more bad PR

[Grease Man]

This was recently brought to my attention:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2968141/detail.html

There is also a video too on the left side you can download, I have been unable to view it though.

This is just the thing that happens when stupid people, do stupid things. Now its just another brick to add to the wall of bad Public relations with airsoft.

[Airborne_opz]

The stupid actions of a few will punish us all in the long run, and it seems like these type of incidents are becoming more common with airsoft's popularity growing.

[Kaiser78]

All the more reason to take these younger guys and educate them. Setup some training or something like that on proper airsoft gun usage.

[Secretagentman]

Just how stupid do you have to be to do something like that??????
Wait.....nevermind.....don't answer that! :rolleyes:

007...out

[Miner79]

for those that have been to college realize that college students never think about what COULD happen if the do.....

this is exactly why college people who live at the university should be extra cautious when they bring their airsoft guns to schools. Technically isnt it illegal to bring them within 500 feet of a school?

[Grease Man]

how about don't bring your airsoft guns to college.....
or even don't use them/bring them out in public......

[necronomicon]

God my blood is boiling. My judgement right now would be to knock this kid's skull in with a rock, but dont judge my anger. Im sure all you feel the same way.

It is a strange coincidence, but an event exactly like this happened tonight. We had a 6vs6 today out at my friend's property. Great game. Anyways afterwards, my friend's younger brother had some of his friends over to play with us. While we were setting up outside the house, He fired on a passing car, and laughed about it. Being the day's 1 of 2 event organizers, I could not let it stand. I demanded that he hand his weapon over to me (which was a rental owned by myself) and leave immediately. He then pursued to try to pick a fight with me and the other organizer, but luckily no fight occured. I wont go into details about what happened next, but I will say that the problem was solved quite quickly and he will not play again our field. Ever. Luckily, the person he shot at did not stop, and for the rest of the night, police did not arrive. Im guessing he missed, but nonetheless, the evening was fouled by this kid's dumb action to try and look like a badass in front of my friends. Now I wont get to sleep till 6:00 AM tonight because of the adenaline. To sum it up, I am pretty angry altogether, and this just takes the cake.

As this being my first and not last time as an event host, I hope I dealt with the action in a correct and responsible manner in the eyes of the more experienced leaders' eyes. I did not ever intend to hurt the kid, but he had to take his personal immaturity even further by getting an attitude about something he did which was so blatantly WRONG. No fight, just a lot of angry and disturbed players. We continued on while he waited to be picked up by his parents, and I informed them of his actions. He is pretty much grounded for this entire summer. Has the police been involved, he could have faced much worse. I hope he learns something from this experience, but I doubt he will be unable to ever play again from what his parents told me.

From the words Kaiser78 spoke, this only shows younger kids need to be taught from an early age the seriousness of our sport. With bad publicity like the article shown by Grease Man, we must all act with safety, common sense and maturity to help keep our hobby from being restriced by the law even heavier.

Edit: If an experienced event organizer could contact me VIA pm to give me advice on what I did correct or wrong, I would greatly encourage it. I would also like to hear how you would have handled this at one of your events.

[Texx]

Originally posted by Miner79
for those that have been to college realize that college students never think about what COULD happen if the do.....

this is exactly why college people who live at the university should be extra cautious when they bring their airsoft guns to schools. Technically isnt it illegal to bring them within 500 feet of a school?

It really depends on the school policy regarding airsoft, replicas, BB guns, etc. When I was in college, the Housing Department had a strict No Firearms Allowed in your dorm rooms. If you kept your gun in your car, which was discouraged, youw ere required to keep it either in your trunk, or hidden out of sight. The School Policy encouraged students to check all firearms into the Campus Police Department, where they were stored in a vault.

Curiously enough, this policy did not apply to airguns, paintball, archery or any other weapons. There were several martial Arts Clubs that openly practiced with weapons. There was an incident involving Floor 2 and Floor 3 of my building having a paintball fight between their two floors with no complaints from anyone.

I would simply suggest checking with the University Rules to see what the policy is regarding airsoft. If that doesn't help, contact the Campus Police/Security and ask them. It never hurts to be on the right side of the law.

