Huddersfield Police arrest 4 youth

[Parksy]

Sadly this is the state of the attitudes of some people... irrelevant of what an object is designed for people will find a way of using it inappropriatly. Be it a baseball bat, a golf club, a paintball gun etc etc.

A few months back my other half while we were walking from my parents house back home had a car full of teenagers pull up at the traffic lights and hurl an egg from the window. It struck her in the face and blackened all of here eye. I took down the plate, reported it to the police, they arrested the guy for assault.

Sadly paintball guns are not regulated and until they are with popularity increasing and availability becoming so cheap this will only get worse before something is done. Hopefully that something will be regulation and not banning though...

 

[uniquep1]

i was having a discussion on this subject with a mate of mine...

I know it sounds extreme, but i keep all my markers under lock and key, in a shotgun safe. in my opinion, players, should keep their shooters secure at all times, even when playing, leave your equiptment with someone you can trust, unfortunatly, there will always be risks in owning a marker. My ex, who plays, leaves all her kit in a Paintball Kit bag on the landing on a Shared House!! People should always prepare for the worst case senarios...

I dont think that will be the down fall mate, A shop selling paintball gear opened up in northampton and is selling guns to any1 i run a paintball site and recently have been asked by loadsa people for gas fills by kids as young as 11 the guns are so cheap now and shops just seem to sell um to anybody is this the norm ?? when i told 1 kid he should be playing it in the proper place he just said F***k you and put the phone down.

 

[sie2050]

wow this just seems stupid
plenty of people probably have had been involved with a paintball related misfurtune and this is what gets me pissed off.
if the council and government and police could organise themselves then they can make it law for sumone to buy a paintball gun have the legal documents required.
for example when you join a team the team has to sign you up to the ukpsf which in turn pass your details on to the police etc so if any paintball related retardedness happens it can be traced back to the people who commited the crime.

this probably sounds crap as im not in the state of mind to type sumthing in depth but you get the picture i hope

-si-

 

[Lucky]

I dont think that will be the down fall mate, A shop selling paintball gear opened up in northampton and is selling guns to any1

They are actually breaking the law and should be reported to trading standards Currently Paintball Markers fall into the Airgun catagory, and because of this, you have to be 16 to purchase one (possibly 18), but as has been pointed out, this doesn't stop their big brother or mate buying one for them

I don't know if anyone still remembers The Hungerford shootings but that one incedant by a deranged lunatic completely devestated the Target shooting sport !
What would happen if a car full of kids gunned down an MP or councillor, or someone else in a position of power?

It's sad to say people but it's only a matter of time before something changes our sport

 

[Jon C]

I dont think that will be the down fall mate, A shop selling paintball gear opened up in northampton and is selling guns to any1 i run a paintball site and recently have been asked by loadsa people for gas fills by kids as young as 11 the guns are so cheap now and shops just seem to sell um to anybody is this the norm ?? when i told 1 kid he should be playing it in the proper place he just said F***k you and put the phone down.

I was in a local shop in the north east the other day when some kids came in and they refused to sell them any markers, Im not saying asll shops are like this, but it is a start.

I have a lot of kids like uniquep1 turning up at my site or ringing me asking for fills, I refuse point blank. At least if all the sites refused to fill air or co2 for off site use this would make it a lot harder for these scrotes. Not impossible as you can get the little cartridges of co2 - powerlet things. If anyone comes on site with there own marker fine they can use it, i will fill there bottles but before they dissapear i empty their bottles.


If we took away their air sources it would make drive by's a lot harder and also stop the little kids running around on the street which I have started to notice more and more.

 

[chrismrgn]

There should be tighter legislation about this kinda, thing, anyone wanting to buy a marker should have some kinda document or ID card supplied by the UK paintball people, whoever would be able to make it work. You have to apply, be approved, be a member of a team, play a certain leage, anything to stop these little ****s getting markers.

Yes 99% of kids wont go out an shoot someone on the street, but its the 1% tht give paintball a bad name, and ruin everything for the rest of us.

 

[Matski]

Or would an age restriction through registered ID's be the first step along the road to a total ban?

 

[IL-cyrus]

Be careful what you wish for. I dont think that blanket legislations will stop chavs behaving irresponsibly. In Germany it is an absolute nightmare to get the right paper work to buy a marker let alone get an F-stamp for an imported gun, offenders caught in possession of paintball markers with out F-stamp are treated like any other illegal firearms case, yes same category as firearms!!! This is obviously ridiculous but it still doesn't stop kids getting their hands on markers and causing havoc. I think that the UK legislation is sufficient if we all do our part and store guns responsibly and SHOP OWNERS REFUSE TO SELL TO UNDERAGED KIDS!!! I know its difficult to explain to bank managers why sales forecasts were not meet but its a lot more threatening to your business (and our sport) if you have to explain how a serial numbered gun from your shop was used by a youth in a drive by shooting that took some ones eye out.

 

[Warped_Impulse]

There should be tighter legislation about this kinda, thing, anyone wanting to buy a marker should have some kinda document or ID card supplied by the UK paintball people, whoever would be able to make it work. You have to apply, be approved, be a member of a team, play a certain leage, anything to stop these little ****s getting markers.

Yes 99% of kids wont go out an shoot someone on the street, but its the 1% tht give paintball a bad name, and ruin everything for the rest of us.

you have a good point but i can see a few problems.

