Prohibited Items & Use-Cases

Real Drama, Not Real Weapons

When in doubt use a replica prop instead of the genuine article.

Students must not use dangerous objects when depicting the brandishing or use of a weapon in their productions.

Firearms, compressed air rifles and handguns, paintball or Airsoft-style guns, crossbows, or any firing replica or item that can launch a projectile or discharge a cap or blank are prohibited on student productions. Sharpened edge and weighted blunt weapons are not permitted for staged combat use in student productions.

Legitimate tools, sporting equipment, and cooking and eating utensils are not permitted to be used as improved weapons or for staged combat. Students must always substitute with a safe replica.

For example, if a golf club is scripted to be used and handled as melee weapon by talent, it needs to be a rubber or plastic replica with reduced mass to avoid accidental blunt trama.

Firearms that have had their firing pins removed or have been modified as non-functional are also prohibited. “Blank Guns” aka blank firing guns and cap guns are also prohibited from use.

Live ammunition, blanks, caps, gunpowder, squibs of any kind, explosives, daytime or nighttime fireworks, and professional pyrotechnics are prohibited on student productions.

Read the Novelty Fireworks section of the Working with Fire and Pyrotechnics article of this handbook for some allowances of sparklers, snaps, party poppers and other novelty items.

Firearms, in any status of functionality, are prohibited from university property.

Improvised Weapons

Improvised weapons are tools, sporting equipment, cooking and eating utensils, and other everyday objects that have other primary functions, and are otherwise permissible, but are brandished or depicted as a weapon during the production.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Ranged Weapons

The presence and use of actual ranged weapons is not permitted. A ranged weapon is defined as any object that can engage a target beyond hand-to-hand combat distance by launching either a projectile or missile. This also includes some toys and sporting equipment that are capable of launching high velocity projectiles or discharging caps or blanks.

This includes, but are not limited to:

Melee Weapons

The use of actual melee weapons in staged combat is not permitted. A melee weapon is defined as any handheld object used in hand-to-hand combat for the purpose of causing harm.

This includes, but is not limited to: