More bad cred for paintball

[Cow hunter]

Today i read an article in the paper with the title "Paintball guns lead to 4 arrests"..... the way it was written it sounds like it is directly blaming paintball, although only one of them had a paintball gun and only shot at police and misfired at another car The four of them were charged with vandilism and intent to sell.....(says they found drugs in their pockets after arrest). I belive this article to biased againt paintball and a more approprite title would have been "Four vandalism arrests" or somthing of that sort......... if there are more writers and articles at all involving paintball, there might be a move to completley eliminate the sport (bans).... its a shame the only press we get is bad press........

[WingMan13]

Where did this happen?

[duby]

i hate how the equipment used in paintball reflects the whole sport and its players. if these idiots had been hitting cars and stuff with a baseball bat, no one start saying that baseball is an unsafe sport...

[wanna-b-ballin']

i dont know if this counts as anti-paintball news, but yesterday on my homepage, there was news of some kid in florida who had some mental illness, and needed help, and admitting to needing help on some website dedicated to the illness.
well he wore a paintball mask and a cape and went to some girls house, shot her and her dad with a shotgun, killing them, and tried to kill someone else, but the gun jammed, he walked home, and then shot himself.
i guess its sorta but not really paintball news.

[Tunaman]

Today i read an article in the paper with the title "Paintball guns lead to 4 arrests"..... the way it was written it sounds like it is directly blaming paintball, although only one of them had a paintball gun and only shot at police and misfired at another car The four of them were charged with vandilism and intent to sell.....(says they found drugs in their pockets after arrest). I belive this article to biased againt paintball and a more approprite title would have been "Four vandalism arrests" or somthing of that sort......... if there are more writers and articles at all involving paintball, there might be a move to completley eliminate the sport (bans).... its a shame the only press we get is bad press........Welcome to the Liberal Media. Anything to do with guns they want to take away any way they can. Be careful how you vote...and join the NRA. ;)

[Apple_Pie]

I should take footballs, baseballs, and soccer balls and throw them at cars, then blame those sports for making me violent...but then they might find my paintball marker in my closet locked up and hidden to prevent injury, and then the media will then blame paintball.

[MagVak]

Liberal media? Can't say that I disagree with news agencies reporting the truth. Should the atricle have read that these punks DIDN'T shoot at cops with paintball markers? Perhaps they should have NOT stated that paintball guns are dangerous, even deadly? Sounds like you have spent a little too much time paying attention to the conservative spin machine pumping out thier garbage while bending over for the corporate entity. However I digress..

This is not new and yet paintball has survived...thrived in fact. If you are that worried about the sport being tarnished then invite your local media outlet to visit the field. Take an active, interested role in showing off the positive, respectfull aspect of this sport. This would be the democratic, as in the constitution, way of taking this matter into your own hands. Write an opinion piece to counter this article, talk about the good things that paintball does and defend the responsible majority of paintball participants. Don't sit back and blame one group or another, use the rights given to you and force the issue.

It's not the intention of a majority of Americans to remove paintball guns from the public. If you want to equate this with firearms than perhaps there should be responsible guidelines for the purchase of a paintball marker. Is it that tough to wait a couple days before buying a handgun, rifle or shotgun? No, I don't think that this kind of regulation is necessary or warranted for the paintball industry. However "joining the NRA" isn't going to do squat. Talk to your local city, state or federal offical about what is really happening regarding the paintball industry. Most likely you'll find zero legislation and netural opinions. By siding youself with a fringe element who wrongly equate the second amendment to mean that they can buy any gun, any time without restraint, you'll only force more legislation prohibiting gun ownership. It's about compromise and the ability to see eye to eye.

Anyway that's my soapbox time. I'm not pushing an adjenda besides realistic views regarding this subject. IF you have a problem with that, learn to see things from other perspectives.

[Rudz]

all media we are exposed to r controlled by a handfull of companies, we have 1 on our side, disney, u would think they would help to protect there investment in the psp, i say if we get any good press, its thru the disney corporation, if any1 can make the sport mainstrean, its disney, thank god for disney, m...dear god, tell the disney super conglomerate to make our sport mainstream, and the media will have to like us, because the disney corpaoration has there jobs!!! lol, sweriously tho, all media ia contralled by, 5 companies i believe, once a year they all meet up and decide..censorship..basically decide the news..so disney get off the fence and back us up, who doesnt want an army of paintballers watchin there backs??...dont u diss mickey mouse...he loves paintball!!!!!!!!!!!

