MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan – Military police responded Thursday after a student fired an airsoft gun at another student at the high school on this U.S. base near Hiroshima.

Legal experts say that while carrying an airsoft gun in public isn’t illegal, but it could cause some distress to other people, so it’s advised not to carry it around like the streamer was doing.

Airsoft competitions, which originated in Japan in the early 1970s and are now played all over the world, feature guns that look nearly identical to firearms but shoot spherical plastic pellets.

The airsoft gun replica is now available from Tokyo Marui for 25,080 yen (or approximately $173) and Amazon Japan (19,475 yen ~$134), which offers overseas shipping. [Thanks, Hobby Watch ...