Doctors Say Paintball Too Dangerous For Young People

* Oh for the love of... *

In another act of nanny statehood, a group of Doctors is now calling for the paintball industry to take action to keep out young people after an 11 year old kid who was playing removed his visor during a match and was shot in the eye. The industry is currently self-regulated in Canada but as has often been the case with games, groups will call out for the industry to regulate itself first so they have a case to push for government regulation later, claiming the industry didn't do enough.

I've played paintball a fair amount and each time, there was a lengthy safety lesson first, strict rules enforced about at what distance you could shoot at someone and if you broke those rules, you were kicked out without a refund. Of course if you take your visor off and get shot at close range you'll sustain an eye injury! No amount of regulation will compensate for people being stupid.

That being said, I wouldn't let an 11 year old kid of mine play paintball as I do believe a certain level of maturity is required to fully appreciate the type of situation you are going into. However, we all know there are many adults who are more than capable of doing things just as stupid and in fact, it was an adult who shot the kid at point-blank range. What possible purpose is regulating this going to serve except to increase cost and liability to the paintball range owners? People are going to be stupid whether the government tells them to or not. I just find this another case of knee-jerk overreaction to what is really just human nature.

This just in, life is too dangerous for young people. Parents are being advised to kill themselves to prevent young people.

Your ideas on this subject intrigue me and I wish to subscribe...ahh never mind.

Everyone needs something to rally behind. The anti-gun crowd really loves this because of its obvious attachment to 'violence' and the use of 'markers' which are coded word for guns. Spice things up with a few injuries, and voila! You've got a pretty fair piece of propoganda waiting for the AP or some other crap news agency to lap up on a slow news day.

I am personally for heavy gun regulation (actual gun control, not a ban being called control) but this is nothing but someone being stupid and being made a martyr.

Why don't we just enclose children in a big plastic bubble whenever they go outdoors? Nothing could hurt them then!

It's all fun and games until someone loses and eye ... then it's just funny.

I weep for our nation. The removal of even the most basic of selective pressures will be a national wetnurse that produces a generation of cripples.

Paleocon wrote:

I weep for our nation. The removal of even the most basic of selective pressures will be a national wetnurse that produces a generation of cripples.

But you're not Canadian.

This is the direct result of creating a state run healthcare system - the motive for profit drops right out.

... Okay. So, someone is stupid, so they go and ruin it for everyone.

I played paintball a fair amount when I was younger, and if someone took their goggles or mask off, they got one warning, and that came in the form of them having their mask and goggles duct taped on.

Honestly, paintball guns are safer than just about any other sport, and people whine cause it uses a gun like object.

Paleocon wrote:

I weep for our nation. The removal of even the most basic of selective pressures will be a national wetnurse that produces a generation of cripples.

A Nation of Wimps

I once took a hit from a paint ball square in the nose at point blank. My team mates thought it killed me by how limp I was when I dropped. Bastards ran away and didn't check on me. I was scraping blood and paint out of my nose for a week.

I think the worst paintball hit I ever took was in the groin at close (But thankfully not point blank) range. God that sucked. Horribly so. At least I reflex shot the jerk in the face. (He had his mask on, but I still goggled him.) Understandably, it was a while before I played paintball again, but I did. My doctor just laughed at me when I told him. Nothing about it being too dangerous... he just recommended a cup. And laughed at me whenever he saw me for about a month.

No wonder I like my doctor.

Staats wrote:

This is the direct result of creating a state run healthcare system - the motive for profit drops right out.

Meaning American doctors would be happy to have high-margin eye injuries from paintball now and again?

Yeah, I wore a cup the first time I played paintball. And I managed to shoot my sister's friend right in the neck. Left a nasty bloody welt.

You know, kids do dumb things. They do the wrong things in situations that can be dangerous because they are kids and kids are hardwired to make bad choices. We don't let them drive, we don't let them vote. So in my mind, sure, it makes sense to consider paintball too much for kids younger than a certain age. However, the number of incidents cited in the article seem, in the grand scheme of things, a bit low for this kind of crusade. Sort of like the guy who's dedicated his life to stopping people from digging holes at the beach because every 2 years 1 person dies.

I honestly don't think an eleven year old kid really understands the consequences of taking his mask off. Vindictive and stupid adults don't really enter into their thinking. I would not take kids that young to a paintball game; I'd wait until they are 15 or so and understand and can deal with the fact that they can get badly hurt even with protection.

I know this to be a fact. I hit a guy square in the ear with a freak shot from a low-powered old-school single-shot marker; it was nowhere near today's 300fps, but it caused him to go completely ass over teakettle and writhe around in agony for minutes. If it had perforated his eardrum we'd have had him in an ambulance.