[Fresh]

These kind of people pl$$ me off so bad. They are going to be the reason why airsoft will become illegal in the US and ultimate cost everyone. I dont understand why this kid is stupid enough to do this kind of stuff.

[Code3 From Co.C]

I think the worst thing about this article is that the writer is throwing around terminology and facts that, up until now, were only known by airsofters. Usually, articles only refer to airsoft weapons as "BB guns", "pellet guns", or "air rifles". It sounds like the writer did his homework on this issue.

It wouldn't normally bother me. However, every single person in this country has seen "A Christmas Story" and knows what a BB gun is and how implicitly dangerous it is. This is one of the few articles that actually refers to airsoft specifically, and in a bad light at that.

[Jedigreedo]

Stupid, stupid people. How do these people survive without blood going to their head? Just makes ya want to take a bat and smack'em over the head with it. Just for being stupid that is, but then they go and make issues like this we gotta deal with. :mad:

You seriously gotta be screwed up to go about shooting at cars considering people are still pretty shaken up from the sniper killings awhile back and the recent Ohio sniper.

[DeadlyAssassin05]

Man I would really like to slap the f****** hades out of that moron! I agree with those of you who say that it is the actions of people like that arse who will cause the banning of airsoft. It is also the same way with real guns sadly as well. Why can't people heed the please use responsibly labels on the packages of airsoft guns and real guns?

[ErrantStorm]

Because they're people.

[Scorpion]

so true...so true:(

[Professor Fate]

They say in the article that he also had alsohol around. Was he drunk or a little tipsy at the time? I'm not vouching for him by any means, the kids a moron for doing what he did. Firearms of all kinds and alcohol should never mix. So not only is this guy just a total loser who, if he would have been studying at the time it would never have happened, made a few bad choices not just shooting at a passing car. I also resent one of the things I saw in the article next to his picture. The pellet gun "sniper."?!!! Ever since these shootings have occured around 270 and the other guy near DC all you hear about is "sniper" this and "sniper" that. The media needs to get a life and not shun the term of sniper so much. If it weren't for real men and real snipers like Carlos Hathcock (my hero) a lot more people would have died. It is an honor to be a true sniper. Well, I've said enough. That guy is such a loser.

[ErrantStorm]

Which Hathcock?

Vietnam Hathcock?

Cause, he's the coolest Hathcock around.

98 confirmed kills.

Some Army fellow had more, but he was being ferried around by a helo.

The book is awesome, one of my favorites.

Especially when he was being hunted by that NV sniper.


And yeah, I've been saying, since the Beltway "sniper" incidents...they use the term too much.

Then the guy from Ohio or wherever who shot like 100+ rounds and killed like one person...


If THAT was a sniper, regular troops wouldn't need to worry. :p

[Grease Man]

Get this... I was just hanging out with some of my past highschool friends, and was telling them that i had played airsoft all that day, and for some reason this article was brough up, and it turnes out this kid went to my highschool.....wierd

Professor Fate: I have a good friend that goes to the University of Michigan, and she told me that the cops also busted this kid, and a couple of others, for underage drinking, and pot also.

Necro: I applaud you for the way you handled your situation. You did it in a very mature, but stern manor. This is exactly the way people who do stuff like this need to be punished. I'm sure he learned a hard lesson that day.

[Nosebuckle]

A few guys on iP know this kid. He went to our school last year and is now in college. No way does his action represent iP's condunct nor is he affilliated with our team in any way. I'm not trying to defend his actions but remember he was quite drunk when this happened so this also shows how airsoft and intoxicating drugs don't mix.

[MAGNAVOX89]

a couple of days ago a friend of mine told me about this article and news report, and they made it sound like he was trying to kill someone. i mean it said "bb sniper suspect" its not that bad but i do agree that if people keep doing that we wont be able to play airsoft .......leagly

[Grease Man]

How was it NOT wrong to shoot somone riding a motorcycle for now reason??

This person was on a college campus, in a college dorm, with a replica firearm. Even that has wrong written all over it, not to mention the fact he was shooting his replica firearm into traffic. Seems pretty wrong to me.