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!
How many paint ball enthusiasts have flipped and gone on the rampage? I would hazard a guess the answer is none! It could even be said that these games are a vent for aggressive tendencies.
Why do politicians seem to think they have to keep bringing in new laws?
Was it Robert Heinlein who said that before they were allowed bring in a new law the lawmakers had to repeal two old ones!
The fact is that Germany already has very restrictive videogame laws and they didn’t feel like they could outright ban violent games so the politicians felt like they needed to do something because many of the German public are crying out for some easy solution and so the politicians are doing this.
I find it funny,
that running around with a device that leaves PAINT MARKS…
is equated with KILLING OTHERS AND SELF..
Maybe it could be graffiti.. but not killing.
My comments regarding American culture were somewhat tongue in cheek, but America does seem to be leading the world in school massacres.
11,
love THE VID.
you see more violence on TV then any other form.
Without TV, it would be a QUIET PLACE..
we subvert or knowledge to TV
we see all this CRAP and have no basis on WHAT IS”.
Whenever an industry resorts to scantily clad girls, to promote their wares (which has nothing to do with having sex!). Then it must be an inherently bad product. Just like cigarettes and cigars, once was advertised the same way.
“The governing parties say paintball trivialises violence and risks lowering the threshold for committing violent acts…”
I’d have to agree with that. And FINALLY, some official body is saying. And not just some peace-nicks. I think all these FPS games are similarly trivializing the killing spree act. I’ve never like the idea of computer games (even text based ones, of long ago) always resulting in killing living things. Most of them started out with dehumanized life, like “trolls” and “aliens”. But naturally they’ve progressed to enemy soldiers, civilians and police. And the US army has they’re own version, just in case what’s on the market isn’t bloody (er, realistic) enough. Part of their recruitment plan. Get the kids use to killing stuff, while they’re still in high school. And keep them trigger-happy, while they’re waiting for the next war.
You know what was a lot more fun than paintball missions? Water-balloon fights. Nobody got hurt. Nor was declared dead. You just got soaked until the balloons ran out. And had a good laugh. The summer replacement to snowball fights. And BTW, throwing snowballs was once declared a serious violation, in the Army and Air Force (I assume the Navy too). Cause, ya know, you could put somebody’s eye out or something. But paintballs they’ve apparently accepted. Cause it’s shot with what looks like a real rifle. And it leaves a stain, like real blood would. But snowballs? Sorry, those are too dangerous!!
Similarly. When the muslin terrorists use their promise of 90+ virgins in the afterlife, to recruit suicide bomber. We westerners just think that so stupid and horrible. And yet, what are these “babes of paintball” if not our own version of the 90 virgins ploy. Yeah, get with the program, and you might get to sleep with these super-models. WHAT A CROCK! They might sleep with whoever’s got a fast car, and huge bank balance (and doesn’t look like a geek). But it wouldn’t be simply because a guy joins a paintball battle. But leave it to these no scruples low-lifes, to promote violence that way. Maybe they like someone to drop a plane load of Dutchboy on their house. Hmmm, well, probably not. But my point is, different cultures, use similar tactics, to promote immoral actions. Yet each culture rarely questions their own way of doing it.
Can’t we “photoshop out” the PB rifles. And replace them with GPS locators? Find the cache in the woods! Great fun! Then some hot lovin.
# 24 Hugh Ripper said, “but America does seem to be leading the world in school massacres.”
That’s only because we lead the world in heavily drugging kids…
glen,
the idea is the triviality…Using a paint ball is showing their respect to what a REAL hand gun or weapon can do.
Its also the thought that HOW do we train people, and get them to know HOW things work. you do it. How, in the OLD days did you teach your kid to hunt? you took him hunting. you show them how to hunt and kill. It WAS a right of manhood. NOW we have nothing to express this to younger persons.
If you look to the future. WHICH would you rather have? A person that can take care of themselves and understands how this ALL works, or someone that SITS at home goes to work, and SLEEPS as a baby does.
The article is missing a few things.
1. did the kid play PAINTBALL??
2. he got the gun from where?? his fathers gun! 14 were locked up, 1 wasn’t??
3. what was the CAUSE of the kids angst?? SOMETHING pissed him off, ENOUGH to shoot friends?? or were they NOT FRIENDS..
this law is an END RESULT, its not fighting the CAUSE.
or do you think this kid was a ONE OFF, and thought the gun was a fun thing to play with. After seeing others run around with paint balls and he AINT GOT ONE. he grabs his fathers gun, and goes to PLAY..DUMB.
The gun SHOULD have been locked up.
The parents SHOULD have known what was happening. UNLESS they were out partying, or WORKING to make the bills. SOME ONE should have known this kid. unless he was ostracized and a LONER, with parents that DIDNT HAVE TIME.
They’ve taken their queue from the US. Ban the toy guns rather than the real ones, that’ll stop the shootings.
WHO remembers the collage the Banned that Squirt gun game??
Each person drew a card and a persons name, had to find and shoot them, take the OTHER persons victim, and continue, until the end.
Paint ball is, cowboy and indians/making war and its NOT EASY TO CHEAT and say “YOU MISSED”.
Keeping blaming and pointing fingers, we will SOON be back to the 14-15th century..BLAME everyone and everything for the toilet NOT flushing..
Murder kill for occasion, school shooter have their subjective justifications. The society has to unfold the enigma of WHY they do that. Paintball, Weapons, FPS, or mental disorder – falls to short for an explanation.
Quest to understand school shootings
Interesting topic. Dumb law. We have dumb laws in the us too but my question is what ever happened to the phrase ” he’s crazy”? Some things just can’t be fixed / answered by making a senseless law. Are there not already laws against shooting people? Making more laws will not stop people from breaking them.