Germany to Ban Paintball and Lazer Tag - UPDATE: They changed their minds

[FoolKiller]

Apparently after a 17-year-old shoots 15 people the knee-jerk reaction is to ban games that "simulate killing people."

http://www.thelocal.de/money/20090507-19127.html

Winnenden massacre could lead to paintball and laser tag ban
Published: 7 May 09 15:57 CET

The German government has agreed to tighten gun laws and ban games such as paintball and laser tag because lawmakers say they “simulate killing” that could spark tragedies such as the Winnenden school massacre.

German media reported on Thursday that lawmakers from the ruling coalition had agreed on a catalogue of measures aimed at clamping down on illegal firearms and better monitoring privately owned weapons.

"We have agreed on reasonable changes that will mean more security without over-regulating hobby marksmen and hunters," the deputy head of the conservative Christian Union parliamentary group, Wolfgang Bosbach, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

The measures include banning paintball, where players use air rifles to shoot ammunition filled with paint at opponents, and laser tag, a game where players attempt to score points by shooting each other with an infrared-emitting gun.

Violators of the ban would be slapped with fines of up to €5,000, the paper reported.

“The games simulate killing,” Bosbach said.

The move comes two months after 17-year-old Tim Kretschmar killed 15 people, including nine students and three teachers at his old school in Winnenden in southwestern Germany, with a gun stolen from his father’s bedroom. The incident has sparked a fierce debate on gun laws in Germany.

German media reported that lawmakers were also considering barring people under the age of 18 from shooting high-calibre guns at target practice and permitting police to conduct random checks at the homes of gun owners to ensure their weapons are under lock and key.

Other measures would include creating a digital database of firearms as well as biometric security systems to help ensure weapons are used by their rightful owners. In addition, lawmakers would introduce an amnesty for owners of illegal firearms if they turn them in to authorities, reports said.

I bolded a sentence because I see a much more important rights violation is being considered and overlooked as the big news is apparently paintball and lazer tag.

And there are calls for violent video game bans too, so I am thinking this is a sign that it wouldn't be beyond their will to do that.

 

[Mark T]

What a load of bull crap.

 

[daan]

I bolded a sentence because I see a much more important rights violation is being considered and overlooked as the big news is apparently paintball and lazer tag.

How is it a rights violation if it states in German law that guns are to be locked away?

 

[FoolKiller]

How is it a rights violation if it states in German law that guns are to be locked away?

Police randomly coming into your home, without you having to give them permission, violates your property and privacy rights. If they had enough suspicion to have a warrant, or whatever Germany uses to create the legal justification for search and seizure, that is one thing. But saying that because you own a gun they get to just waltz into your home whenever they feel like it?

No, sorry, that violates rights. At the absolute most they should have to ask your permission to come in first, but that does not sound like what they are doing.

 

[Exorcet]

What happened to rational thinking?

 

[Stevisiov]

That's utter rubbish. Last I checked I didn't get the urge to go on a rampage I went to paintball or laser quest.

 

[Famine]

How is it a rights violation if it states in German law that guns are to be locked away?

You've gone and wandered into the Opinions forum again, haven't you?

 

[daan]

Yeah, I don't like it here...

 

[Rentner]

That's exactly that kind of ******** here in Germany that makes me wanna emigrate.
As if we don't have more serious problems, sometimes I just hate our populist politicians.

 

[Sureboss]

Yeah, I don't like it here...

There are some deep fried turkish delights out back, I'll keep you here, if it's the last thing I do!

I'd love to see someone run rampage through a school with a paintball gun and then tell the cops, "I wanted to kill them all with Dulux Super White!"

 

[bergauk]

So this is a reaction to a 17 year old kid taking his fathers gun and shooting up his school? Why are they banning paintball and laser-tag exactly? Was he an avid player? Or were they just trying to point the blame at something. If anything I'd expect them to tighten up the regulations on real guns instead of banning a harmless game. [Ok, maybe not completely harmless, it still hurts]

So what happens to all the people that have invested thousands of dollars into the pasttime? Are they supposed to just hang up this stuff and never play again?

 

[homeforsummer]

Personally, paintballing re-enforces to me how much I wouldn't like to be doing it with real guns. I once did a Normandy Landings game at a paintball place, which was a complete rush and I won the game for my team as I was the sole person to make it all the way up the "beach" without being shot and hoist the flag... the last ten meters I've never run so quickly in my life and I literally threw myself behind the last barrier... but when I stopped to think about it, it's the most sobering thought in the world. It's all fun and games when paintballs are flying at you and it's difficult enough to "win" in that situation - but would I have kept my nerve if those had been real bullets whizzing past me and killing my team-mates?

I can safely say that whilst I enjoy paintballing a lot, it more than satiates my shooting desires. I expect that's the same for many people.

 

[Zrow]

They're like coddling parents, aren't they?

 

[mustangGT90210]

Personally, paintballing re-enforces to me how much I wouldn't like to be doing it with real guns. I once did a Normandy Landings game at a paintball place, which was a complete rush and I won the game for my team as I was the sole person to make it all the way up the "beach" without being shot and hoist the flag... the last ten meters I've never run so quickly in my life and I literally threw myself behind the last barrier... but when I stopped to think about it, it's the most sobering thought in the world. It's all fun and games when paintballs are flying at you and it's difficult enough to "win" in that situation - but would I have kept my nerve if those had been real bullets whizzing past me and killing my team-mates?

I can safely say that whilst I enjoy paintballing a lot, it more than satiates my shooting desires. I expect that's the same for many people.

I agree with you here. I know when I play paintball or airsoft, it always reinforces how much I like my life!

 

[homeforsummer]

Exactly. It's easy to think, "actually, this would smart a bit if these were real". All of the fun, none of the dead. I'm sure deaths do occasionally occur paintballing but only from people stupid enough to remove their masks or what have you. To say that paintballing is too close to actual shooting and should be banned is ridiculous. Personally, I'm not a fan of pro-gun laws such as the Second Amendment, but at the same time I certainly wouldn't advocate banning anything and everything just on the off-chance that a few lunatics might take things too far.

If that were the case, then you may as well ban videogames, TV and water pistols. None of which are anything other than entertainment to 99.99999% of people.

 

[Casio]

Germany: Where you can legally go 350km/h on the road, but can't play lazer tag.

or

Germany: Imma not chargen my lazors.

 

[FoolKiller]

Well, it looks like they have backed down now.

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090514-19275.html

But Dieter Wiefelspütz, an expert on domestic affairs for the Social Democrats, on Wednesday said lawmakers had abandoned the idea of making paintball illegal.

"There will be no ban," he said.

The government, however, plans to conduct an enquiry to assess whether paintball regulations should be tightened by increasing age limits and other measures, Wiefelspütz said.

Critics say paintball is dangerous because it simulates killing but its supporters say it is a sport and that they are not shooting but "marking" each other with paint.

 

[Tornado]

Quite a lot of sports simulate killing, and the point of sports themselves were originally for that very thing (or rather, to simulate war).

 

[Solid Lifters]

Oh, those wacky Germans!

 

[Keef]

Well, it looks like they have backed down now.

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090514-19275.html

But Dieter Wiefelspütz, an expert on domestic affairs for the Social Democrats, on Wednesday said lawmakers had abandoned the idea of making paintball illegal.

"There will be no ban," he said.

The government, however, plans to conduct an enquiry to assess whether paintball regulations should be tightened by increasing age limits and other measures, Wiefelspütz said.

Critics say paintball is dangerous because it simulates killing but its supporters say it is a sport and that they are not shooting but "marking" each other with paint.

Right. Paintball is simply a game of tag.