Petition

[Kevbassfreak]

I know i am new to the biggest majority of you here.. however i am a concerned paintballer that has been playing for a couple of years now.
Here is my concern. It is now far too easy for any ordinary person to get ahold of a marker these days. My fear is that one day some 15 year old ned/chav is going to get ahold of a marker and decide to go to a local park (think trainspotting with a marker) and "accidentally" pop one off in someones face. Can you imagine the reprocussions if such a thing was to happen.
Now it is my intention to create a petition to introduce some kind of licencing scheme or something similar where paintballers get registered as do their markers. Now if we are all responsible ballers i dont really see the big deal about doing this. I am pretty sure that faced with the potential of our game being taken away from us this would be even less of a hassel.
All i am asking from you is your support at this point.. before i write up the petition, before i get in contact with the governing bodies behind paintball in the UK.
Please support this petition as i fear at some point we will not have an option.
For more information about the background of why i am asking for you help follow this link
http://www.scottishwarriors.co.uk/forum3/index.php?topic=2183.0

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
If you wish to support this petition please post up in this thread or on the link provided.

Kev

 

[Rosie]

can I just point out; this has been tried before, and met with general apathy, I believe several people including Bully attempted to start it off but tho it was met with 'wow good idea', it didn't happen.

& PS we can't see the background as to why you want this to happen without registering on your forum , maybe you could post it up.

 

[duffistuta]

Can I just point out that the term 'biggest majority' is a tautology.

 

[Kevbassfreak]

stupid forum!
its pretty epic on that forum but basically...
theres a few shops in glasgow now that are selling markers very cheap where anyone can go in and buy one.... weve also heard of one particular incident of 3-4 guys driving about glasgow in a car firing a paintball marker out of the car window drive by style...
to me this is incredibally frightening. Yes its an isolated incident but what if these incidents become less isolated?
This is a much shortened version of the posts on the forum provided but it gives you an idea of why licencing markers or players would be a good idea.

Oh and i mean no harm when saying biggest majority.. but the truth is that theres maybe about 10 people on this forum that know who i am..

 

[ollytheosteo]

Mate- I suggest dropping Steve Bull of the UKPSF an email- Bully on these forums. He can maybe talk it through with you and there may be another way you can help and achieve more for the same effort.

I don't like seeing £40 marker/gas/paint kits on gadget websites and in tackle shops either but we need to be cautious making a big fuss- this govt. are very inclined to ban anything anyone complains about and ask questions afterwards.

 

[Kevbassfreak]

Cheers mate...
i wanna make sure were getting suppot from the paintball community before i go to the likes of Steve Bull. Afterall theres no real point in doing all this if the community backs us.

 

[Demonic69]

You can buy "Paintball Markers" from most outdoor and some indoor markets pretty damn cheap and fully setup. They're not something most of us would touch with a barge-pole but they will undoubtedly tar us all with the same brush if anything were to happen.
We run the risk, like most projectile sports, of some idiots spoiling it.
You can but a bow, or an air rifle/pistol easy enough these days, as well as some bloody dangerous knives and swords in places like Cash Converters.
The problem with registering is that it would inevetably end up costing us money and become a hassle when trying to sell on forums etc.
It'd be better if the Government limited the places that sell "weapons" to registered traders who they could keep a track of.
But I seriously doubt they could be arsed to implement any such legislation (unless one of them or their family was shot, stabbed or beaten) or measures so we'd more likely just get all markers Banned full stop.
I agree with the principle, just can't see how this could be freely implemented and maintained.
Ballers spend enough money just getting kit in this country, compared to most places outside Europe with our loverly import duties) and I personally couldn't ask them to fork out a bit more just so they can limit access to kids.

 

[Rosie]

It'd be better if the Government limited the places that sell "weapons" to registered traders who they could keep a track of.
But I seriously doubt they could be arsed to implement any such legislation (unless one of them or their family was shot, stabbed or beaten) or measures so we'd more likely just get all markers Banned full stop.
I agree with the principle, just can't see how this could be freely implemented and maintained.
Ballers spend enough money just getting kit in this country, compared to most places outside Europe with our loverly import duties) and I personally couldn't ask them to fork out a bit more just so they can limit access to kids.

I agree with you aside from on one point.
if we say to the gov't, we want only registered weapon shops to sell markers, they will go oh ok, markers are obviously more dangerous than we thought; and all that worry we as players had with the violent crime act & us being seen as a grey area; the last thing we need is our equipment being seen as some sort of weapon.

I know it can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
But little measures like shops NOT filling c02 or air bottles for unknown players, could help. -Unless they buy a sh!tload of those disposable canisters, or a C02 or air tank (expensive), then it will be more difficult for them.

 

[Raffles]

...wow - I've just gone through the time tunnel

Marker registration will not happen - because no one wants to register - simple!

Rosie is spot-on (again). Upsetting the apple cart will cause more problems than it cures.

I offered my web programming services foc to Bully & Co, Bully offered a damn good domain name and Chris Renton was going to bind it all together (if memory serves).

Nothing happened - because of that one word that somes up all paintballers (me included most of the time ) - "APATHY".

Remember that fire arms bill thing then went through about replicas? It came, it went, no one stopped us playing.

Paintballers are invincible!

I'd leave well alone for now - until registration is forced upon us (like they did with small arms after Hungerford etc.).

Personally, I like being in the grey area...

PS - have a quick look at these :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/4714170.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4255183.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4111519.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/4023577.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/3945793.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3812753.stm

etc. etc. etc.

 

[Kevbassfreak]

to say i find the lack of support dissapointing is an understatement. The way i see it if we are all responsible human beings we have nothing to fear in registering our markers.

I currently have someone looking into all the legal side of all this. I for one would prefer to do something about this now rather than have us forced onto us making our sport look bad.

If anyone does want to support me you can email me @ kev.bassfreak@gmail.com