"Ask the Rabbi" by R. Mermelstein
QUESTION: Dear Rabbi
Mermelstein:
I'm an employee at a sporting goods store, which carries paintball
guns. Day in and day out I see kids coming in and spending $20-$150 on
paint ball equipment. My point being every kid that tries this sport
enjoys it. I've talked to some of the parents, some of which are
against/scared of anything resembling a firearm. My point is that even
anti-second amendment parents are willing to "put up" with having a
"gun" in the house to make their kids happy.
What I see here is a relatively cheap and hassle free way to to get
kids involved in shooting sports, and preserve our second amendment
rights.
Cheap: $60-80 and the kid is ready to play.
Hassle Free: No permits/back round checks are needed.
The sport of paint ball is the "in" thing with kids right now. "Guns"
can be rented instead of bought, which puts the minds of parents at
ease since there is no need to have a "gun" in the house. But the
parent soon finds out that it is far cheaper to buy than it is to rent
the paint ball guns, and sooner or later buys a "gun".
Meanwhile the youngster associates things that shoot are fun to use.
The next step is getting that youngster involved shooting a BB gun.
Which uses the same propellant (CO2), the youngster uses the same type
of protective eye wear to shoot a BB gun. Relatively nothing has
changed except the projectile. This is a small change and with time is
accepted by the parent. To please the child the parent has just become
a legal firearms owning citizen. The parent is more likely than ever to
supervise the use, and use that firearm. These outings provide parent
and child with a bonding moment. A moment that puts the use of a
firearm in an extremely positive light.
Many people who read this may think "how is a toy going to preserve my
second amendment rights?" That's my whole point, may people regard
paint ball guns as "toys" and that is what makes them so easy to
obtain, and parents so willing to "put up with there kid" having a
"gun".
James Hamfeldt
Future Firearms Designer
10 Oct 2000
ANSWER: Dear Mr. Hamfeldt,
Sorry to rain on your parade, but I wrote a lengthy article nearly
15 years ago for a paintball gun enthusiasts magazine that criticized
the game in the strongest terms. I was in the wholesale ammunition
manufacturing/retail gun sales business at the time. The only reason
the piece was published was because the editor was a good customer of
mine. The text of that article has long since disappeared from my
files, but in essence it slammed the entire concept of the game for
teaching kids that it's okay to point and discharge a projectile firing
device at another human being. What kind of gun manners, I asked, was
this supposed to instill in impressionable, youthful minds? Even my
paintball fanatic customer finally confessed to me (it took many
interrogations from me to get him to admit to it) that after a round of
paintball war games he found his etiquette with real firearms to slip,
e.g. pointing an "unloaded" firearm at another person. This is
unconscionable, as any responsible firearms owner knows. There is no
such beast as an unloaded firearm. Every gun is always treated as if it
were loaded. No, my mind hasn't changed since penning that treatise. My
children, having grown up around many firearms in our home, were never
even allowed to play with toy guns, water pistols, rubber band guns, or
otherwise. Great satisfaction with my parenting abilities came one day
when one of our sons, many years ago, came home from a friend's house
because he refused to play with the other boy's toy guns in a game of
cops and robbers. Since then, after many sessions at the shooting
range, they've all developed a very healthy respect for firearms along
with proper safe handling techniques. They know what a firearm can do,
and how it is a tool to protect human life. More importantly, they will
vote for pro-gun political candidates. I know I can leave an loaded
firearm unattended and unsecured in my home, though I would never do
so, secure in the knowledge that our children would never touch it.
Paintball guns teach the antithesis of good gun manners. There is time
enough to teach our young men to be warriors on the battlefield to
defend American freedoms. That training needn't be initiated with
shooting paintballs at other people. If the game is safe, as if that
would detract from my position, why is protective face and groin gear
worn by the "combatants"?
Sincerely,
R. Mermelstein
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