PA Lawmaker airs paintball safety bill

[Muzikman]

Lawmaker airs paintball safety bill
Tuesday, May 23, 2006

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau



HARRISBURG -- State Rep. Bob Belfanti, a legislator from central Pennsylvania, is in his 50s, considerably older than your average paintball player.

But he got interested in the growing sport, which is dominated by teenage and 20-something males, more than a decade ago when his two young sons urged him to take up the game with them.

Mr. Belfanti, a Democrat from Northumberland County, has grown to like the exercise and the camaraderie of the sport, and even owns a commercial paintball field in his hometown, about an hour north of Harrisburg.

Now he wants to make the sport safer.

He has introduced a bill to regulate paintball safety, require all players to wear strong goggles to protect their eyes, and impose age limits to keep young children from playing and getting hurt.

The House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee held a hearing on the bill, House Bill 2160, yesterday.

"I know a lot about hunting but I don't know a darn thing about paintball," said Rep. Robert Godshall, R-Montgomery, a 60-something lawmaker who is committee chairman.

"It's a growing international sport," Mr. Belfanti said.

Teams of three, five, seven or sometimes larger use paintball guns, also called markers, to shoot small gelatin-wrapped pellets of paint or colored vegetable oil at opponents.

Mr. Belfanti wants to require that all paintball goggles worn by players meet safety standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials. Cheap plastic goggles can splinter when hit by the pellets and endanger a player's eyes, he said.

All guns, or markers, would have to be equipped by safety on/off switches. The tanks of carbon dioxide or nitrogen which fire the pellets would have to be properly tested before use. By who


Children age 9 or younger wouldn't be allowed to play on commercial fields, under Mr. Belfanti's proposal. Children 10 to 12 could only play if a parent or guardian were playing. Teens age 13 to 18 could play only if they had written parental permission.

Also under the bill, commercial paintball fields would have to carry at least $500,000 of liability insurance, and players would have to get safety briefings before play starts.

A fine of up to $300 could be imposed on a player or paintball facility operator who doesn't comply.

The House Tourism Committee is still taking public comments on the proposal and didn't set a date for a vote.

[Lohman446]

Nothing there looks unreasonable to me, at least at face value.

[shartley]

[Lohman446]

Age restrictions are not law, generally only enforced by insurance companies.

Liability insurance is not law - as such if one chooses to operate without all the "required by insurance" issues are gone.

I'll agree requiring high pressure vessels to comply with DOT standards is a bit redundant though, though here it would give state authorities (I'm thinking prosecuters) the power to enforce better.

[AGDRetro]

Bob Belfanti owns Paintball Thunder in Natalie, PA. Last time I was there the whole place was pretty beat and his refs were less than great. That was about 2 years ago, hopefully he has cleaned up his field as much as he intends to clean up the industry in PA...

https://www.paintballthunder.com

[shartley]

Age restrictions are not law, generally only enforced by insurance companies.

Liability insurance is not law - as such if one chooses to operate without all the "required by insurance" issues are gone.

I'll agree requiring high pressure vessels to comply with DOT standards is a bit redundant though, though here it would give state authorities (I'm thinking prosecuters) the power to enforce better.

[Lohman446]

I am under the impression you can, and even if some liability insurance is required, is it enough for the specific purpose? I personally would not try to operate without liability insurance, but I am under the impression, unless there is an industry specific regulation that you can operate without or with less than adequate.

My industry is pretty well regulated already, but that is through law. Any growing industry is going to have to eventually face scrutiny by the legislature and the resulting laws. I would be much more comfortable with those laws coming from an advocate before they are needed then in response to a public outcry over a tragedy.

I agree with you on a need to enforce old laws rather than make new ones, but there are times when new ones are needed.

[punkncat]

Most if this is already being/been done by fields and manufacturers.

For instance the two closest fields to me will only allow players 10 and up, a waiver/permission/rules form must be signed both by the player and their legal guardian if applicable.

Tank manufactureres, air stations, and end users follow standards for both the testing and life span of both CO2 and HPA tanks.

We can at least assume that two of the big goggle manufacturers are building their lenses well beyond safe for a paintball impact. Both Scott and JT have a long history in eye protection for motosports. It would be nice for a mandatory lense changing timetable to be implemented. I know many fields rental masks are a sad sight.

The only thing I am unsure of is the level of liabilty insurance that each carries. I don't see where a mandatory minimum (like auto ins.) would hurt.

