Paintball nearly banned in some areas?

[j.t.]

[shartley]

I was just reading some of the letters to the editor in the June issue of APG and some people mentioned paintball almost being banned in some areas?!

Kids were also complaining about how they had paintball magazines taken away at school and got into trouble for looking at paintball websites.

I guess my thanks go out to the players and field owners here in Maine for promoting our sport so well. I have seen three reviews on the 6:00 news already in the past couple months about new fields opening, upcoming tournaments in the area, and even one which purpose was to show how paintball has gotten the wrong image but is actually a safe, fun, and interesting sport that anyone can play (they actually got one of the guys who usually reviews ski-resorts, hiking areas etc. to go out and play paintball).

[Croix71]

I think a lot of the legislation that is appearing now is for the proper use and transportation of paintball guns & airguns.

As for paintball magazines being banned that would be dependent upon each school district. Teachers could take them away if you opened them in class. They'd probably see it as a distraction in class. I remember in my high school game boys being banned. If you brought one to school it would get confiscated even if you didn't have it on. Your parents had to come pick it up if you wanted it back

Looking at paintball website at a school would probably raise some concern. Not because of paintball but because your using school property (which probably is funded by the state government) not for it's intended use.

[AcemanPB]

i was searching the internet and i came across some guy who was an "expert on kids" and wrote an article that made paintball sound really dangerous he was talking about how any respectable parent would not let thier kids play such a violent sport with all these school shooting and such

i e-mailed and explained to how safe the sport was and even gave him a link to this site, i hope he reads it

[Maghog]

There is one reason why paintball is doing so well in the state of Maine, it's because of the efforts of Rogue Paintball and the MRPL(Maine Recreational Paintball League)
These guys have managed to stay persistent, tracking down the bad publicity and shedding light onto the rumors which paintball's image too often suffers from.
They have unified the state of Maine, nearly all operating fields are members if only to show their support for paintball. The best part has been their focus on safety and making that a requirement for any field that wants to join.
The MRPL is young, but given time it will be a model that other states will look to copy in order to obtain the success it has.
There are over 250 members in the league already, though the focus is on rec ball, a tournament circuit has been created and the response has been overwhelming.
I am proud to know the people who formed this league and to see it prosper as it has.

[magatron]

i think there should be more groups like the mrpl, like one in each state, it could possably help out quite abit. the school thing is tricky as well, like at my old school, i would be forced to change or wear inside out my jt paintball t-shirt, but at my new school, all the teachers and such are realy interested in it and i've even talk one teacher into buying a marker for his son. it's weird how stuff like that works, i guess it's just from group to groups asumptions on what our sport is and isn't. i'm prity sure paintball will have it's turbulance, just skateboarding did a few years back, and now it's blossemed into a full grown televised sport the world over, i think all we need is time a some organization.