LONG LIVE DISNEY AND PAINTBALL, LOL

[CoolHand]

. . . . . . . . I'm not pushing an adjenda besides realistic views regarding this subject. IF you have a problem with that, learn to see things from other perspectives.

See, now that is the great thing about opinion. You can have one, and Tuna can have one, and they don't have to be the same. Neither is right or wrong, because it's just what you or he thinks. That's all.

The one thing I will say is this:

If you are going to take a weapon and do something illegal with it (say rob a liquor store, or kill some folks), do you really think that the fact that the weapon itself is illegal will actually deter anyone? I mean really.

The only people who will be effected by a change in gun laws are the folks you don't have to worry about doing something stupid in the first place.

So some folks like guns, and you don't understand it. Get over it. They aren't hurting anyone, and if they do hurt someone, guess what? It's already against the law. They are ALREADY in serious trouble.

So some folks don't like guns, maybe they're afraid of them or whatever, and you don't understand it. Get over it. As long as they keep their hands to themselves, they aren't hurting anyone either.

The biggest problem with the two camps is that the pro-gun folks want to just be left alone. They don't want to force people who are afraid of guns to handle them daily or live with one loaded in their house. They just want to be left alone to do what they enjoy.

Now, the anti-gun folks aren't happy to just not own any guns of their own, they want to get into everyone else's lives and dictate what they can and can't do too. THIS is what many people have a problem with. It's not that they can't wait two days to buy a shotgun, it's that they see no reason why some other random person should be able to force them to do so. It's the principal of the thing. It's like telling them they can't drive a red car because you don't like red. It's all arbitrary and subjective, based on feeling and emotion, and it encroaches on a person's free will for no good reason. THAT is why people fight the gun control folks so hard. It's not because they are addicted to cordite, it's because once you give an inch, those same folks see the green light to take a mile. What would be next?

Call them kooks if you like, but IMO it is much better for your health to distrust the government, rather than place blind faith in them. At least the suspicious are less likely to be caught off guard. :ninja:

[geekwarrior]

amen coolhand :headbang:

[MagVak]

My appologies Tuna if I came out a bit strong, I've had to deal with some other crap tonight that didn't assist in my response. I'd like to clarify a bit on control and my personal view.

I don't have any problem with guns, gun owners or the right to purchase/own guns. I've never owned a gun nor do I personally choose to and that's my right.

It would be infinetly dangerous should guns be outlawed, for the simple fact of protection from the government and of personal property. This is one point that I admitted to myself this evening inbetween posts. Scary as it is to consider armed revolt..that's how we got to where we are.

Responsible gun ownership is vital to avoidance of future gun laws. Reasonable methods to minimize the risk of having guns fall into the wrong hands is also vital to the safety of our society. It's a slippery slope that we tread upon within this issue.

I really believe that compromise is what it takes to make decisions that benefit society. Neither side solely has the answers because they can only be found by dialoge and discussion. I've gotten into the habit of reading into the news, finding the sources and facts to determine how I feel towards a ceratin topic. I rarely defend a stance blind.

I'd like to reiterate that the best thing the PB community can do is to fight against these negative incidents by being proactive. Educating the public about paintball and promoting positive leadership within the PB community. When one PB'er or jerkoff pulls a stunt, be it on the streets or in competitive play, it hurts us all. No one will ever know it's not that way unless we stand up rather than complacently sit idly by.

Personally I'm completely fed up with the finger pointing and blame game going on in the political scheme these days. It's like a bunch of two year olds with microphones. I'd much rather see positive change towards a government that does what it's supposed to do.

Coolhand is right. I took my post a bit too far and I sincerely appologize.

[SpitFire1299]

Welcome to the Liberal Media. Anything to do with guns they want to take away any way they can. Be careful how you vote...and join the NRA. ;)
Well said. Thanks tunaman. :clap:

[Duzzy]

its a shame the only press we get is bad press........

You could try to post something positive. I have seen a few threads dealing with Toys for Tots games that are coming up. Not here, but they are out there.

My point is, if you want good press for paintball then you need to go out and make it happen. The news rarely reports good news because it doesn't sell, so you can't rely on that.

Most people just like to read about the horrible things and despair over the fate of our sport and never actually do anything about it. Why? I have no idea, maybe it is more fun to bewail and moan and make throaty groans of despair...

So my challenge to you is to post some good news.

