[Namyak]

In June 2003, a 15-year-old boy from Washington state died after the canister he was removing struck him in the head, the commission said.

Here's the first problem. I'm an avid paintballer, and he was apparently unscrewing the tank like a pickle jar, holding the gun pointing downward and gripping the bottom of the tank, which any paintballer with two brain cells to rub together knows is the wrong way to do it. You hold the gun parallel to the ground and perpendicular to your body and slowly unscrew the tank; that's the proper way. That way, if something like this happens, the tank doesn't strike you; it's just common sense. I feel bad that this tragedy happened, but some of the blame lays with the victim for not understanding the very basics of safety when handling a paintball gun.

[Namyak]

... and in response to the bystander being killed, you make sure you aren't pointing the tank at someone else when you're pointing it away from yourself. I've been paintballing for five years, and we've never had any injuries resulting from operator negligence or malfunction. With paintball, the name of the game is prevention.

[ninenot]

Yeah--but in the Mommy-killing, the paintballer was doing it correctly. Too bad--she was in the way of his perpendicular hold pattern.