Germany moves to outlaw paintball

[HURAKAN]

Germany moves to outlaw paintball

The German government says it plans to ban combat games such as paintball, in response to a recent school shooting.

The new measures being proposed to parliament also include tighter gun control rules and give officials the right to conduct checks on gun owners.

Sixteen people, including the gunman, were killed in the shooting at a school in southern Germany in March.

Relatives of the victims say the new measures do not go far enough.

'Biometric controls'

Under the proposed rules, the authorities would be given more right to ensure weapons are safely locked up.

It is also though that "biometric controls" for gun storage might be introduced, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Berlin reports.

That would mean that anyone owning and storing guns at home would need to use their own fingerprint to open the safe or cupboard, our correspondent says.

Berlin also plans to ban games like paintball and laser-tag that stimulate killing on that they trivialise and encourage violence.

Anyone defying the proposed new rule could face a 5,000-euro (£4,474) fine.

But relatives of those killed in the March attack in the town of Winnenden, near Stuttgart, are calling for an outright ban on pistols and high-calibre weapons.

"There cannot be a second Winnenden," Hardy Schober, whose daughter was killed in the attack, told a news conference in Berlin.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 041320.stm

[brunota2003]

I would think banning video games related to that would be better. What's wrong with paintball or airsoft? Increasing gun restrictions has been proven ineffective, all it does is increase the violent crime rate.

[Derek Ortt]

utterly idiotic

[RL3AO]

I would think banning video games related to that would be better. What's wrong with paintball or airsoft? Increasing gun restrictions has been proven ineffective, all it does is increase the violent crime rate.

Your joking right? Why video games? Surely you would need to ban movies and tv and music as well.

[Ptarmigan]

Bad idea. Why outlaw paintball? Also, the school shooter was sick in his head.

[brunota2003]

I would think banning video games related to that would be better. What's wrong with paintball or airsoft? Increasing gun restrictions has been proven ineffective, all it does is increase the violent crime rate.

Your joking right? Why video games? Surely you would need to ban movies and tv and music as well.

Makes as much sense as banning paintball, right?

[zaqxsw75050]

What is next, banning kids from playing with water gun?

[Category 5]

This is stupid, this is nothing more then bad parents trying to lay the blame on anything but themselves by campaigning for nonsense like this.

[Cryomaniac]

I would think banning video games related to that would be better. What's wrong with paintball or airsoft? Increasing gun restrictions has been proven ineffective, all it does is increase the violent crime rate.

Your joking right? Why video games? Surely you would need to ban movies and tv and music as well.

Exactly. Killing the video game industry won't stop idiots killing ewach other. There were no video games in Victorian London, but there was Jack the ripper.

[tropicana]

it will only cause the sport of paintballing to go underground, it wont stop it. So there is no sense in passing such a law.

[HurricaneBill]

When I first glanced at the title, I thought it said Germany wanted to outlaw PINBALL.

But seriously, outlawing paintball won't make a difference.

[senorpepr]

(The following article is from the Stars and Stripes, thus the US military comments...)


German plan to outlaw paintball shelved

The German parliament’s plan to outlaw paintball, which could have affected fields at U.S. bases, has been pulled off the table for now.

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, was considering a law that would have criminalized paintball and fined anyone caught playing the growing sport or operating paintball fields up to 5,000 euros.

But the German media reported Thursday afternoon that the parliament has taken a step back to conduct studies on the issue and it may consider placing age and dress restrictions on the sport.

A 15-man task force of officials from each German state, formed after a school shooting in Winnenden in March that left 15 dead, recommended banning paintball, reported the Berliner Zeitung, a newspaper based in Berlin. Members of the task force argued it desensitizes people to violence and they labeled the sport a "human disgrace."

U.S. bases are dotted with paintball ranges at Vogelweh and Army garrisons in Baumholder, Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels, to name a few. And five new fields are planned at Hohenfels.

It is anyone’s guess as to how any future bans would affect American paintball fields in Germany, Installation Management Command-Europe spokesman Ken White said.

"I monitor the international media. I always look at what is happening," White said. "Our legal folks and [Morale, Welfare and Recreation] staff was aware (of the move to ban paintball). We were not caught unaware that they were looking at this."

German politicians are divided on the issue of pulling the plug on the sport.

"Paintball is immoral. Therefore, we will abolish it," said Dieter Wiefelspütz, a politician from the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung.

Parliament and SPD member Sebastian Edathy told Bild Zeitung that any decision on paintball should be made after careful examination.

"I do not see a direct connection between paintball and a killing spree as it took place in Winnenden," he said. "We should get another expert’s opinion and take it from there."

The law would have affected 300 businesses and about 500,000 Germans who enjoy squaring off against other paintballers, Arne Petry, a spokesman for The German Paintball League, told Stars and Stripes. There are 200 paintball fields in Germany, and a ban could put 1,000 people out of work, Petry said.

[Category 5]

Paintball is IMMORAL? What sort of superdrugs is this guy on?

[ninel conde]

paintball is fun.

[Category 5]

paintball is fun.

Wont get an argument from me.

[olddude]

Paintball is IMMORAL? What sort of superdrugs is this guy on?

Totally agree