[BigEvil]

It's only a matter of time before some hard regulations are imposed on the game, either from the insurance companies or state governments.

[robnix]

Most if this is already being/been done by fields and manufacturers.

For instance the two closest fields to me will only allow players 10 and up, a waiver/permission/rules form must be signed both by the player and their legal guardian if applicable.

Tank manufactureres, air stations, and end users follow standards for both the testing and life span of both CO2 and HPA tanks.

We can at least assume that two of the big goggle manufacturers are building their lenses well beyond safe for a paintball impact. Both Scott and JT have a long history in eye protection for motosports. It would be nice for a mandatory lense changing timetable to be implemented. I know many fields rental masks are a sad sight.

The only thing I am unsure of is the level of liabilty insurance that each carries. I don't see where a mandatory minimum (like auto ins.) would hurt.

I was thinking the same thing. The fields that I go to have ages of 11 and 12, and require everything that's in this bill.

[Jeffy-CanCon]

Without reading the text of the bill, I'd bet that his aim is to demand similar standards for "renegade" play as for commercial fields, and make it easier to crack down on them, forcing everyone onto commercial fields such as his own.

But maybe he is actually being altruistic. A properly regulated industry should benefit everyone.

[Jaan]

How about this for a scenario:

-This man owns a paintball field.

-A lot of people in Pennsylvania play on private property.

-A lot of people play at other commercial fields.

-This man wants to make more money.

-This man would like to legislate his competition, and his competitors, out of existence.

-This is the first step.

I guess I may be getting old and have seen too many things, but I always take a politicians "benevolence" with a grain of salt. Up until now none of this stuff he suggests has been law, and that's where the slippery slope begins. I'm sure there are many field owners who would like nothing more than to see paintball outlawed everywhere, except their own fields of course. How long before we see "safety" laws which state that no paintball marker can be discharged outside a commercial field with liability insurance?

Oh please Big Brother, protect me from what I want

[Asym]

Children age 9 or younger wouldn't be allowed to play on commercial fields, under Mr. Belfanti's proposal. Children 10 to 12 could only play if a parent or guardian were playing. Teens age 13 to 18 could play only if they had written parental permission

I've seen many 10 year olds that were quite good. I'm sure they wouldn't be playing if their parents had to play also. That would punish kids with disabled parents or where their legal guardians are older like grandparents.

[rabidchihauhau]

There are two issues here;

Belfanti and I have talked on numerous occassions concerning the one issue and I am in total agreement with him:

when it comes to legislation, there are three motivating factors for enacting it:

1. power (votes)
2. money
3. political agenda (Mom's Against Paintball...)

any legislator who wants 1 and or 2 will happily jump on board with the #3s if they think the issue has traction.

Therefore, there is only ONE way to prevent BAD legislation from impacting your industry and that is to enact it yourself (again, #3 - but this time its OUR agenda).

Belfanti is PRO paintball and, because of his political status is in a position to enact legislation that is, at best, beneficial to the industry and at worst, harmless.

This acts as a block to future legislation that might be onerous or detrimental; onec this is on the books, it will be more difficult to enact counter-legislation. It will also serve as 'model' legislation for other states looking to enact similar laws and regulations. If one state is looking for laws to deal with paintball and there are NONE on the books, they're likely to do just about anything; if there is already favorable legislation somewhere else in the country, they're likely to adopt something very similar.

The industry has a choice: allow those who know nothing about it and probably have a negative attitude to write the laws, or do it ourselves.

The second issue is renegade play versus commercial play.

Obviously, fields would all be better off if all play had to take place at a commercial facility. I'd even argue that there would be enough additional business that commercial fields could lower their rates to close to what renegade players pay now.

The safety aspect is the key; there has been a MARKED increase in eye injuries within the industry following the increase in 'renegade' play (most, if not all eye injuries are attributed to unsupervised play) and in that regard, if commercial operations were to push for making renegade play illegal, its understandable, as THEY are the ones who will be paying increased insurance costs.

At the very least, I welcome formal legislation that puts on the books that paintball is an accepted, known activity and has and implements basic safety regulations. Especially considering that the bill is written by a field owner and someone who knows the difference between a marker and a real gun...

[hitech]

[

Belfanti and I have talked on numerous occasions...

At the very least, ...[it] puts on the books that paintball is an accepted, known activity and has and implements basic safety regulations...

Glad to hear it. Your last statement kind of sums it up nicely.