Reader Response
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Germany to tighten gun control, ban paintball
Banning games that simulate shooting? Look at the past and see that games kids played were more violent than today. Why wasn't that generation more violent. Get rid of your Socialist policies and teach personal responsibility. Don't make the mistake that the US has made, think before you act. Banning games is not the answer. You are reacting to emotion not reality. Wait two years then think about legislation. -- Mitchell Ennis, US
I have been involved in paintball for 20 years. First of all "school shooters" are loners and anti-social. Secondly paintball redirects young people to an activity which is social in nature and teaches kids that they are not invincible -- anyone can get hit. Paintball players are less likely to be involved in illegal use of firearms, not more likely. -- Ken Farris, US
Sounds like an old story. One person breaks the law and an entire country of otherwise law abiding citizens is penalized. Sounds like an excuse for power hungry politicians to get more power. Why not do away with cars? Don't they kill more people than guns? -- Schwarz, US
The idea that banning war-games like paintball or laser tag will have any effect on teen violence or criminal activity is ridiculous. This is a veiled attempt, and pretty thinly veiled at that, to usurp the God-given right to self-defence. This is a power grab, designed to tighten the governmental hold over the populace. If the populace allow this to pass, they will soon say good-bye to what's left of their freedoms. -- Micheal Breece, US
Ban paintball and laser tag because it simulates killing? Using the same logic, they will also be banning the sport of fencing and anything to do with physical contact and self-defence. What about boxing, martial arts, ultimate fighting and wrestling? How will young hunters learn the sport from their fathers and grandfathers if they are not allowed to target practice until they are 18? -- Kelly Grahn, US
The weapons ban legislation fails to consider the reason why the 17 year old went on a shooting rampage. Granted an absolute gun-free society will have almost no gun crimes, but even those governments fail to realize and deal with fundamental problems that youths face. Gun crime is merely a symptom of larger underlying issues that are too controversial and/or politically distasteful to deal with properly. Instead the easy thing to do is to beat a straw man, be they paintball guns or violent video games. Having lived in Germany for years during the late 70s and early 80s, gun crimes were nearly unheard of in Germany but guns were relatively prolific. The supply of guns had not changed but youth culture is different and can result in violent tendencies. Laws in theory may disarm people from their weapons but they cannot disarm violence. -- Ken To, US