[Muzikman]

It's not the intention of a majority of Americans to remove paintball guns from the public. If you want to equate this with firearms than perhaps there should be responsible guidelines for the purchase of a paintball marker. Is it that tough to wait a couple days before buying a handgun, rifle or shotgun? No, I don't think that this kind of regulation is necessary or warranted for the paintball industry. However "joining the NRA" isn't going to do squat. Talk to your local city, state or federal offical about what is really happening regarding the paintball industry. Most likely you'll find zero legislation and netural opinions. By siding youself with a fringe element who wrongly equate the second amendment to mean that they can buy any gun, any time without restraint, you'll only force more legislation prohibiting gun ownership. It's about compromise and the ability to see eye to eye.




I don't know how long you have been involved in the sport of paintball, but there are a few of us here that remember a time when NJ (where Tuna is from) outright banned paintball. It took very hard work from a few people in the industry at the time to not allow this to happen. So if you think that paintball will not be banned, think again, it has happened and will continue to happen.

As for the inviting your local news out to the field. Good luck getting them to come. They want negative happenings for the news, not happy positive crap. They love dirty laundry.

[SlartyBartFast]

As for the inviting your local news out to the field. Good luck getting them to come. They want negative happenings for the news, not happy positive crap. They love dirty laundry.

And that's what's offensive about Tunaman's geralisation. What you said is equally true of ALL media.

Ask yourself seriously wh there's so much hyperbole and superfluous adjectives and scary graphics on your favorite newscast.


FNORD!

[MagVak]

I've been around the paintball scene for around 10 years now. Never heard of a city or state outright banning paintball. Perhaps Wisconsin is a bit more removed from the major epicenters of where paintball got started. I've never even seen a negative article about paintball from around here that wasn't steeped in truth. There's never been any laws written limiting paintball participants ability to enjoy the sport.

Okay, don't do anything then. Watch your fields close, feel the effects of anti-paintball legislature and avoid any effort when it comes to your chosen sport. Because the liberal media is so powerfull that you can't do anything about it. Don't attempt to get involved. Whatever you do, completely allow your rights to be stripped away because what good are they anyway? Whatever.

[hitech]

The point of outlawing guns (or "gun control") is that if there are a lot less guns then it will be a lot harder for "outlaws" to get guns. Whether it works or not is up for debate. Personally I think gun control means using both hands... :eek:

[Muzikman]

MagVak,

Read this.

http://www.topgunpaintball.com/History_of_Paintball.html

[Duzzy]

The point of outlawing guns (or "gun control") is that if there are a lot less guns then it will be a lot harder for "outlaws" to get guns. Whether it works or not is up for debate. Personally I think gun control means using both hands... :eek:

It is a very good theory indeed. I mean, it worked during the Prohibition (sp?), and it continues to work with drugs like Cocaine and Marijuana so it should work for guns... :rolleyes:

[SlartyBartFast]

Gun control can also mean the responsibilisation and education of owners.

You have to have liscence to operate a car. Right? Can't just go out and buy, then fly a jet.

Remove the pathetic hyperbole from the Right Wing Media and they'd have precious little to say.

[CoolHand]

Remove the pathetic hyperbole from the Right Wing Media and they'd have precious little to say.

Well, yeah, but that could be said about a great many people. Like nearly every news cast since Walter Cronkite retired, and anything ever said by a politician, and lawyers, don't get me started on lawyers. . . . .

When it comes to exaggeration and BS, there isn't a clean soul on TV or in the public eye today. I see no way to slant it one way or the other without simply disregarding things.

[ThePixelGuru]

Welcome to the Liberal Media. Anything to do with guns they want to take away any way they can. Be careful how you vote...and join the NRA. ;)

Good thing you bring that up. Because there's no conservative slant from Fox "News" or anything, it's all crazy liberals pushing their agenda to demonize paintball. And joining the NRA to support paintball is a great way to legitimize the sport as nonviolent and prove that paintball markers aren't dangerous weapons like guns.

C'mon, Tuna, you can do better. ;)

[Miscue]

See, now that is the great thing about opinion. You can have one, and Tuna can have one, and they don't have to be the same. Neither is right or wrong, because it's just what you or he thinks. That's all.


I'm not a big fan of this philosophy... it only works in certain situations. Otherwise it's just a mentally lazy way of thinking about things. Two people can have different opinions... and one opinion is better than the other.

Comment: 2+2=4 Response: Well, that's just your opinion... and opinions are neither right nor wrong.

...

Situation: Two guys stuck on a deserted island. They have a picture of Cindy Crawford... and neither knows who she is... or have ever seen her picture.
Opinion 1: Most American males would find her attractive.
Opinion 2: I disagree.

Now... because they are stuck on a deserted island... they cannot test either opinion. But it should be clear that Opinion 1 is better than Opinion 2.