Paintball party pooper...
I hate being a killjoy but there are times when I feel obligated.
Let me explain.
A young boy and his grandfather came into the shop to have the boy's marker cleaned and readied for a weekend birthday gathering. After grabbing a gun plug from behind the counter and putting it in the barrel I went about the routine of showing them how to clean and care for the gun. When done I always chronograph the gun.
This is where I ask the grandfather or Dad or player if others in the party will be having their guns safety checked. I know the answer, of course, and point out that I would never play paintball with anyone who hasn't had their gun chronographed before playing. This brings the usual "Why?" and I go about explaining paintball safety.
This scenario plays out a dozen times a week, mainly on Fridays.
Oddly enough, it seldom draws much comment from the customers. I usually get a shrug or an assurance that they will be careful. I'm sure they consider my spiel self serving. I'm sure they think I'm trying to scare them so they will pay a lot of money to play at my field. Fact is I don't care if people want to play in their backyards with no regard for safety or supervision.
I really don't.
Do I?
5 comments:
You and I both know they will blow off what you said. Right up to the point where their son or grandson gets a welt an 1" plus across that bleeds for ten minutes. The best we can hope for is that they will remember your advice and check things out more carefully.
If you are like me, you care about others welfare and would like to see them play safe, no matter where they play.
As far as playing renegade paintball? I personally don't care if people choose to do that. I market to the people who don't do that. There are plenty around that prefer to play at commercial fields. Why worry about people who have decided it's better for them, for whatever reason, to play in someone's backyard. Life is too short to worry about things you have little control over.
Thanks, guys...
I myself am always worried about the people that would rather play rouge-ball. Most Rouge players do it because they are cheap and unwilling to pay for the use of a field or reffs........and people that take shortcuts in one facet of the game will take others.
My big concern is that one of the Rouge ballers will shoot his friend in the eye and then the media will lump there actions in with the rest of us. Thereby branding the entire sport as dangerous and unsafe, just because a couple of idiots had to go and do things their way.
I think we are beyond worrying about what rogue players are doing in their backyards. There are many players that play at both established fields and in their back yards, hopefully thousands of times a weekend all over the world and normally you never hear anything at all about them. We are still relatively young, but as of now we have been around way to many years to loose the sport overnight. The only way paintball will disappear is if no one wants to play anymore. This great game is established enough now and for many, many years there has been many bad incidents regarding people and paintball equipment in the news-shooting at signs, people on the sidewalk, and even kids shooting their eyes. If the sport was going to be branded as unfit for civilized society it already would have. It has not been.
It is now an accepted sport and pastime and people in most communities do not get that excited over it anymore and I have yet to hear a murmur of discontent when it does make the paper (page 5on the lower corner, usually a blurb in length and even then usually just stating the facts of the incident).
Does this mean that vigilance is not needed to do our part to make palying paintball safe? No. It is needed and we certainly should be watching and any chance we get to educate is important. We have to remember though that we cannot force people to adhere to such play, but at least we can make them aware that there are standards out there.
Post a Comment