Paintball prank spurs crusade

[Smitty2k1]

I hate people.

[Tack]

[painball]

I think its just those little 10 year olds who drool over Talons and Blades at Walmart and never actually play with them. I have heard of a bunch of kids my age (14) behaving inapropriatley(sp?). I never shoot my gun at other people and if some dumb kid doesn't wear it he's out. Even my friends today are a bunch of dicks with their guns and think their all big and bad. Going around and pointing it at someone in the head without their mask on is bad even if the safety is on.

It's just that "Jackass" society today thats seeming to cause all this havoc. Kids see Johnny Knoxville do something stupid on TV and it only urges them to go out and be jackasses. People are starting to not care about others and I doubt kids would care about how much we love our sport. The bottomline is people are just jackasses and don't care.

I hope that made any sence. o.0

[Blazingace]

Here we go again. Lets punish all the legally owned and used PB guns because a couple stupid kids ruin it for everyone else. As for calling a a deadly "weapon", that is BS. A rubber band and a paper clip can be a deadly "weapon" if used as such. Of course we all know that cars are deadly "weapons" too.

[theraidenproject]

Does paintball have a lobby group? I am against the concept of lobby groups, but unfortunatly they are necessary, since politicians have stopped serving people, and brown-nosing to big business (cough DMCA cough). Just think, with however many people play paintball a year giving a $5-per-visit, mandatory donation at fields and industry donations would get us one hell of a paintball lobby. If that's a litle broad, maybe NJ needs a player association to prevent anti-paintball legislation.

[halB]

Originally posted by theraidenproject
Does paintball have a lobby group? I am against the concept of lobby groups, but unfortunatly they are necessary, since politicians have stopped serving people, and brown-nosing to big business (cough DMCA cough). Just think, with however many people play paintball a year giving a $5-per-visit, mandatory donation at fields and industry donations would get us one hell of a paintball lobby. If that's a litle broad, maybe NJ needs a player association to prevent anti-paintball legislation.

yes, but its sad and pathetic

[raehl]

Paintball Lobby...

I'm working on it (www.paintball-players.org) and hopefully we'll be up and running soon.

What we need:

1) No sales of paintball markers to people under 18.
2) No sales of paintballs to people under 18.
3) A significant fine to any retailer who does sell either of the above products to players under 18.
4) A moratoreum on the production of full-auto paintball markers, esp. as these are getting less and less expensive.
5) Industry self-regulation, including a standard sheet of information included in every paintball marker and with every case of paint sold. This sheet shoud emphasize the safety equipment requirements and legal consequences of using a paintball marker inappropriately. Kids *ARE* dumb, and you need to tell them that they're committing assault if they shoot someone with a marker because some just won't realize it.



Now, somewhat unrelated question:

Would you pay $40/year to support an organization that lobbied on behalf of paintball players?


- Chris

[theraidenproject]

Re: Paintball Lobby...

Originally posted by raehl
Would you pay $40/year to support an organization that lobbied on behalf of paintball players?

Yes. I think a mandatory "donation" at fields would be better, like a visit to a museum is free, except for a small suggested (read: mandatory) donation. That way, Joe Six-Pack, who mostly plays with a few buddies on some land and only gets to a field a couple times a year, doesn't feel like he's shelling out money for nothing. I think you might end up with more money this way.

Originally posted by raehl
1) No sales of paintball markers to people under 18.
2) No sales of paintballs to people under 18.

Wait. Nevermind. Why would I PAY for my rights to be taken away? How about a paintball license for those under 18? It keeps markers out of the hands of vandals, and real enthusiats under 18 wouldn't mind. Perhaps a database, in addition to a physical photo license, that stores can look up. I would rather go through the hassle of that, than to have blanket bans.

[raehl]

Because...

Implementation of such a system is next to impossible and would be horrendously expensive - it doesn't make sense to charge $50 for a license to buy a $100 (or even $30) marker when a parent can simply make the purchase.

IF you can't get your parent to purchase your equipment for you, you shouldn't have it, period. The inconvenience and cost of supplying licenses to the under-18 purchaser would far outweigh the inconvenience and cost of involving parents in the purchase. Parents NEED to be involved in the purchase.


- Chris

[theraidenproject]

Re: Because...

