Paintball dangers need examining

Paintball guns can inflict painful wounds if they come into direct contact with skin.

A drive-by shooting which blinded (hopefully temporarily) a young Whangarei women highlights the dangers and regulatory quirks of paintball guns.

An 18-year-old was shot on Sunday morning, while waiting for a ride home after a Saturday night out with friends.

A distinctive vehicle has cruised past, someone fired toward her and she was hit with a paintball in an eye.

The velocity with which paintballs travel is sufficient to leave welts, or cause bleeding if they come into direct contact with skin.

Imagine the pain this young lady felt when the ball came into contact with the soft tissue of her eye.

A young male was subsequently arrested and has been charged with five charges of assault with a weapon relating to two females and four males.

He is also charged with causing grievous bodily harm to an 18-year-old female.

Paintballs are designed to be used in war games, in a specialist arena. It is a popular pastime, particularly among men.

Paintball guns are classified as air guns, and as such, can be used legally by persons who do not hold a firearms licence.

When something like this, let's call it "testosteronal" idiocy, goes wrong, it is natural to examine what can be done to prevent it happening again.

Education or regulation?

There seems to be a case for people taking part in paintball games to be given some form of compulsory basic firearm safety awareness before they take part, so they are aware of the potential dangers of the weapons.

As for regulation, is there a case for banning them outside of game arenas?

Paintball guns are designed for the express purpose of shooting another person.

Which means that outside a regulated gaming arena, their raison d'etre (reason for being) means there is more chance someone is going to get shot.

And for people like our 18-year-old victim, that is where the fun ends.