1) ukpsf membership cards a great idea, but new players who don't know very much about the sport and the "world of paintball" (i.e people who have been to site and want to move up into the sport as a hobby) may not know how to get hold of a card, which may lead to them becoming frustrated being told they need to register when they try to buy their first marker

2)being a member of a team. in my expierience it is easier to get onto a team if you already have kit as this show a certain willingness and commitment, having spent the money on equiptment.

3)play in a certain league. not every team plays religiously enough in the main tournament scene to know if they're in a league or not, also proving they are in said league would require someone to oversee the system and create some kind of online database of teams, players and leagues,.. not to mention the mechanics of keeping the whole system up to date

4),.. (and this is the big one) i work for a shop in oxford city centre which sells age restricted products, we turn kids away for piercings, cigarrette papers, contact lenses etc. the way they circumvent our id checks is to hang around in town and get an older friend or a simpathetic stranger / sucker to come in buy the product and give it to them outside the shop. how would shops be able to monitor who is buying what, who the end recipient is and protect thier business from the fallout caused by some little oik getting a marker in some deceptive way?

if the u.k could come up the a tv friendly format for the sport (NOT a crossfire replicant, or a pro only format), one where normal teams are showcased playing in a safe well marshalled environment, with a full safety brief and rules explaination, (for example "the world poker tour" on challenge tv have an explanation of the rules for texas holdem in every show, they also run through the "hand Ranks" used in poker,.. a bit off topic but i think you see where i'm headed with it) . this way we could drum saftey proceedures into thier empty little heads on a weekly basis, therefore reducing the factor of attitude towards paintball as being a sport for "rich kids, weekend warriors/ survival nuts and adrenaline junkie" that a large majority of people have.

basically it is up to us to sort the problem before it becomes an epidemic that destroys the sport we love. if you see a bunch of kids screwing around with kit in public, try to politley explain the saftey rules to them,.. or alternatively speak to them and find out if they would like to get involved properly,.. maybe arrange a minibus full to go to a site,where they can expierence the sport under proper supervision and thus helping your local site by increasing thier customer base,..


just a thought

Warped Impulse

 

[no-infernomark]

the team and certain league idea is just not right, there are rec-ballers and scenario ballers who are not on teams and dont play leagues, how would they go about proving they wanted a replica ak47 gat for paintball, its going to be very hard to legislate this industry, selling to underage people is wrong but then aint there a 14 yr old playing pro or something, shops and sites should not give air fills for outside of site play, it just encourages kids to go " hello my best mate, look at this, its a gun, let me show you it shooting 15 balls a second at the neighbours cat" or along them lines.

i see and treat a marker the same as a car, deadly if in the wrong hands, why dont companies sell markers with paper work that is equivalent to a cars log book, i.e a form where you fill in your name, address, phone numbers, colour and serial number of marker, then send that to ukpsf and they act like the DVLA. if a marker goes missing they know what to look for and when/found they have the knowledge to know if its right marker or not, and also the person to send a strongly worded letter to about safety and storage etc etc etc. i can see that being a good way of doing, it obviously it wont stop 100% of the drive bys and other non-site related incidents but makes it easier to track!!!

my 2p

you have a good point but i can see a few problems.

1) ukpsf membership cards a great idea, but new players who don't know very much about the sport and the "world of paintball" (i.e people who have been to site and want to move up into the sport as a hobby) may not know how to get hold of a card, which may lead to them becoming frustrated being told they need to register when they try to buy their first marker

2)being a member of a team. in my expierience it is easier to get onto a team if you already have kit as this show a certain willingness and commitment, having spent the money on equiptment.

3)play in a certain league. not every team plays religiously enough in the main tournament scene to know if they're in a league or not, also proving they are in said league would require someone to oversee the system and create some kind of online database of teams, players and leagues,.. not to mention the mechanics of keeping the whole system up to date

4),.. (and this is the big one) i work for a shop in oxford city centre which sells age restricted products, we turn kids away for piercings, cigarrette papers, contact lenses etc. the way they circumvent our id checks is to hang around in town and get an older friend or a simpathetic stranger / sucker to come in buy the product and give it to them outside the shop. how would shops be able to monitor who is buying what, who the end recipient is and protect thier business from the fallout caused by some little oik getting a marker in some deceptive way?

if the u.k could come up the a tv friendly format for the sport (NOT a crossfire replicant, or a pro only format), one where normal teams are showcased playing in a safe well marshalled environment, with a full safety brief and rules explaination, (for example "the world poker tour" on challenge tv have an explanation of the rules for texas holdem in every show, they also run through the "hand Ranks" used in poker,.. a bit off topic but i think you see where i'm headed with it) . this way we could drum saftey proceedures into thier empty little heads on a weekly basis, therefore reducing the factor of attitude towards paintball as being a sport for "rich kids, weekend warriors/ survival nuts and adrenaline junkie" that a large majority of people have.

basically it is up to us to sort the problem before it becomes an epidemic that destroys the sport we love. if you see a bunch of kids screwing around with kit in public, try to politley explain the saftey rules to them,.. or alternatively speak to them and find out if they would like to get involved properly,.. maybe arrange a minibus full to go to a site,where they can expierence the sport under proper supervision and thus helping your local site by increasing thier customer base,..


just a thought

Warped Impulse

just to add my 2p to this,