God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

[jagillham]

From the BBC today, regarding the potential banning of paintball in Germany. Pretty much on side with paintball, as they often don't wear camo, and call the "guns" markers.

Little snide comment about airsoft:

Some owners and enthusiasts worry about being tarred with the same brush as airsoft. Airsoft uses replica guns that frequently look very realistic and costumes that give a distinctly more pseudo-military feel.

Cheers BBC! :D

Full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8067908.stm

[ThePope]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Just posted a rant but doubt it would be displayed. How god damn ignorant of them.

[jagillham]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

I hope you said...

Dear Sir,

I'm really annoyed you've bad mouthed airsoft We will all come round with our illegally owned real guns, and practice our secret code of sadomasochistic tendencies on you.

Await the glorious revolution, when all our Sunday terrorist training comes to fruition - the BBC will be first to go! :D

Your Sincerely,

'The Airsoft Community'

:D

[Liquid_snake]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

If no-one else minds, Ill lead the charge into the front door of the BBC :D

[danhc]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

any chance that i could go in second with a mini gun? :P

[Intervention]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Ignorance indeed.....

[ThePope]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Comments have started being posted. One of them below...

"I can see why a link is being made between the 2, but I would have thought that AirSoft would have been a more direct link... Using replica "guns" and fatigues to effectively simulate warfare. To me, paintball is much the lesser evil of the two"

[Aeviv]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Lesser Evil?!? God i hate the media. Clearly anything outta the orginary is now evil these days

[omgitzjamiiee]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

i conquer aeviv. any hobby that is not collecting trading cards or coins or playing with trains is considerd scary to the general population ... we should hold the head of the BBC hostage untill we get a public apologie

[Aeviv]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

i conquer aeviv. any hobby that is not collecting trading cards or coins or playing with trains is considerd scary to the general population ... we should hold the head of the BBC hostage untill we get a public apologie

Its concurr, unless you actually want to defeat them in battle :P

But my point is, you cant describe airsoft as evil. You just cant. In relatity, its just a game, or a sport, whatever, which really falls between military reinactment and paintball (talking sunday skirmish here), its not evil. Ok its out of the ordinary, certainly, and perhaps a bit odd, but in no way is it EVIL. Considering the thousands of airsofters across the world, i highly doubt we are all evil scheming phycotics, im sure most of us are pretty solidly decent blokes (or ladies), but the media are all to keen to paint anyone or anything like us, such as video games, as bad and a force of corruption on society. It would be different if we were re-enacting the cambodian killing fields or the the armed elemetns of the holocaust, but its nothing like that. But hell, all it takes is the fact Johnny Public looks at us and thinks, thats a bit odd, for us to all suddenly seem like maniacs. *Sigh* The worst part, im sure if you could sit down with public, after a long explanation 99% would say that it still seems a bit odd but theres nothing wrong with that. Once again it is the evil of ignorance, misunderstanding and the media showing it how they like it

[omgitzjamiiee]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

thanks for the correction ... now im know why im getting E's in english.

is'nt airsoft bigger than paintball? its more popular across aisa and is getting bigger over here and in the states. i agree ... for example someone goes on a shooting spree and kills a bunch of people, what is the medias first and only explenation ... video games like GTA4 and others. could it not just be that this person was already messed up in the first place. the media is pathetic

[spetsnazdave87]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Well I was trying to find the guys email to contact him and put forward airsofts view, and the BBC switchboard connected me to his department

Hes gone home for the day, but the guy who answered recommended anyone who wants to put the views of airsoft forward to leave reasonable feedback on the comments page and they will apparently consider looking into finding out the airsoft point of view!

[Aeviv]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Personally i think video games probably get a worse deal that airsoft. in BOTH of the recent shootings, Alabama and Germany, both were found to have played counter strike and the media tried to blame that. Trouble is, fewer and fewer people are accepting that argument as valid, hence why combat sports are getting more flak. What i what to know though, is why other 'combat sports' such as martial arts and fencing dont draw as much attention. I mean, i fenced for about 5 years, i was pretty good. Now if i went out tomorrow and stabbed a guy, my fencing club, instructor or anyone else related would recieve NO media attention or official or unofficial flak. However, i recon the airsoft community might well get a few pot shots, DESPITE the fact fencing instructed me how to use a knife (not lethally mind, im trying to demonstrate a point). Or if i got in a fight after becoming a black belt and killed the guy i was fighting, Karate or Judo wouldnt be responsible, it would have been drugs or violent movies

[ThePope]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

Those sports don't use "guns" its as simple as that.

Guns are the bane of society etc not the people who use them ofc! (sarcasm before I get moaned at! :P )

[Beep87]

Re: God Forbid, Being Seen As Weird As Airsoft!

At the end of the day banning anything that resembles ANY form of violence will not resolve problems. Even those who are not of sound mind can still get hold of a lethal weapon and kill others.

Banning Airsoft, Paintball etc etc will not solve these problems.
I'm sure everysingle person on here knows the difference between right and wrong, and those who do these things are either under the influence of a drug or have mental problems. You cannot assume that because somebody does something or is part of a group that that is directly related to something that they did, I think that if the media saw the way in which Skirmish & Paintball sites are run they would see a group of Responsilble safety aware people. Unfortunatly all the BBC & any other News related site, TV Channel only want a "good story" when has airsofting/paintballing been given a positive report from the media? If this was done then maybe it would change the view on some who have commented on such threads?

I honestly get sick of all the "if people do *insert game/Airsoft/Paintballing* it makes them *insert presumptious opinionated psychologists opinion here*" it really is getting pathetic.
Murders etc etc were happening well before the invention of Consoles/Paintball & Airsoft