BSA Paintball Prohibition (LONG)

At 03:38 PM 1/14/98 -0500, Ron Raab-Long wrote:
...
>The Guide to Safe Scouting forbids participation in paint ball war games,
>which is the only answer we had for him. Where can we go to get the answer
>to his real question, "Why was it banned?"
>
...
>Any thoughts?
>
>YIS,
>
>Ron Raab-Long
...

A Scout of mine a few years ago, in a supervised paintball activity outside
of Scouting was shot in the eye by a former Scout of mine, his best friend
and lifelong buddy, from point-blank range. The match had just ended and
just as the one boy stripped off his protective goggles, the other boy
(who thought he had discharged and safed his weapon) came up behind him
and said, "Hey, Jimmy!!!" (I'm not using the real names here).

As "Jimmy" reflexively turned and looked, "Randy" pulled the trigger whilst
the pistol was pointed at "Jimmy".

Result:

Complete loss of eyesight in one eye for weeks. "Jimmy" got some of his
eyesight back after three surgeries. Nor is this an isolated incident. In
spite of stringent precautions, these things still happen from time to time
here in California. "Randy" still feels awful about it.

Both boys were paintball veterans (20+ games each under their belts) who
had been in a paintball league for over a year.

One momentary lapse, one Delta Sierra action, one eye lost.

The BSA ban on paintball as a sanctioned Scouting activity is justified,
in my considered professional opinion as a onetime National Rifle
Association (NRA) Certified Rifle/Shotgun Instructor (CRI/CSI) and current
life member of the same. I see no compelling reason for children to
particpate in fireteam/squad level wargames with kinetic weapons.

Quite the contrary.

The U.S. Marines and U.S. Army agree. They use low power laser devices at
their tactical training facilities, Twenty-nine Palms and Fort Irwin,
instead of kinetic weapons. Commercial laser tag facilities use a (much)
simpler version of these military tactical simulation systems.

Here in California, laser tag is quite popular. High velocity, zero
kinetic energy photons (safe) are flying through the air instead of high
velocity, high kinetic energy dye pellets (unsafe) used for marking cows.

Result:

Same level of fun. No lost eyes. Think about it.....

Take a hint from "The Few, The Proud, The Marines", and do a laser tag
troop activity, if it exists in your area. My Scouts love it!

Yours in Scouting,

Rodger

Rodger Morris <rodger@fishnet.net>
Asst. Scoutmaster, Troop 808 Wood Badge 416-18
Ventura County Council at Philmont, 1973
Camarillo, California, USA "I used to be a Beaver..."

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message
• Previous message