Why are Nerf guns orange?

Nerf guns are not generally orange as they come in blue, red, white, and of course, in bright orange colors. The reason for Nerf guns to be bright in colors is that they won’t be mistaken for a real gun. They are intentionally designed to have a very far resemblance in looks and shapes of real guns.

The Sharpshooter is the first Nerf blaster that was released in 1992 under the Original Nerf name had two color schemes of blue, black, and red. The other one’s burgundy, blue and red. Both color combinations with orange tips.

What’s common and predominant in all the Nerf guns today is their orange tips.

Why is there a need for orange tips on Nerf gun?

In reality, it’s not a federal law that you must have an orange tip in your gun as long as it just uses compressed air to fire it.  However, you need an orange tip in a toy gun to buy, sell, or transport the imitation firearm over places. 

The only essential thing is for toy guns to be brightly colored to look like what’s is supposed to be, a toy gun.

When did the orange tip on toy guns come about?

It was in 1992, the same year that the Nerf Sharpshooter was released and the Laser Tag became popular, and cops got to shooting kids. These laser guns could be too confusing, especially in the dark.

The orange tip in toy guns became a precautionary feature after a kid pointed a toy gun at a cop in a tough neighborhood, and the cop mistook it for a real gun that resulted in the kid was shot and killed.

What is the purpose of the orange tip in toy guns?

After some horrible incidents that happened involving toy guns, it was advised to have them made with orange tips in them.

The purpose is valid such as to prevent people, including kids, from getting killed for holding a toy gun. The police could now see the orange tip and could easily identify that it’s not a real gun.

Alongside, toy guns are now designed brightly with two or more colors, and they often come in blue, red, or orange to deter being perceived as real guns. 

Another thing that Nerf did was to make the triggers of every Nerf guns orange except the Rebelle blasters that have pink triggers in them. 

Other exceptions in the Nerf lineup are the updated 2012 versions of multiple Dart Tag blasters, which have blue triggers. This includes the Sharp Shot, Speedloader 6, Swarmfire, and the Speedswarm.

What about the gray triggers in Nerf guns?

The Nerg guns with gray triggers are weakened and safer versions that were started with the release of the N-Strike Elite and Rebelle series. These gray-triggered blasters were generally made for countries with limits on how hard a toy blaster could only shoot. With this, Hasbro released gray trigger blasters with lesser performance capacity to comply with other countries that have more strict regulations on the kinetic energy output of toys; thus, they have deliberately weaker springs.

These blasters with gray triggers still have the same functions, and it could be upgraded anytime.

After Thoughts

The Nerf nation is such a pro-active member of the community that just want to enjoy Nerfing while abiding by the necessary protocols for Nerf guns. 

After all, everyone just wants to foster friendly game battles that are safe and that follows the general rules of the game.