by Mr. Wizard

"Guns don't kill people... people kill people"
- Unknown

"In all of this excitement I've forgotten whether I've fired five shots or six. So, you have to ask yourself 'Do you feel lucky, punk?"
- Dirty Harry

"That is the sound of an AK-47, the preferred weapon of your enemy. Learn to recognise it."
- Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge

Mr. Wizard sent me the letter he has sent to Mayor Bloomberg regarding the proposed ban on paintball guns. Brian, as always, makes a good case on why action encouraging the ban on paintball paraphenalia would do more to hurt the city than protect it's law abiding citizens.

Brian's letter is in blue.

November 29th, 2002

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Mr. Mayor,

It has recently been brought to my attention that Consumer Affairs commissioner, Gretchen Dykstra, is pursuing a ban on most, if not all, paintball guns in NYC. Ms. Dykstra is basing this decision on NYC Administrative Law (Administrative Code of City of NY § 10-131[g]; Proc of NYC Council, at 24 [Jan 18, 1955]), which reads:

[It is unlawful for] any person to sell or offer to sell, possess or use or attempt to use or give away, any imitation firearm which substantially duplicates, or can reasonably be perceived to be, an actual firearm unless the entire exterior surface of such toy or imitation firearm is colored white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink, or bright purple, either singly or predominant color in combination with other colors in any pattern.”

The premise of the law is, of course, honorable.

We do read about situations in the news where toy guns are either used to commit a crime, or are cause for harm to the carrier of the toy gun.*

Paintball guns are, of course, not toys.

Anyone who has played paintball or used a paintball weapon is well aware of the potential dangers involved when used inappropriately. Interestingly, the overall safety of paintball as a sport is incredibly high. The National Injury Information Clearinghouse of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has provided injury estimates through use of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.** Their findings show paintball to be one of the safest sports (measuring injuries per 1,000 participants).

Some highlights:

According to the report, injuries while playing paintball are half as likely as bowling injuries; 1/5th as likely as golf injuries. Playing basketball, you’re 82 times more likely to be injured than playing paintball. Based on this data, we can say that paintball is a very safe sport for its participants.

Anyone who has played the game will attest to this – and the statistics strongly back up that statement.

We can also say that the owners of paintball guns generally have a high awareness of the potential dangers of these guns, and know how to utilize them safely.

Back to the law.

Restricting the ownership of paintball guns does more to infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens to own and operate a tool for recreation than to protect them. I have not been able to find statistics or reports on the number of crimes committed with the use of paintball guns, which means either no study was done or it is not well-known.

This brings me to wonder - Who is being protected by the law?

Clearly the number of victims of paintball gun-related crime is astonishingly low, otherwise such information would be much more evident to the general public. Prior to making the assumption that these guns pose a danger to the general public, was any investigation done to realize how great the danger is (or is not)?

In addition, let’s presume that the person decides to use a paintball gun for a crime can not get the gun in New York City. They will simply go to New Jersey, or Connecticut. It happens all the time. People already travel out of the city to purchase clothes, cigarettes, and big-ticket items to avoid city taxes. Guns, as you know, are highly controlled in all states, but criminals get them all the time.

What will stop a determined criminal from getting a paintball gun for use in a crime? Not much. So why are we punishing law-abiding citizens?

Beyond the justification for the law, its impact on the New York City economy will surely be felt. Many paintball gun retailers are small businesses that specialize in paintball. We can effectively say that enforcing this law will close down every one of them. Retailers who also offer non-paintball items (such as Sports Authority) will see an impact to sales.***

How many people will lose their jobs or businesses over this? Ten? Twenty? More? Is that more or less than the number of victims of paintball gun-related crimes in New York City?

In these financially troubled times for New York City, I think supporting the economic growth of our city is of utmost importance. Limiting city businesses from participating in such a huge industry is not pragmatic. It will only serve to drive business and retail sales out of the city, put more people on the unemployment line, and further diminish the city’s tax revenues.

Please do not let the illegal or inappropriate action of a select few destroy the enjoyment of the millions who participate in paintball sports every year. On behalf of my fellow paintball players and all citizens concerned with the law restricting their rights more than protecting them, I petition you for action.

Thank you for your attention to and consideration of these matters of concern to myself and your many other tax-paying, law-abiding citizens.

Mr. Wizard
Staten Island, NY

Addendum January 6xd, 2003

The premise: Items are outlawed or regulated because their lawful use is dangerous (drugs, alcohol, driving, etc.). If you purchase any item which has a benign purpose (toy guns, pencils, baseball bats, screwdrivers) and use it to conduct an unlawful act (each item previously mentioned has been used in a crime at some point in time), do we ban the sale of the item?

The big question here is the purpose of the law: To protect the innocent or protect the guilty. We're protecting the guilty (no one accidentally used a toy gun to get themselves injured or killed), not the innocent.

You'd think they'd outlaw real guns instead of toy guns first. Oh, yeah, they can't, because they are too easy to get in the black market. Oh, yeah, toy guns are easy to buy in New Jersey and Connecticut.

What's the point?

* - Once such situation occurred in Staten Island, where the carrier of a toy gun was shot by police. However, don’t ignore the fact that it was around 4AM, and police were following up on reports that people were being menaced by a person carrying a gun.

** - Injury is based on hospital data - not questionnaires or surveys.

*** - Note that paintball was a $250 million business nationwide in 1998, and its popularity has grown since then.