Douglas Chadwick runs Dane Bridge Fish Farm near Macclesfield and is the local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator.
A police armed response unit was sent out last month when Mr Chadwick discovered two men snooping near his farmhouse.
They were armed with batons topped with nails, a pistol and a crowbar which had been stashed in a car nearby.
Mr Chadwick who has a licence for a shotgun to shoot vermin on his land, warned today that he could well have used it on the prowlers if he had been approached by them brandishing what was later found to be a replica handgun.
"Something needs to be done," he said. "I regularly go out on my land at night and if I saw prowlers and they were waving what I thought was a gun at me, I would not take any risks.
"I agree that replicas should be banned."
Norfolk farmer Tony Martin is currently serving life for shooting 16-year-old burglar Fred Barras and Mr Chadwick added: "I could well end up in the same position as Tony Martin."
Research into the use of weapons has revealed an estimated 60 per cent of armed robberies involve the use of replica guns.
Senior police officers and politicians in Greater Manchester say they would like to see replica guns banned because of the dangers involved.
But as a first step, they - together with the Manchester Evening News - are calling for a change in the law to make it an offence to carry a replica weapon in public.
This would bring the law in line with that on offensive weapons such as knives.
Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd said: "The constituency I serve has had its fair share of gun crime and I have thought for some time that there needs to be a ban."
Changes in legislation are backed by Deputy Chief Constable David McCrone, who is chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers' Criminal Use of Firearms sub-group. Officers in Greater Manchester's armed response team are also keen to see the law tightened up.
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It is ridiculous to consider banning replica handguns. At the risk of sounding too harsh, if someone is committing an offence using a replica handgun he should be treated as if he had a real gun. That was his intent and his consequences should be that. America has a love affair with replica weapons of all types. We should be able to lawfully collect and display them as well has have our own weapons if we choose. We cannot regulate people of ill temperament to behave themselves. A thug is simply going to be a thug. Are children's toy guns next? Then what? Get off of it. If they are committing a crime with a replica gun shoot them. They will have been the person that put themselves in that position. The blank guns have red tips as well as the orange tip regulated for air soft guns. That is enough regulating.
Banning replicas will make matters worse.When you ban something you create an underground or black market of either replicas or worse real guns.When Australia banned certain types of rifles and semi autos rifles it created a huge underground network of illegal firearms which made it a hell of a lot easier for crims to get hold of.Banning only hurts the poor law abiding citizen,who can legally own one