules when to comes to the use of airsoft weapons, which are essentially toys. Some dealers have agreed not to sell them to under-18s, though there are no age restrictions on their use.

"There should still be some form of control. It's not the case that every corner shop sells these guns, because they look very similar to real guns. I haven't seen any experts at the moment, who would be able to tell whether one is a toy or the real thing," said Andrus Klooster from the NGO Naissaare Airsoft Camp.

As things stand, airsoft guns can be bought in Estonia at both home supply and motorcycle shops. Klooster thinks it would be sensible to establish the requirements for purchasing them by law.

"Let's start with the fact that you don't just walk the streets with a weapon, you can't do this in every corner of the park," said Klooster.

The proposed bill stipulates that airsoft weapons may not be used by people under 18 and they must be concealed when carried in public places. Threating use of the weapons would also be prohibited by law.

While the Estonian state does not initially want to introduce licensing for the the sale of airsoft and paintball guns, it does want to do so for the sale of signal pistols. Registration for signal pistols is also being considered as an option, with that requirement also extended to weapons that have already been purchased.

"These weapons are often easily rebuildable, and there are people who do that. We have information that shows so many of the weapons that have made it to Finland and Sweden as result of these illegal activities come from Estonia," said Riita Proosa, adviser to the Ministry of the Interior.

The only restriction on air weapons up to now, which states that the caliber cannot be larger than 4.5mm, is to be replaced by a power limit of 17 joules. According to experts who spoke to ETV show "Aktuaalne kaamera," this will make it virtually impossible to sell any air weapons in Estonia, as the vast majority of weapons have a capacity of 24 joules.

According to Riita Proosa, the power limitation was proposed by experts for one simple reason. "An air gun with a more powerful muzzle energy is essentially almost as dangerous as a small-caliber firearm," she said.

Unlike the caliber, the capacity of the weapons cannot be checked visually and there is currently no means of testing it in Estonia. Questions also remain over what happens to those who already possess air weapons, which are generally more powerful than that.

"For those, the so-called 'grandfather claus' can be applied, so the ones people have today are there already and will stay, but newer ones will be subject to some restrictions," said Proosa.

A new draft of the Weapons Act is set to be submitted to the Riigikogu for approval in June.

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