Air and paintball gun injuries caused more than 20,000 ER visits in 2008
ScienceDaily (Sep. 3, 2011) — Hospital emergency departments saw over 20,000 injuries due to air and paintball guns in 2008, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This represents a 20 percent decrease in emergency room visits for injuries caused by air and paintball guns from 2006.
There are two things that bring more people to this blog through Google. They are this photo of a wound from paintball and the words “clever trever.”
I have to wonder, is it just morbid curiosity? Do paintballers want to see a wicked wound? Does it please them?
Let me tell you the story that goes with the picture, if you don’t know it already. In 2003, my wife and I were walking our dog Lucky around our neighborhood after dark as we did every night. On this occasion, a car sped up behind us. We heard two small explosions and each instantly felt searing pain in our backs. As awful as that pain was — and it was intense — it was nothing compared to seeing the expression on Merri’s face when she cried “I’ve been shot!” while grappling with my own overwhelming fear and pain. It was horrible and I wish a comparable misery on the shooter and his gang. The shooter who cackled wickedly as the car sped by.
Remember, guns don’t shoot people, idiots shoot people. And brutal, cowardly idiots shoot strangers in the back. mjh
PS- Since many of the “clever trever” searchers come from the UK, I trust they are not looking for my take on the Albuquerque Journal’s not-so-clever editorial cartoonist, John Trever (Clever Trever Two, What An Ass We Have In Trever).
First published 6 years ago.
hiya!
my name’s matthew, and i too found your page with google looking for “paintball wound”.
yours was the first search
result!
anyhows, since you expressed some curiosity about those motivated to see a paintball wound, i felt qualified to shed a
little light!
i began looking for paintball injuries only after having played paintball for years. my normally intellectual
friends and i would jump into the woods and shift into predator mode for a few hours… step outside our own reality for a bit!
so as the years flew by, i became a papa and my son korben, who’s seven, wants to play with me. i went online in order to find
photographic evidence of the consequences of irresponsible paintball behavior.
much to my amazement and embarrassment, the
majority of paintball wounds online are there as testimony to an attack by brain-damaged “kids” who can’t comprehend the terror and
anguish a simple painball hit will create when suffered out of context.
if you have done any research on the subject pf drive-by
paintball attacks, i’m sure you realize how lucky you are with no permanent eye or ear damage from the attack.
and it may be
worth noting that i have personally received gnarlier hits than yours. very close-range hits on bare legs and arms can actually break the
skin and sting QUITE A BIT. there art thou happy!
well i hope you have better paintball experiences from this moment onward. the
game played well can be huge fun. lets just hope the stupid among us wise up sooner than later, eh?
matthew
Wow! Now
I don’t feel so bad for spending most of my time playing video game versions of paintball.
I myself am an avid paintballer, and have been for a few years now. Storys of people being shot unwillingly is not a new
one, but its a depressing fact. A few months back a similer incedent happend to me on my way home from work, it was heart breaking to
think someone could sink to such a cowardly low. Realizing the contradiction of me playing paintball while still feeling outraged at
getting shot must seem stupid but I am a responsable person and I only play against people who follow strict rules, regulations and
saftey procedures.
Over the last few weeks I have been working within my community to have our local athority put
restrictions on the purchase of a paintball gun (it’s not a marker). The main goal is to implace an age restriction of 18 (right now you
only have too be 10) I would also like to see some form of registry as would be done with a real firearm.
Its great that you
wrote about this for all to see and I hope that others will take action to keep their communitys safe from this dangerous trend.
I read your comments and I feel that it is very unfortunate that there are people out
there looking to use paintball supplies to hurt people. As usual, some bad apples can spoil it for everyone. However, I would like to
say that the sport has evolved beyond just a pass time. There are professional leagues and it has become a way for people to become
successful in a sport and turn professional. As in any sport, these skills can be learned at young ages and with proper supervision and
training the person could eventually be a professional athelete in a growing extreme sport. It is very difficult to keep this sport
alive and unfortunately if communities start registry’s it would discourage many people from the sport. In fact a registy would be
expensive and difficult to administer and enforce. The money could be better spent raising awareness on the dangers of using equipment
in public areas. Stiff laws or penalties limiting the ability to obtain a drivers license if caught abusing a paintball marker may be a
great deterrent. Possibly rewards for reporting those abusing the paintball markers. Lists of people filling air tanks could also be
kept for enforcement agencies to track down abusers. These are just some ideas to think about.
Yep, I also found this through ‘paintball
wound’ on google. wanted to see if anyone got one worse than mine today :P
Mine hit nearly point blank in the hand, shredding the
skin of and also cutting the perimeter of the impact. And yes, it hurt :P
But sorry to hear about your drive-by incident, I doubt
it was a pleasant experience for you or your wife.
I must be one of the few that found your site through just the term
“paintball”. This page must be getting popular.
I am sorry about your attack. I have been playing paintball for 20 years and only
been hurt once when an idiot on the field had his air compression set double the allowable pressure. It hit me square on the top of my
head while I was reloading and knocked me out cold. They said I was out for almost three minutes. The idiot who hit me of course got
caught and was banned from that field for life.
It is a shame some idiot would do something like to you. A paintball marker is for
a paintball field and is to be shot at people who have agreed to participate. To use it for any their purpose not only puts peoples
health at risk, but makes a bad name for a truly enjoyable sport.
Sorry, I do not agree with the comments of the person calling
for regulation and registration. We have too much government involvement in our lives as it is. it is already a crime to hurt someone.
Those laws need to be enforced, which they are not – that is the problem, not an inanimate object.
I hope that you do not hold
this attack against all paintball players. We are for most part a polite crowd.
Ed