http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ma ... l-massacre


Germany to ban paintball after massacre

German government under pressure on gun laws after shooting in which 15 died

The German government is planning to ban paintball and laser shooting games in reaction to the recent school massacre in which 15 people died.

Under legislation agreed by the ruling coalition of the chancellor, Angela ­Merkel, using air rifles to shoot paint-filled pellets at opponents is likely to be made illegal, and would be punishable with fines of up to €5,000 (£4,480).

The decision, which is expected to be fast-tracked through the Bundestag before the summer recess, comes two months after 17-year-old Tim Kretschmar shot dead 15 people at his former school in Winnenden, south-west Germany, with a weapon he had taken from his father's bedroom. Kretschmar's love of paintball as well as violent video and computer games was widely publicised.

The government has found itself under pressure to tighten gun laws in Germany in what has become one of the main issues before a general election in September.

"This so-called game plays down violence, leading to the danger that people have fewer inhibitions about shooting each other," said Dieter Wiefelsputz, of the Social Democrats.

Owners of paintball arenas, which are already out of bounds for under-18s, said they felt they were easy targets in what opposition politicians have referred to as "populistic placebo politics".

Arne Petry, spokesman for the German Paintball League, said: "Paintball is not about simulating bloodbaths – the most you're going to end up with is a bruise or two."

The owner of one of Germany's largest paintball halls, north-west of Berlin, said he thought the ban ironic, not least because "many of my customers are government workers". He said he counted bank managers, firefighters, police and even security guards from Merkel's chancellery among his regular customers.

"They come here after their shifts to let off steam and stay for several hours at a time," he said, requesting anonymity.

The new law is also expected to forbid under-18s access to high-calibre guns and to make it easier for police to carry out random controls at the homes of registered gun owners.

Claudia Roth, head of the Green party, said that while she was no fan of paintball, the government's plan to ban it was hypocritical and amounted to a "cowardly concession to the gun lobby".

"They should instead be banning high-calibre weapons," she said.

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They also should ban dodgeball, afterall its the same principle of aiming and hitting another person with a projectile.

Please tell me this is an Onion article in disguise...

eh, they banned jews once, and given2trade is still here.

lock 'er up, folks!

That's pretty stupid.


Great post edzeppe.

Whilst that is pretty stupid it is no less stupid than the US response to many school shootings of doing fuck all about it apart from worry about someone from the overbearing government trying to remove your right to wonder around town with a gun stuffed down your trousers.

Wait til Davejeni hears about this...

Is there some kind of bat-signal that goes off whenever the slightest opportunity to segue into ragging on US policies presents itself?

And come on now. It is not as if we don't have our fair share of liberals trying to ban every scapegoat they can make out of these events.

In all fairness, this entire thread is dedicated to bashing German policies.

Only a clearly ignorant, reactionary one.

What is behind this is really the sexual arousement that european politicians seem to feel when they create new regulations, even if they dont make any sense at all.

In all fairness, that was my point. We already have a thread for bashing US policies. No need to derail this one.

We also already have a thread for bashing dumb Euro gun control laws, so...

I thought about a merge, but paintball guns are not guns, ya know what i mean.

this is about as good an idea as

But this is about Germany deciding on whether to ban paintball.

Unless you load them with marbles.

lol wut

Marbles can be fired from a paintball gun. Though the gun must be modded.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/3789261/detail.html?subid=22100764&qs=1;bp=t