*** CALL TO ACTION - Paintball ban in Wisconsin on ALL Public Lands...

[tooslow]

If you live in Wisconsin you will want to read this http://www.warpig.com/paintball/arti...ppma_wis.shtml and follow the link at the bottom of that page to take action... Time is short, the hearing is scheduled for December 18th.

[billmi]

More spefifically there is NO HEARING SCHEDULED.

A hearing is the last chance to get it changed, and today (the 18th) is the last chance to get a hearing scheduled.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

[Webmaster]

Thanks for posting this - I got the news this morning via email.

For those of you who can form complete sentences and have a spell check - I URGE you to send a mass email to the representatives of Wisconsin.

This is ESPECIALLY important if you live in Wisconsin - as you are a potential voter (they listen to voters more).

The rest of us should email them, imploring them to at least hold a hearing on the matter so that our representative in the sport can at least have thier chance to make a case against the law.

Remember - be respectful, be polite, do NOT be vulgar at all. Put on your best manners hat. Be to the point and clear. Include your real name and address (they dont need emails from "DeathPirate2002"). Even if you feel like you couldn't right a good letter, please at least just drop a note, tell them who you are and that you feel that the ban is wrong and that a hearing should be held.

http://www.warpig.com/paintball/articles/pressreleases/ppma_wis.shtml

Has the email address you need to send it to.

Bill - you should make those email links LIVE.

This is a rather serious threat - so lets all pull together.

Also - you MUST do it today. Tomarrow will be too late!

[skipdogg]

Need PPMA info.

Please give PPMA contact info. so we can pass it on to DuWayne!

FYI - this doesnt suprise me. Wisconsin is SOOO lame. Damn Tommy Thompson mucked it all up before he left!!!

[Cha0tic]

i will over night a letter tomorrow.

as webby said, please make this a very formal and professional letter. we need to bring ou tthe best in the paintball community.

[Webmaster]

Tommarrow will be TOO LATE - you MUST email THEM TODAY!!!

[billmi]

Originally posted by Cha0tic
i will over night a letter tomorrow.

as webby said, please make this a very formal and professional letter. we need to bring ou tthe best in the paintball community.

That will not be of benefit.
Unless the a hearing is scheduled TODAY, it will go into effect.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

[billmi]

Re: Need PPMA info.

Originally posted by skipdogg
Please give PPMA contact info. so we can pass it on to DuWayne!

FYI - this doesnt suprise me. Wisconsin is SOOO lame. Damn Tommy Thompson mucked it all up before he left!!!

From the PPMA web site:


Paintball Products Manufacturers Association, 1028 S. Bishop-PMB215, Rolla, MO 65401-4416

Executive Director: Jessica Sparks, 888.864.3911, [email protected]

http://www.paintballassociation.com/

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

[Webmaster]

Thank you bill -make those email links on your site "live"

thanks

[raehl]

This is *NOT NOT NOT* true.

I had a nice half-hour conversation with the Natural Resource Committee Chairman's office this morning. The PPMA release is highly inaccurate. There is *NO PROPOSED LAW* regarding paintball on state land. Furthermore, even if nothing happens in the next two days, its not a big deal.

Basically, what happened is this:

Earlier this year one of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources technical advisory committees noted that it would be a good idea to take action to prevent outlaw paintball play on state lands. They included a rule in a set of proposed DNR administrative statutes to prohibit the possession of paintball equipment on DNR administerred land. There was a committee hearing at the department level where the paintball rule went pretty much unnoticed - no one at the DNR thought it was particularly significant.

The Wisconsin Natural Resources Committee has 30 days from when the DNR submits proposed new statutes with which to hold hearings and amend the rules if it wants to. The NRC did hold such a hearing on December 5th. They changed the rule to only prohibit the use of paintball equipment as opposed to just possessing it, one of the representatives on the committee pointing out that there are plenty of legitimate reasons for people to carry paintball equipment on/through DNR run land. The legislators are on OUR side on this one. Beyond that, no one wanted people playing outlaw paintball on DNR land and there didn't seem to be any impact otherwise, so it pretty much went on unnoticed.

Sometime about a week ago it seems the PPMA caught wind of this and asked for another hearing. The NRC Chairman office declined, and when I asked for the same thing on behalf of the NCPA when I called this morning (still believing the PPMA release that said there was some impending law - I should have been smarter than that since committees don't pass laws), they again declined, citing that it was near Christmas and they doubted they could get enough people for a quarum to even conduct buisiness (i.e., they had this hearing on the 5th so they wouldn't have to have it now.)

