A tactical team sport or a game glorifying violence?

Germany seems to have made its mind up with government plans to ban paintball in response to a deadly school shooting, two months ago. Critics say the activity teaches people to kill. But paintball enthusiasts maintain it is harmless fun. One argued it is simply like a hi-tech ball game. Companies often use paintball as a team-building exercise. But politicians fear it could lower inhibitions about resorting to violence. Fritz Rudolf Korper, the deputy parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partners, the SPD, said the problem is that paintball is directed against an individual. Hence concerns about the imitation of the game in reality. German authorities have been under pressure to act since March when a teenager shot dead 15 people in the southwestern town of Winnenden before killing himself. The 17-year-old used his father’s legally registered pistol. Other measures apparently being considered in a tightening of the rules include the creation of a nationwide weapons register.

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