Anybody who shoots me with *any* kind of gun does so at their own peril. If they're expecting me to introspect on exactly what kind of gun it is and what it's loaded with while they shoot the next couple of rounds, they're making a big mistake. Paintballs can be loaded with very dangerous crap, I'd definately recommend you *not* drive by and shoot me with one.

Furthermore, very few people can tell in the space of a few seconds after a strike whether they've been hit with a .22, a BB, an airgun dart, a paintball, or a bigger bullet. People sometimes get shot with much bigger rounds in combat and don't even notice until it's pointed out to them.

So that pinhead in Utah gets *zero* sympathy from me.

Syc - what is 'legal' and waht is even vaguely ethical are often completely different, in many countires its still 'legal' to hunt endangered species.

Its not a frigging gun, it doesn't sound like a gun, most don't even look very gunlike. I donno i guess i'm sick of hearing stupid stories of people being shot for the most inane things, i mean christ you can't even *do* a driveby shooting without a reasonably high power full atomatic weapon nd the jsutification for owning an uzi is questionable in itself so therefore if people didn't have the weapons to commit drive-by shootings you wouldn't need to carry a .50 magnum...but lets just agree to disagree on this I just develpoed a pathological dislie of gun advocated after the NRA did that blantanly false series of crap about australians cowering in their homes after strengthening of gun laws....grrr

This idea seems inherently flawed.

Although I'm sure it happens here, it's a federal offense to do so.

If someone is driving towards you, you can't really tell.

You don't think they do drive-bys with 9mm pistols or semis?

Let us make no mistake that I am inherently cool; however, the fur coat and fedora would make me pimp supreme. :)

If someone is driving towards you, past you, aobve you or undernearth you you'd have to be close to deaf not to be able to tell teh diff between a paintball gun and submachinegun, or even a pistol. As for doing a driveby with a 9mm, you'd have to be pretty damn accurate to say the least to be able to hit a moving target while moving pretty dman fast with a single round. I don't really knwo waht drivebys are usually done with, i haven't ehard of one in Australia ever i think, and certainly not in lembourne, and that kinda thing would make the news here, nearly all gun killings do, they are rare(nuff said?). On the other hand i don't see why a you need a 9mm either. Can be drop the gun debate all? its just gonna be long, boring and ugly, this isn't slashdot =)

As for legality, i'm sure the majority of the killing does not happen in the US. Is it a crime to own one of an endangered animal or only to make?

I'm not trying to have a gun debate here jag. I'm trying to show you that there is certainly a possibility that a paintball gun can be mistaken for a real gun. You're mixing motion (riding in a car) along with split-second thinking, thereby creating a dangerous situation.

As far as the drive-by, you set yourself up for that trap. ;)

I'm not sure of the exact law. I believe that you must have a permit to keep an endangered species (i.e. a zoo), but I'm not sure how it applies to individuals.

Your fashion sense has actually incited fear in me. :)

I doubt it extends to keeping it in the wardrobe ;)

Yea it probably could be - but i don't think that validates shooting the guy. I mean the theory goes if we all have guns we're not going to shoot at each other becase we'll get shot back, i've seem the same theoy applied ot nukes and nations, *reads the paper* hm....;) (for refrence i think this currant pakistan/india possible conflict is the biggest media beatup i've seen in ages)

I've always been fond of the bumper sticker that goes along the lines, "People are more violently opposed to fur than leather, because it's safer to harass rich women than biker gangs."

This is the same retarded argument that high schoolers make. Yeah, let's outlaw guns. That will eliminate the problem.

<b>NEWS FLASH</b> - CRIMINALS DON'T CARE WHAT THE GODDAMN LAW SAYS! THAT'S WHY THEY'RE CRIMINALS!

If they want to shoot someone, they will find a gun and do it. They will get them imported from Mexico or some other goddamn place where guns are available. Jesus H. Christ, when will this inane argument die? "Uh, if we make guns illegal, the world will be a safer place" - yeah, 'cause all the crooks and murderers will go "well, darnit, now it's illegal to have guns, so I guess I'll have to turn mine in." Give me a mother fucking break. For all the skepticism you show of everything else, I can't believe you've bought that faulty logic. Yeah, and if we outlaw, say, DeCSS, it'll stop being readily available, huh? And if we make software copying illegal, it'll just stop... right? Yeah. Uh huh. You say that because it allegedly supports your argument. Nevermind that it makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

Not true. I once knew a criminal who had never broken a law in his life.

Oh, that's mean. When do schools let out in AU? He may still be *in* high school; June's not over yet.. :-)

Eh, I had 9th graders making this argument to me when I was 14. I told them the same thing then, and they still insisted on it when they were 17.

Quit being so goddamn gullible and buying the shit that your parents feed to you. Look at it realistically, for Christ's sake. Just because guns are illegal doesn't mean that criminals won't get them - not by a long shot.

juju - then I guess he's not actually a criminal, is he?

Beyond that, a paintball gun can *be* a deadly weapon, loaded with the right ammo. Nobody has the right to assult someone with one and then whine "But it's not a deadly weapon"; the balls could be loaded with prussic acid, or anthrax.

By our laws, I'm also weapons-free to shoot someone who's trying to rape me; I don't have to prove he's got AIDS first. Further, a sound-suppressed small-bore handgun sounds *very* much like a paintball gun. As for hitting a moving target with a 9mm, may I point out that the scenarro has *him* shooting at *me* with a paintball gun. Wanna guess which has more accurate range?

Jag, your feelings about guns *are*, as you say, pathological; it's called hoplophobia.