Paintball MB...

[Mrw]

Using the baseball bats as they are intended to play ball is a widely accepted activity around the world. Using the bats for vandalism would be widely viewed as wrong around the world.

It would not be courteous, kind, friendly, trustworthy, obedient, helpful, thrifty, or clean.

Use the scout law as a guide when you ask a question like that. It is a wonderful guide to live by!

[Paintball4Life]

Okay I play paintball and I have been reading this topic and here is why I think paintball would be a great merit badge:

Paintball is a very fun sport. From the end to the beginning it is very adrenaline pumping. It would be a popular merit badge because paintball is already a very popular. In fact it is the thid most popular extreme sport. It would add an exciting activity for summer camp because of games and inter-troop competitions.

Now some of you had said paintball is a dangerous and immoral sport. But actully there are tons of many other sports that statistics show have had more injuries then paintball and the BSA allows them like football, baseball, basketball, cycling, archery, boating, soccer, hockey, archery, swimming and also FISHING and GOLF. Also, (this is a weird but actully true statistic) more people were injured by TOILETS then paintball last year. Saftey is still important in paintball. At fields if you are carying a paintball gun inside you MUST have a parrel plug or sock on and have the saftey on. Also, when you play paintball you MUST wear a facemask and other saftey gear is sometimes reccomended like a neck guard and a cup.

Now to morals. You say that paintball is immoral because people fire guns at each other, but that is what the sport was created for. But however the gun pointing is meant for fun because all they do is fire balls of paint and that is safe. If it was a real gun then it wouldn't be safe. And also by federal law a paintball gun isnt even considered a firearm and when you get hit with a paintball gun all it does is sting.

Paintball does teach some life lessons. When you play with a team it is teaching teamwork and cooperation. You have to clean and maintrain your paintball gear and that teaches responsibility. Paintball can be an expensive sport so kids might try to do jobs to get cash to afford it. That teaches the value of money. So far there has been no evidence that paintball leads to violent behavior. If anything it would probably distract kids from violent behavior by giving them something to play

For the whole vandalism and bad attitude thing. Those people are idiots. You could ask most paintball players and they would probably say that they hate those people and they give the sport a bad name. For the merit badge you could teach scouts the importance of good sportsmanship and not to vandalize.

So I hope my reasons have changed your minds about paintball.

[wagionvigil]

Football is not an approved sport for scouts to play on a Troop level. Paintball is against the "Guide to Safe Scouting" I would recommend that you review it.
This year at the Jamboree They are trying Mountain Boarding as an activity. You are correct there are sports more dangerous than Paintball Mountain Boarding being one in my opinion. Things may change and you as a scout have the opportunity to make those changes happen by living the scout oath and laws and getting Paintball a good image. Several months ago this forum had a problem with a paintball group and that caused many changes on how this group is operating now.
There are many troops that meet as "Friends" to take part in paintball activities. Again things change with time and the correct perception of the activity

[OldGreyBear]

The biggest issue with paintball is that you shoot other people. Where else in scouting do you shoot animate or representations of animate objects"

All shooting is done at paper or clay targets, all archery is at targets, we dont shoot people or representations of people or animals for that matter

[Paintball4Life]

Like I said paintball guns arent real guns, paintball with the right equipment CAN be safe, and paintballs dont kill.

[wagionvigil]

When Paintball is strictly used for shooting targets like THe other shooting sports MB are then It "Might" be acceptable. Until then It is and will not be because of shooting at other people.

[Paintball4Life]

If we did that then that wouldnt be fun. Look, it really isnt a question of morals because paintbal with the right gear is SAFE. And just so you know I have heard of churches that have paintball to keep kids off the streets.