chembard

I believe most of your replies fit in the order of a line being drawn in order to segregate aggressive combative activities(un scoutly) to non agressive (scoutly). I find this drawing of lines between what should be defined as good or ungood for the individual left up to that of the individual and parents. To play the devils advocate, we should disallow board games such as chess and risk which demonstrate combative tactical situations. Dodgeball of course should be out of the question. Order of the arrow should be restricted in their dance re enactments as to not provide any combative feelings. And although I will disagree on your decisions to draw lines as you see fit for other individuals I still believe that paintball/rifling and shotgunning in the boyscouts is a bad idea. That pains me to say but I believe the best place for a child to learn that is at home under the careful one on one oversight of a parent. Not that the overwhelming majority of scouts and leaders are not responsible enough to undertake the activity, but the one who isn't is never the one injured. That fragment of a percentile is simply not worth risking. As a parent, not for my children anyway.

This last weekend I was playing paintball as every weekend before and some boyscouts were there on a birthday party. They mentioned that paintball was not allowed in scouts and that it had to be an outside activity. I am an ex eagle scout ex military and thought that it seemed another wonderful example of how politically incorrect society turns organizations into the puppets of lawyers. I went outside after getting aired up and some 14-15 year olds were shooting sling shots with paintballs in them at eachother with no masks. After a butt chewing and explaining how short their visits could be, I stood corrected. Paintballs real danger we all would agree is the loss of an eye. This danger is almost zero as long as a mask is worn and barrel plugs are used in the hot areas. Scout leaders however cannot demand the respect of these boys and so are only half listened to. Therefore it would be impossible to force these easily understandable and easier to comply with conditions on boys ready to play "war". No scout leader would want to explain the loss of an eye to a parent. God knows I wouldnt. I will play paintball with my little girl however because I know without a shadow of a doubt she will do what I tell her. Its that trust that allows us experienced players to pass safety off to those beginning. So if your child is interrested in paintball, take them. However I would not recommend sending them with anybody else as it does require some presence of mind in the danger inherent in the game. As far as the laser tag...well...lawyers have to get paid too.

Robert