I haven’t been posting for a very very long time. But one news has shocked me to ‘出山’, or literally come out of the mountain from hiding.

Germany moves to outlaw paintball

Read the above article and you will soon be able to understand why I am furious.

I am relieved and glad that the German government is responding to school shooting by addressing the issue of gun control. However, to ban games that ‘encourages violence’ would help do nothing about the whole problem. As a baller, I am pissed that politicians are messing around with this sports without full knowledge of its implications. Politics is a career, but it is a career that will affect your fellow countrymen based on the decisions you make.

Abstract
This is all about politics. The 11 March 2009 Winnenden School Shooting has struck the German public dearly. A boy of 17, committed mass murder with his father’s gun, killing 16 (including himself).

• The public wants to see something done to address the issue.
• The strong gun lobby does not want anything to be done to them.
• The politician must please the electorate.

Combat games, like paintball and lasertag, are therefore banned to show the government’s determination in preventing school shootings from happening again. This post will address the impacts of the Winnenden shooting on German politics, the gun lobby and the paintball scene within Germany. Read the rest of this entry »