Now, even if this gets out of the committee in its current form, it is *NOT* the end of the world. It's just a DNR administrative rule, it isn't anything mandated by the legislature. The DNR can overturn it themselves, or the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules can overturn it upon review as well. Those are the two places the PPMA and others should be concentrating their efforts. I know that's where the NCPA will be putting ours, beause while this rule really stands little chance of impacting most WI paintball players, it could have some consequences in regards to the abilities of college paintball clubs at state-run schools to conduct their activities.

So essentially, this is something that has gotten blown *WAY* out of proportion, and I think is making paintball look a little silly to a certain group of WI state representatives.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that if anyone tells you there is a law pending in WI to permanently ban paintball from anything, they are entirely incorrect.

- Chris

[Webmaster]

please read Bill Mill's comments in the other post - it explains what is happening better and yes - it is something important...

[raehl]

No...

I read the PPMA release and I've read Bill's posts both here and on Warpig that are based on that release. The release is innacurate, and no offense to Bill, but his posts explaining that release arn't any more correct that the original release is. I live in Wisconsin and I called the appropriate offices this morning and there is no proposed legislation affecting paintball under consideration by the Natural Resources Committee... period. They had a hearing to go over some administrative statutes proposed by the DNR on December 5th, they changed the paintball related one from prohibitting possession and use of paintball equipment to only prohibiting the use thereof, and that's that. This is being presented as some government assault on paintball and this is the "last stand" two day chance to stop it and it's simply not true. Should the rule be modifed? Absolutely, and I plan on working to accomplish that. But let's at least recognize the situation for what it actually is. The DNR doesn't want people playing outlaw paintball in state parks. That's a policy I entirely agree with. They screwed up and wrote a big, overreaching rule that needs to be changed. But if you go in there with the perspective "You're out to screw over paintball!" you're not approaching the situation with the REAL causes behind it in mind and you're not going to accomplish what you set out to do.

In any case, there is no state law being proposed in WI to ban paintball on state land. The DNR is just excercising their ability to determine how DNR administerred land is used.

- Chris

[cphilip]

So what you are really saying is that they already had a rule banning it and actauly relaxed it by this rule to allow possesion of equipment? If so then interesting.

[raehl]

Not exactly...

There is currently no rule regarding paintball and DNR land. The DNR proposed a rule that would ban both the use *AND* possession of paintball equipment. When the legislative oversight committee for the DNR (The Natural Resources Committee) got the DNR's set of proposed new administrative statutes to review, they changed the paintball statute to only prohibit the USE of paintball equipment on state land. As it turns out, at least one of the people working in the NRC Chairman's office is a paintball player. This is NOT a bunch of representatives out to ban paintball - it's some representatives reviewing an overzealous law brought up by the WI DNR who just didn't realize it was a big deal. There are still plenty of ways to get the statute fixed, it is *NOT* being passed into law. The NRC's 30 days to change the statute are up on Thursday, but the JCAR (a joint committee of WI reps and senators) and the DNR themselves can still overturn it. PPMA is way off the mark here by making it seem like the legislature is taking away the DNR's ability to issue permits when the reality is the DNR is the one coming up with the rule (and we don't even know if it's to prevent them from issuing permits - the DNR can just as well change the policy later when they have a better system for allowing paintball on state land in place.)

At 1 AM this morning when I had 7 emails sent to me inside of 45 minutes (apparently too many paintball players out there remember I'm from WI) I was all behind the PPMA and getting that hearing. After talking with my state government though, the appropriate legislative process WAS followed, no one is trying to screw paintball over, and there's still PLENTY of ways left to get things revised if there is a need. (And I'm still not convinced there's any reason paintball shouldn't be all-out banned from DNR land.) A mass of emails from a buncha people who arn't even accurately informed of the situation to attempt to get a buncha congressmen who had this hearing almost two weeks ago so they WOULDN'T have it right before Christmas to get back in the Capitol to have ANOTHER hearing isn't the way to do things. There's much better ways to spend energy to get the law changed through the JCAR and the DNR.

- Chris

[tooslow]

What's that on the ground, you ask?.... Why, it's an acorn....