Kid shot in the eye at CFOA today.

[argnot]

This guy did have it tight. I am not trying to change the subject I just dont think that they work that well. Maybe a plug like in wine bottles that you flip down the lever and they increase in diameter. It was kinda foolish to not check the breach for a ball. You don't put a gun away with out checking if it is loaded or not, the same sould apply to your paintball gun even if it is from the car to the house.......

[punkncat]

That is crazy! Buddyis lucky to have his eye still.
You should alway check to be sure there is no ball in the chamber when doing clean up like that.Not a bad idea to turn the marker off also.

Another reason why red paint should be banned.That is the universal color for hurt and bleeding.Paint should not be made anymore with that color fill , just so that its easy to access if someone is really hurt or not.

[cphilip]

Originally posted by punkncat
That is crazy! Buddyis lucky to have his eye still.
You should alway check to be sure there is no ball in the chamber when doing clean up like that.Not a bad idea to turn the marker off also.

Another reason why red paint should be banned.That is the universal color for hurt and bleeding.Paint should not be made anymore with that color fill , just so that its easy to access if someone is really hurt or not.

You Sir got it all right. And the reason we wanted to make sure this was posted. Its just something no one ever considers. All the safety rules we follow did not include this scenario. We wanted to make sure everyone else realised what we realised from this incident. We hope it saves an eye.

[StickFigurSicide]

I just found out a local kid (dont know him personally, but his cousin goes to my parents church) shot his eye.

He is 14. His parents were leaving to go somewhere, and told him specifically not to touch his paintball gun (i assume he had just gotten it, but im hearing this second hand). Anyway, as soon as his parents left, he went and gassed up, went outside, and started shooting a tree. He breaks a ball or jams the gun, looks directly down the barrel WITHOUT goggles on. The gun went off.

He was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. He now has to travel to phillidelphia every day to go to a special eye doctor.

Makes me wish someone around here offered saftey classes...

[Doobie]

Another reason why red paint should be banned.That is the universal color for hurt and bleeding.

LOL! That is just well put!

Barrel plugs have been known to fly off when shot. I had one fly right by my head one time and I was only about 2 feet from the end of the marker. I would almost rather be hit in the eye with a paintball than a hunk of hard plastic!
Also, some early condoms (or BBD's for the PC people out there) did not have a piece of thick Condura nylon accross the end to reinforce the stiching at the end of the barrel. Those had some incidents where paintballs were shot through them. That is why the BETTER BBD's have the thick nylon or canvas on the end now.
Believe it or not, I saw a kid today using a barrel swab as a BBD...on a $600 cocker! Spend the extra $10 bucks, 'ya know!

[Zedaine]

This reminds me when I was at a field and the owner told us before we started playing to never take your masks off because he had a friend who got shot on the lower part of his eye socket and his eye ball flew out of its socket. Scary stuff folks...

[Carbon]

paintball guns are firearms. They should be treated like one.

[jayel579]

Re: Kid shot in the eye at CFOA today.

Originally posted by cphilip
and breaks before it shatters into his eye. Now for some reason the fill of this paint is red! (Not certain why but thats another story) So we are all freaking... and soon after realize it was paint not blood.

i thought this is why red paint isnt made anymore, or maybe tried not to be made anymore

[Wes Janson]

The fact is, this sort of thing is always going to happen, because idiots always find a way to screw themselves up, no matter what the situation. Leaving your tank off until you get onto the field is taking things to an extreme; I generally just try to make sure I know the gun's air condition and whether a round is chambered or not. I've sometimes looked down a gun held out at length with a mask on, but never without a mask. With a several pound trigger pull, accidental discharge isn't a concern for me.

Incidentally, I wonder what sortof gun the kid was using. I've played games with people whose markers were so ultra-responsive that they would go off just by walking around. During the last scenario game, our general nailed two or three people in the foot by accident, just standing around. Compared to my original Spyder, or my mag, I'm willing to bet that 90%+ of the cases we hear about involve triggers that are far too sensitive.

