Telegraph – 07 May 2009:
Experts from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners have agreed to outlaw all games in which players shoot at each other with pellets.
The governing parties say paintball trivialises violence and risks lowering the threshold for committing violent acts…
A 17-year-old shot dead 15
people in the southwestern town of Winnenden, before killing himself in March, stunning many Germans and leading politicians to call for tighter gun rules…
The new rules would also grant authorities more rights in conducting checks with people owning guns, the sources said.
Sources in the SPD said the parties were also moving towards on agreement on the creation of a nationwide weapons register and were considering setting up biometric security locks for weapons’ stores.
Check out more Glamour Girls of Paintball pictures here!
Thanks to the prohibition paintballing clubs are gonna spring up all over the place. Don’t the Germans knowing anything about teenagers? Doesn’t matter though, paintball fights don’t turn people into psychopathic killers anymore than video games do.
Whoa! If they tried that here there would be a revolution! Seriously.
Maybe they should ban American culture. That way they will limit the amount of school massacres they import.
Seriously, although I’m not a fan of paintball, as it seems to attract right wing idiots with military pretensions, banning it is unlikely to achieve anything. If little boys (and thier older imitators) want to run around pretending to kill each other, as they invariably do, it matters little if its with imaginary guns, computer graphics or paintballs.
“Maybe they should ban American culture.”
Yeah, because we all know that America invented war, murder, killing, genocide, and everything else wrong with the world.
#4 – “Yeah, because we all know that America invented war, murder, killing, genocide, and everything else wrong with the world.”
But they do glorify and in some sick way celebrate it in news, movies, and shows. Kids are exposed to thousands of virtual murders by the time they are 18.
We as a society accept this gory bombardment and tell our kids that it’s all make believe. Except those evil doers taht deserve to get blown to bits by our governments.
It affects some more than others, and IMO there’s no reason to celebrate, promote, or advertise killing in any fashion. Make believe or not.
Time to go pwn some nubs in counterstrike. Boom Headshot!
The knee jerk reaction of politicians to gun crime is an good example of the simple mindedness of our leaders. Unfortunately, these crimes occur, but the way they are used to change laws is ridiculous. When OJ killed his ex wife, nobody should have ever been allowed to cut meat in their kitchen without a license. When that mother strapped her kids into her car and rolled it into a lake, we should have banned car seats for kids, and also rolling cars. When a tanker truck overturns and bursts into flame, we should ban propane heat. And, of course, when a kid is killed talking on a cell phone….
Enough already. Leave us all alone. STOP MAKING LAWS!!!
“But they do glorify and in some sick way celebrate it in news, movies, and shows.”
Oh, so America is the only country on the plantet which glorifies and celebrates violence. You don’t get out much in the world, do you?
#7 – “Oh, so America is the only country on the plantet which glorifies and celebrates violence. You don’t get out much in the world, do you?”
down boi. No one made that claim. Why so defensive? Perhaps you need to get out for some fresh air more often
. It may help take the edge off.
Another leftist nanny state interfering with personal rights.
“No one made that claim. Why so defensive>”
I’m merely trying to figure out why America is being blamed for incidents which occurred in Germany?
Since you were one of the people blaming the US, maybe you can explain your argument rationally and with some facts. You know, the opposite of what you’ve been doing so far.
#10 – I’ve already expressed my opinion on the subject.
Take a gander at this video if you’d care to indulge.
Doh, forgot about the http:// thingy.
Editor: Fixed! See above.
“I’ve already expressed my opinion on the subject.”
I didn’t ask anyone to express an opinion. Opinions are subjective and meaningless. Any ignorant buffoon can express a mere opinion on any topic. What’s that worth?
If you think America was to blame for this series of incidents in Germany, explain why in an objective manner. The video you offered certainly did not do that.
I guess the German kids will have to stop wanking to paintball gun ads and get back to kinky German golden shower porn.
#11 – green
Mostly true (there are some good educational shows as well). But the leading American news channels (or perhaps we should call them news shows, because that’s what they are) breads ignorance. It makes you wonder which is most damaging to your brain; Alcohol, Pot or TV.
As anti-violence and pro-gun control as I am, I’m not against paint ball.
It might even teach a lesson that war video games don’t — no matter how good you are, you can still get shot in war.
But they need to change the rules. When you are shot in paintball, the game is totally over for you. Not just today’s game but paintball forever.
THAT would teach a lesson.
I guess I got caught up responding to the comments, not the exact subject of the posted story.
There is no way of connecting what’s on American TV to what happened in Germany.
Unless of course you’re a conspiracy nut and believe that the former nazi scientists that were brought to America after WW2 were put to work influencing impressionable minds through all forms of media. Triggering vulnerable individuals into action. But that kinda craziness is more suited for noagenda.
#16 – green
This is dvorak.org/blog… we’re never on topic…
>> Paddy-O said,
>> Another leftist nanny state interfering with personal rights.
Ha! You’re quite the originalist!
Marriage, if you are gay, is “judicial activism” but paintball is an inalienable right! He. He.
Of course they did. They must be seen as doing something to solve the problem never mind that so far as I’ve heard this kid never played paint ball.
The only thing I’m fairly sure this will achieve is that German military recruits won’t know which end of a gun goes bang.
Now everybody in Germany is going to be safe from gun using nuts: not!
In my (limited) observance, negative character attributes like aggressiveness, irrational anger/hate, low self esteem, and resentment… whether caused by societal deficiencies or genetics…. will manifest itself in destructive ways regardless of seemingly influential recreational play.
For instance, there is no way of telling whether a tragedy could have been prevented if only the perpetrator hadn’t played a particular game or watched a particular show. The opposite could be true, where those types of activities are outlets for aggression, which might otherwise externalize in real destructiveness.
I wonder if Germany would reassess the logic of their ban if another tragedy or two occurred over the next few years?
I just did a quick Google to check if I’m ‘off base’ or not… interesting…
Michigan Violent Game Bill