RememberSchiff 3655 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 ...Well the comments are entertaining http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/05/06/water-guns-ok-for-target-shooting-not-for-firing-at-other-scouts/ I think my scouts will get all Charlton Heston about this. Link to post Share on other sites
Gone 435 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 If boomerangs and blow guns are forbidden, what do the scouts in Oz do for target sports? Link to post Share on other sites
qwazse 4342 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 What water guns? All we have round here are portable safe-distance reciprocal cooling stations. 4 Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle94-A1 2685 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 We too do not have waterguns at our day camp. We have "Personal Water Soaking Devices." I have to say it's the most idiotic policy. Even more stupid than the 6 foot rule on pioneering projects, which gets violated at every camporee. Link to post Share on other sites
NJCubScouter 1389 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) I think my scouts will get all Charlton Heston about this. "... out of my cold, wet hands"? Edited May 19, 2015 by NJCubScouter 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Cambridgeskip 658 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Seriously? We'd have complete insurrection if the summer term didn't end with a massive water fight involving super soakers of every kind. Is this actually enforced anywhere? Or can you chaps get away with conveniently forgetting about it? Also the others, balistas are great fun! Although we did destroy a 40 litre water carrier once while using it as a weight on a trebuchet. Boomerangs are also awesome! for a while we had an Australian leader with out cub pack who is also a mechanical engineer. He had a huge collection of boomerangs and would bring them to camp. They were fantastic fun! Somebody somewhere is being a right kill joy. Link to post Share on other sites
Gone 435 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 So....are water balloon fights out of bounds? Splash battles with canoes and oars require eye protection? I think our unit will feign ignorance on this one. Silly rule. Link to post Share on other sites
RememberSchiff 3655 Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 By all means, this fun has to stop now! from http://www.myfinalphoto.com/jubilant-squirt-on-4th-of-july/ 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Renax127 70 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 So....are water balloon fights out of bounds? Splash battles with canoes and oars require eye protection? I think our unit will feign ignorance on this one. Silly rule. Only if the balloons are ping pong ball sized ?? Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh 3452 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 And National wants us to take them seriously and they turn around and do this? As one who survived many rounds of mumbledee peg, I'll take a pass on this. Link to post Share on other sites
CalicoPenn 729 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 This is not a new policy - when I went to National Camp School for day camps back about :::mumble mumble::: years ago in the early 1980's, we were told about this policy - and this was mostly aimed at regular old water pistols, super soakers were just starting to be sold in stores, though it applied to them as well. It had nothing to do with liability, nothing to do with super soakers being more powerful, nothing to do with the fear someone would get hurt. It had, and still has, everything to do with being consistent with the BSA's (and NRA's) teachings about gun safety. What was the number one rule of gun safety from Cub Scouts to Explorers? Never Point A Gun At Someone. Argue all you want about whether a super soaker is a gun or not - it doesn't matter - to the BSA, it is a facsimile of a gun and for that reason, it should not be pointed at a person. It's the same reason why the BSA doesn't authorize paint ball (except to shoot at targets). It's the same reason the BSA does not allow targets to be human shaped. I heard all the same arguments about how ridiculous the rule is back in the early 1980's - what I found fascinating was how many people making that argument were also arguing that movies and television shows were desensitizing kids to violence and never making the connection that pointing a water pistol or super soaker at someone could be desensitizing kids to pointing guns at people. In reality, at pack and troop events, supersoaker fights are probably common - lots of people ignore the rule. Council and district day and summer camps aren't likely to break that rule. I know, though, that some packs in our area will not allow super soaker water fights, and not because of the BSA rule but because they got tired of dealing with irate parents demanding that the pack replace the super soaker toy that got broken, and inevitably, someone breaks their super soaker toy. At our day camp, we didn't do water gun fights - we didn't do water balloon fights but we still had water fights - we used sponges instead which the cubs had a blast with - they got wet much faster - and clean up was much easier since each Cub had to return his sponge to his Den Chief at the end. We filled big wading pools full of water so that the Cubs could reload. The only other water "weapon" allowed was limited to staff - a couple of 5-gallon backpack water extinguishers (commonly called an Indian pump because of the picture of an Indian on it) and the staff members had to be wearing it and could not refill it. Guess which staff members got the wettest. Link to post Share on other sites
Gone 435 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 This is not a new policy - when I went to National Camp School for day camps back about :::mumble mumble::: years ago in the early 1980's, we were told about this policy - and this was mostly aimed at regular old water pistols, super soakers were just starting to be sold in stores, though it applied to them as well. It had nothing to do with liability, nothing to do with super soakers being more powerful, nothing to do with the fear someone would get hurt. It had, and still has, everything to do with being consistent with the BSA's (and NRA's) teachings about gun safety. What was the number one rule of gun safety from Cub Scouts to Explorers? Never Point A Gun At Someone. Argue all you want about whether a super soaker is a gun or not - it doesn't matter - to the BSA, it is a facsimile of a gun and for that reason, it should not be pointed at a person. It's the same reason why the BSA doesn't authorize paint ball (except to shoot at targets). It's the same reason the BSA does not allow targets to be human shaped. And yet, not so long ago, the popcorn prize in Cub Scouts was a marhmallow shooting bow. Obviously that was for targets. I think the commentary about BSA's ambiguity around policy still stands. Either it is or isn't okay to have and use certain items. Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle94-A1 2685 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Not so long ago, one of the recruiting posters for Cub Scouts was... ... A "Personal Water Soaking Device" fight. And I know NRA officials who have no problems with water guns. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Gone 435 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Not so long ago, one of the recruiting posters for Cub Scouts was... ... A "Personal Water Soaking Device" fight. And I know NRA officials who have no problems with water guns. Clearly national doesn't know what's going on in its own backyard. These were confiscated in a recent raid by BSA Police on a unit in my area. Link to post Share on other sites
walk in the woods 888 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 And yet, not so long ago, the popcorn prize in Cub Scouts was a marhmallow shooting bow. Obviously that was for targets. I think the commentary about BSA's ambiguity around policy still stands. Either it is or isn't okay to have and use certain items. In our council the popcorn prize was a super-soaker, two years ago. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
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