[breg]

This is going to soud wierd. In the military, when upon issue/reciept and turn in of a fire arm we do what is called "Clearing Procedures." Basically we insure that the firing chamber is empty, and we show that the chamber is empty to the clearing offical and the issuing officer. It takes up a lot of time, but it insures that we have not recieved or turned in a weapon capable of firing.
We could accomplish this by removing the hopper and removing the paintballs from the gun before leaving the field. Or by saying that all markers must have barrels and barrel blocking devices on them at all times while in the staging area, and that any work being preformed on a malfunctioning must be accomplished in the chrony range while wearing full protective gear.
This would be a hassle, but what is a hassle compaired to a lost eye?
I'm just glad to hear that the kid is going to be OK. Thank God for that. This could have been a lot worse.

[pntballgunz]

I believe the paintball industry should make everyone take a paintball safety coarse and have a standard issuance of safety cards to players once they complete the coarse. Then they would show the field prior to registering for the day. Not only barrel plugs and condoms are a problem, but safety in general. You have kids modifying their guns gassed up or install new parts and gassing and what happens...only to find something explode in their faces and/or serious injurying others. Many incompentent people thinking their home airsmiths not knowing how dangerous CO2 or compressed air can be. Just recently, we had a deadly injury here where a CO2 tank was not properly tightened after installing a anti-siphon tube and what happens...it takes off like a missile and kills a bystander(see link below). For kids playing paintball, I believe the parents need to take more responsibility and learn that paintball could be deadly if not handled correctly.

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/2854345/detail.html

[Sir_Brass]

Before I degas my marker, I ALWAYS tilt the gun upside down, remove hopper (with paint in it), and deposit paint into empty pods or into the bag which they came from. THEN, with bbd on the barrel, I go over to the chrono station, take off bbd, and fire ball in chamber (I shoot a blazer). THEN, I degas the marker. even after I degas it, I place the bbd back ON the gun, and tighten it on the feed neck or vert reg.

That is my standard "disarm gear before going home proceedure." I NEVER have my guns gassed up or loaded while in the car . . . NEVER. It's not safe. Not in the least.

[breg]

I think in some states, it is iollegal to have a gassed up gun in the car.

But, as a general rule, unless it is on the field or going that way in the next ten seconds, I try to keep my marker in a state that visually displays that it is incapable of firing (IE disconnecting the gas line, I have a pro connect on it. And removing the hopper.)

[Brophog]

Originally posted by Carbon
paintball guns are firearms. They should be treated like one.

That's what calling them "markers" will do. When we stopped calling them "guns" I think we also stopped respecting them as such.


This is another reason that pumps are superior! I know that I don't have a ball chambered, because one click of the trigger before exiting the play field assures me of it!

[StygShore]

other odd ocurrences

Another thing to watch for since we are talking about near misses.

Not only do goggles need to be on when the barrel sock/barrel is off, but they must be on correctly.

We have all seen the noobs out there with the side panels on their goggles kicked out to the side looking like wing flaps to slow em down, goggles that kep slipping over their face, and just plain not fitting well.

We have had a couple instances where somone had their goggles on wrong and there were some close calls -

1st one a guy had the brake flaps going, and he got stitched up from behind from about 15 ft away. Ball hit right behind his ear, and another in his temple, knocked him out for a bit. There was a nasty bleeding welt right behind his ear, and it looked like it damnnear tore it off.

The second was someone was running down a hill shooting at someone. His goggles were very loose, and he had stuffed paper towel into the headband. The person he was running at returned fire, the first shot hit the upper endge of his goggle frame, causing the loose fitting mask to tilt back on his face, the second shot came up under his mask and left a nice mouse right under his right eye.

At my local field where I ref, we are HUGE on the goggle and barrel sock rule, and have and will continue to make people sit out games, or leave the field if they break those rules.

Well, thats my public service announcement today....

Styg