Germany to ban paintball

[Missy-Q]

So if they ban paintball in germany why would anyone what to go there?

I mean if the german touraments bring in a certan amount of money into the area that they are held surely they will lose out.
Also it would affect tourists visiting the area interested in seeing how german paintball sites differ to ones in for example the uk.

Im sure if it does go ahead the goverment will realise there massive mistake and reverse the foolish decision.

but hey thats my opinion.

I'm with this guy, totally.
In 1994/5 I actually went to a german paintball field, with a mission (among others) to find out how german paintball fields are different to others in Europe. Without that reason I would probably not have gone there on that occasion. I certainly would not go there to experience good music, or to meet hot chicks, or try delicious cuisine.
I for one will not be going back there again to see how german fields are different. That has cost the german economy hundreds of euro's. Surely the german politicians will notice that!

 

[Bunkerkidz]

I'm with this guy, totally.
In 1994/5 I actually went to a german paintball field, with a mission (among others) to find out how german paintball fields are different to others in Europe. Without that reason I would probably not have gone there on that occasion. I certainly would not go there to experience good music, or to meet hot chicks, or try delicious cuisine.
I for one will not be going back there again to see how german fields are different. That has cost the german economy hundreds of euro's. Surely the german politicians will notice that!

I suppose we could all try ridiculously hard to be humorous, and still manage to fail that goal, or we could possibly attempt to contribute with something useful to this boring and totally unimportant topic

I'm totally fine with either one really.

Swiss poll regarding public opinion over paintball:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]http://www.20min.ch/community/poll/index.tmpl?pollid=9902[/FONT][/FONT]

You should vote for the third option: "Nein, es handelt sich um ein harmloses Spiel" which remotely translates to: "No, it's a harmless game"

And also, here is a report on the subject by Euronews:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]http://www.euronews.net/2009/05/08/germany-moves-to-outlaw-paintball/[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[onasilverbike]

I suppose we could all try ridiculously hard to be humorous, and still manage to fail that goal, or we could possibly attempt to contribute with something useful to this boring and totally unimportant topic

I'm totally fine with either one really.

To be totally honest, I doubt that the discussions on this board will be taken in to account by the German legislature at all. I'm glad you added that last sentence, otherwise I might have thought you a humourless killjoy

In 1994/5 I actually went to a german paintball field, with a mission (among others) to find out how german paintball fields are different to others in Europe.

I totally misread that as 1944/45

I think it important to remember, mocking the German's is a British pass time. However, lets not loose focus on the more important issue here, a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction to ban something that is quite possibly over regulated already. An action that will have no effect whatsoever on the issue of kids with real guns going fruit loop and blasting their classmates, teachers, passers by and eventually themselves to kingdom come.

Should this ban be allowed to happen then it would, no doubt, set a precedent for other European legislatures that might also fancy taking similar actions.

 

[oldskool]

personally I've always like the fact that paintball was simulated hunting and killing

whats wrong with that?

 

[Bunkerkidz]

personally I've always like the fact that paintball was simulated hunting and killing

whats wrong with that?

The fact is that the people who practice the sport know there's nothing wrong with that.

It's the same thing as saying that the existence and practice of martial arts increases violence, it's actually quite the opposite, as most of the people that I know that practice or that study or have studied martial arts are usually a lot calmer and pacific, and usually always try their best to avoid fights other than go looking for them.

But if you're a politician, it's very easy to spin something like this into something bad, and start a witch hunt for it.

Basically the fallacious argument is that if people practice something which is considered violent, in this case paintball, then they will automatically be violent people and commit other violent actions.

That's why it's important to try to establish paintball as a non-violent thing.

 

[Didzs]

Hey guys!

Have been following the battle and been helping out in my home country for the last 2 days.
The gov. wont manage to ban paintball!
all politicians are doing is finding a scape-goat in the paintball community since the gun lobby is far to mighty.
Which is not going to work, we have started an online petition which is taken into account only when 50 000 people have signed it. this will then slow down/Stop the process of changing the law to incorperate the ban of paintball.
Also political representatives in every state have been contacted by members of the largest german PB forum "Pbportal.de", and we have explained to them that a ban would not be of any help to the communites or the problem of "teenage gunning in schools".
Many psychologists have been working on topics such as "does paintball make people agressive" and have come out with a unanimus NO.
so from all side it seems like the goverment will fail.
Which leads us back to german paintball teams kicking ass @ Millenium again

Cheers

 

[ThreeD]

hey to all of you,

we all are really fighting hard since yesterday morning. i was just sitting on the airport checking my facebook, mails. then my google alert with paintball was popping up "paintball to be banned in germany" coming from one of the biggest news webpages. i was opening a thread in my forum pbhub.de, after i was coming back from by business trip at 930 pm the thread had 734 post and nearly 18.000 hits. in the beginning of the whole press coverage most newsfeeds and channels were stating that it is good thing to ban paintball. after a lot of effort of the DPL-crew and all wholesaleres over here in Germany and endless interviews during the last two days, we could change their perception more and more. Press is now mostly positive about paintball and opposing the idea of getting paintball banned instead of banning large caliber weapons.

it is a huuuge thing over here in germany. every newspaper, news tv-show is watching us these days. tomorrow is the start of the German Premier League (Deutsche Paintball Bundesliga) in Solms (The boys from Nexus and London Shock know that field very well ) and we are expecting a lot of press around the two days.

We are really appreciating every help from our European friends and colleagues. Please support us by joining our facebook group:

http://www.new.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=75814151055&ref=mf

For further information we opened a webpage

http://forum-pro-paintballsport.de/index.php?article_id=1

We there are posting all news about this topic and our PR work we are just started with the German government. Please bear in mind that this also affects the whole industry of Paintball since it is growing for years in Germany and Dye and Eclipse is having big district offices over here in Germany.

Please keep your fingers crossed. The German members of P8ntballer and I will keep you posted. Thanks for your support.

 

[HPUKer]

I just wonder that if those people working hard to stop the potential ban in Germany now may actually end up putting a positive spin on paintball

I know the ban is a threat, but with this much media attention its also a hell of an opportunity

Good luck all those involved with talking to the media and other stakeholders - set paintball a good reputation

 

[Durajim]

The BBC have done a write up on it too, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8041320.stm

Sounds a bit like a knee jerk reaction to me, as with any sport like this, it's safe as long as you stick to playing it with the correct safety gear, It's a shame that they have to go this far just to stop a few idiots doing what they did.

And lets face it, they'd do it anyway

Edit - As for the tighter measures on storing guns, I think that's a good idea in any country to be honest.

 

[HPUKer]

Although some points may be phrased a bit badly and it may not portray paintball in a terribly positive light, the overall tune of this one in the Guardian seems to have a bit more balance to it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/08/germany-paintball-school-massacre

And they used a better picture than the BBC did