Posted on 08/06/2008 5:11:13 AM PDT by Puppage
(WTNH) -- Paintball guns are sold as a toy or a hobby, but they pack quite a punch. That's leading some to question whether paintball guns should regulated.
Paintballs fired from the gun can travel 300 feet per second and they're capable of causing serious harm.
Since the age of five, Christein Smith has wanted to play for the Yankees, but the 15-year-old All-Star catcher's dreams have been derailed after a backyard game of paintball.
"They were in the middle of a break and he got shot," said Melissa Smith of Portland.
A paintball pellet shattered Chris' right eye.
"Chris was the second patient within several months with the exact same injury, and the exact same result," said ophthalmologist, Dr. Elwin Schwartz.
According to Dr. Schwartz, this game is a growing concern in his industry. He says there are about 1,200 severe eye injuries every year from paintball. Many, like Chris, have permanent loss of vision.
"As long as the guns are loaded and they can be fired, if your helmet's not on, you're at risk," Dr. Schwartz said.
That's Something Chris' mom wants others to be aware of. Now, she's trying to get a bill passed to get the guns registered and locked-up, like other guns. "Send a message to the kids, teenagers, that these guns can cause serious damage," she said.
However, those who play say that won't work. "Registering a gun's not gonna stop those injuries. Enforcing the safety rules and knowing the safety rules are what's gonna prevent injuries," said Scott Potter of Eastern Paintball Supplies.
Potter says 10 million people now play the sport. The guns can be sold to anyone with parental permission or over 18 years old. Kids 10 years old and up are allowed to play at commercial fields and there are safeties on the guns, as well as barrel sleeves and plugs.
Potter says, it's safe if it's done right. "Just like anything, if you don't follow the rules -- or follow the safety rules with something -- anything could be dangerous. A baseball bat, football, anything," he said.
Eastern Paintball Supplies say they stress safety first at their fields and that no one can play, or be near the guns, without a helmet on.
Melissa has now gotten a petition going and she's planning to try to bring her bill up to the General Assembly in November.
Yeah, it's the governments fault, Mom. Allowing your kid to play paintball unsupervised in YOUR backyard has nothing to do with it.
“As long as the guns are loaded and they can be fired, if your helmet’s not on, you’re at risk,”
Here’s your sign.
Any mother worth their salt knows to give the obligatory warning: “Be careful you can poke your eye out with that thing” with any toy...
When I was growing up, I remember my brother and I getting in a pretty nasty fight where he took our Wiffle ball bat and hit me right in the face and broke my nose.
I guess in today’s world, my mom could sue the makers of Wiffle ball.
Can she tell us why he wasn't wearing his helmet?
And I want moms to work out and not be so FAT.
I play paintball all the time, and the site where we play requires helmets with face shields.
Aren’t parents supposed to be regulating their children?
Welcome to Connecticut, where skinned knees can make you rich and all the kids are exceptional.
My son played paintball for years, he always wore a face mask and chest protection. We had a paint ball field that my son and his friends set up in our woods behind the house. We never had any injuries because the kids were outfitted properly.
What’s wrong with this woman? More government regulation won’t fix parental stupidity.
I played once last winter with my nephew. Man, it get's steamy under that mask/shield. The place where we played said that if anyone took off their mask for ANY reason during play, you'd be kicked out. Sound advise, so it would seem.
Yeah, sorry your kid was stupid and the mom was negligent in her supervision regarding the safety shield and helmet.
Paintball player, eh? No eye protection, you say?
Sounds like ‘chlorine for the gene pool’ to me.
Does CT use that for a slogan? ;-)
As dumb as this family appears to be, I think the kid is more likely to hit himself in the head with the bat.
Well, dumba$$, why the hell didn't you do that in the first place? Sounds to me like your kid should have been wearing the paintball helmet and you need your own "special" helmet 24/7...
I Sorry to hear he was so badly injured, but was thinking the same thing... her back yard, so it must be all society’s fault.
Just look at today’s playgrounds compared to the ones we used to play on twenty or thirty years ago. We’ve become so sue happy and safety obsessed that playgrounds now resemble a rubber room.
At some point, kids are going to hurt themselves. For some of us, that’s how we learned.
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