Originally posted by raehl
Implementation of such a system is next to impossible and would be horrendously expensive - it doesn't make sense to charge $50 for a license to buy a $100 (or even $30) marker when a parent can simply make the purchase.

IF you can't get your parent to purchase your equipment for you, you shouldn't have it, period. The inconvenience and cost of supplying licenses to the under-18 purchaser would far outweigh the inconvenience and cost of involving parents in the purchase. Parents NEED to be involved in the purchase.


- Chris

I'm just thinking out loud here, I'm sure you've thought about most of the ideas I could come up with about this. If you're 15-17, though, (depending on the state) and have a license/permit, you have the privledge to drive yourself to a paintball store, but not the privledge to buy a new marker or a case of paint without a parent there? That is absurd. I would add more, and back this up better, but it's 1:47am, and I"m falling asleep.

[raehl]

There's several points to consider here.

- A teenager has received explicit permission from their parents to have a drivers license.
- A teenager has gone through extensive training and a certification process to obtain the license.
- The teenager is most likely legally required to be insured in the event that they cause anyone injury while operating the vehicle
- There is a system for enforcing the proper use of automobiles and revoking the licenses of those who do not use them properly.
- You can't own a car if you're under 18.
- If said teenager does injure someone with their vehicle, no one is going to try and outlaw automobiles.


Now, if you want all of those things to be true in order to buy and use a paintball marker, then I would say it would be acceptable for 15-17 year olds to buy them without a parent present.


- Chris

[Thordic]

I think the way this guy is going about this is a lot better than it could have been.

This guy isn't screaming "Ban paintball!" or anything like that, he is asking for parents of kids with paintball guns to be more responsible. If kids are going to be that stupid, then maybe a law is needed. Because I'll tell you right now that everyone who owns a gun, especially younger players, are NOT going to police themselves no matter how much you wish they would, and if they are allowed to continue to cause havoc then paintball WILL face stronger legislation.

[QUINCYMASSGUY]

laws

The car analogy is a good one, if you can get a license, car, insurance, and everything when you're under 18 without your parents ever knowing that would be quite an accomplishment, I agree people under 18 shouldn't be BUYING paintball gear, renting it from fields without consent, and Walmart and such shouldn't be carrying stuff without pros handling it. And under 16 shouldn't be playing without parent's consent either.

There are definitely way to many stupid, immature people playing our sport. We all know the safety rules but I've seen pros and all levels of players do stupid things that risk injury, and I'm sure it's not just newbies and under 18 year-old players doing stupid stuff with their guns. So every time you do, you're adding to the problem.

Solution? Your teammate screws around and shoots cars or something? Suspend him. He keeps it up, Fire him. I doubt this will actually happen as you're too preoccuppied with winning but if you want to lessen this problem it's what you need to do. You know someone shooting at others when no one's wearing masks, then Narc him. Report him to teachers, police, or if his parents actually care talk to them. It may seem bad at that time, but what will you say if he gets arrested, shot in the eye, or worse yet shoots you or someone else you care about in the eye? You're just as much to blame for that accident happening. If you don't do any of this, don't complain about them making a bad name because you're not doing a thing about it besides posting to people who already know it's wrong. And some people here probably do it themselves anyways.

[theraidenproject]

My parents support my paintball addiction, uh, I mean, hobby, but they shouldn't have to. I don't think I should be inconvenienced and hassled because some of those under 18 can't handle the reponsibility of a marker. Maybe some of those responding favorably to the under 18 restriction might look at it a little different if they were going to be directly affected. I, an underage person, sold my marker to another underage person, and bought a marker from another underage person. How would this ban affect the used market? Would I have to do paperwork and legal wrangling to have my mom technically selling my marker to his mom?

[shartley]

Originally posted by theraidenproject
My parents support my paintball addiction, uh, I mean, hobby, but they shouldn't have to. I don't think I should be inconvenienced and hassled because some of those under 18 can't handle the reponsibility of a marker. Maybe some of those responding favorably to the under 18 restriction might look at it a little different if they were going to be directly affected. I, an underage person, sold my marker to another underage person, and bought a marker from another underage person. How would this ban affect the used market? Would I have to do paperwork and legal wrangling to have my mom technically selling my marker to his mom?