I don't take 11 year olds shooting real guns either. (Their muzzle discipline tends to be...uh...low.)

Robear wrote:

I honestly don't think an eleven year old kid really understands the consequences of taking his mask off. Vindictive and stupid adults don't really enter into their thinking. I would not take kids that young to a paintball game; I'd wait until they are 15 or so and understand and can deal with the fact that they can get badly hurt even with protection.

I know this to be a fact. I hit a guy square in the ear with a freak shot from a low-powered old-school single-shot marker; it was nowhere near today's 300fps, but it caused him to go completely ass over teakettle and writhe around in agony for minutes. If it had perforated his eardrum we'd have had him in an ambulance.

I don't take 11 year olds shooting real guns either. (Their muzzle discipline tends to be...uh...low.)

I'm not sure that the average 11 year old could have much worse muzzle discipline than some of the adult servicemen/women I've known. Though I understand things are getting better in that regard due to public scrutiny to the number and very public nature of accidents. War will do wonders for some aspects of operational efficiency.

I will agree that an unsupervised or improperly supervised 11 year old is a liability to himself and others with potentially dangerous equipment, but that isn't to say they can not be properly trained. I don't think I'd have a problem teaching my, so far hypothetical, 11 year old daughter how to shoot a .22 rifle at a supervised range. But I wouldn't give her the keys to the ATV, a bottle of Jack, and a pellet gun to go play live action Redneck Rampage.

With goggles off, paintball is very dangerous.

With goggles on, paintball is safer than bowling.

The proper conclusion: require goggles. It's really that simple.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:

Meaning American doctors would be happy to have high-margin eye injuries from paintball now and again?

Yea. Take it as a joke.

Here's my test for the proper age limit: before my son can play (he's 2 now, probably not ready yet), he must be able to take a shot in the arm and not cry or throw a fit. Whether he's 8 or 24, if he can understand that pain is part of the game and the consequence if he loses, then he's allowed to play.

AND, if he takes his helmet off, he's not playing for 6 months.

I like it!

Some verses from The Whiteboard; the discriminating paintballer's bible

How We Deal with People Who Raise Their Mask Before Getting off the Field
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb...

Seriously
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb...

Debounce - it's not just a suggestion
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb...

Other Safety Equipment
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb...

Journalism's shining history with paintball
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb...

I'm dead serious about those first two - the first comic came out in 2003 which was just about the time my boys got old enough to get into paintball in a group. I showed it to our then youth leader, and it's been a tradition ever since.

As far as the worst hit I ever took, I'm going to have to let you guess. Let's just say I got a better vest for the next time out.

Oh, and for anyone who needs a translator, a good reference is here.

momgamer wrote:

As far as the worst hit I ever took, I'm going to have to let you guess. Let's just say I got a better vest for the next time out.

Since we're trading war stories, my worst hit ever came from a friend of mine who was preaching to us about safety and doing his soapbox routineand wound up shooting me in the foot from about a foot away in the middle of his lecture as his gun accidentally fired.

That's why God created barrell condoms.

momgamer wrote:

That's why God created barrell condoms. ;)

He was actually lecturing us about the stopper you put in your gun once you're marked. I like to say I was surprised and my instinctive reaction was to pop him in the chest from a foot away, but I was really just totally pissed off about it and couldn't control the temper. Unfortunately, I caught his tank and not the chest I ws hoping for. Guess thats what you get when you snapshoot from the hip.

You're supposed to have the barrell blocker/condom on all the time. It only comes out when the whistle sounds, and it goes back on when you're called out or when the ending whistle blows. That's another duct-tape offense for us.

momgamer wrote:

You're supposed to have the barrell blocker/condom on all the time. It only comes out when the whistle sounds, and it goes back on when you're called out or when the ending whistle blows. That's another duct-tape offense for us. ;)

We usually paintball without whistles and without a 'dedicated' paintball outfit. We just take our happy butts to East Texas where a friend owns 250 acres of wooded terrain and go at it.

Minase wrote:

Why don't we just enclose children in a big plastic bubble whenever they go outdoors? Nothing could hurt them then!

What if a paedophile gets into the bubble?

Damn. And I just bought my first paintball gun...er...marker, to.

I officially advocate paint DnD. You and a group of friends get yourselves some plastic swords/axes/maces, dip them in paint, and have at it.

1Dgaf wrote:

What if a paedophile gets into the bubble?

Well, theoretically the bubble would keep out the pedophile...right?