1/2 & 1/4 time at The Swamp will never be the same.. @TsvCrocs told to hand in their t-shirt cannon @7NewsTownsville pic.twitter.com/VJ5ZM4I0jT
— Tom Hartley (@TomHartley_7) February 5, 2016
The Townsville Crocodiles basketball team in Queensland has used a homemade cannon to toss t-shirts into the crowd for more than ten years. Only recently did someone ask the Townsville Police where one could obtain such a launcher, which sparked an investigation. Police determined that the cannon, which is essentially a PVC pipe powered by an air compressor, is a category B weapon. The team surrendered the cannon to the police. A Queensland Police Service statement said,
"Category B weapons need to be licensed and registered, having established a genuine need for possession.
"Weapons of any category can only be manufactured by a licensed armourer."
The determination puts the homemade pipe launcher in the same category as a single shot centre-fire rifle, a double barrel centre-fire rifle, a repeating centre-fire rifle, a break action shotgun and centre-fire rifle combination.
The Crocodiles general manager Rob Honan was perplexed, as the cannon can’t fire anything heavy enough to hurt someone. The team is looking for another way to distribute t-shirts for the last game of the season tonight.
-via Arbroath