Posted on 05/05/2018 11:37:22 AM PDT by Simon Green
An Atlanta rapper credited with starting a social media campaign to discourage gun violence – by encouraging paintball guns instead – is now being blamed for a nationwide wave of paintball gun shootings.
Three weeks ago, rapper 21 Savage publicly stepped up to pay for the funeral of 3-year-old T’Rhigi Diggs, a DeKalb County boy who was killed by a stray bullet as he slept in the back of his mother’s SUV. Police determined that the boy was caught in the cross hairs of a “paintball war” taking place at a nearby gas station. He was shot when a teenager who had been paintball-splattered by pranksters tried to retaliate with a real gun.
Paintball wars are becoming more and more common in cities across the country, according to a story posted Wednesday in USA Today, and in some cases, the paintball wars have ended with real bullets.
Atlanta police have responded to 34 paintball-related incidents this year, with a particular uptick in April, said Stephanie Brown, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta Police Department. Brown said most of these incidents have involved groups of people targeting each other as part of a game. At least one innocent person has been hit by a paintball, and private property has been struck as well.
Paintball guns use pressurized air to shoot paint-filled gel capsules at up to 300 feet per second, or just over 200 miles per hour. At this speed, the pellets can do damage to property and cause injuries. However, some people — like Christopher Cullins, the middle school student accused of shooting 3-year-old T’Rhigi — have been responding to attacks with real violence. Besides T’Rhigi, one other death in North Carolina has been linked to the trend.
The rash of paintball attacks started in late March, around the same time 21 Savage, whose real name is Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, began posting videos to YouTube and social media that depicted him driving around to various Atlanta neighborhoods and spraying cars using a paintball gun. The campaign, which has gained traction under the mantra “paintballs up, guns down,” was initially intended to curb gun violence by encouraging people to shoot paintballs instead of bullets.
Unreal
Well, if you're going to shoot each other for the smallest of slights and grievances, or simply for recreation, might as well use paintball guns.
Gotta give this guy a little credit here. Baby steps. It's the 'hood after all.
Please read previous thread about the punk kid in court...not the rapper
I agree Drew68.
Any guy being hit with a paintball, should be thinking about how that could have been the real thing, just as easily.
As you state, baby steps... > in the right direction.
At least innocents won’t be getting killed if it stays within the paint ball limits.
The police should go easy discouraging this. They should know the alternative.
We had one here in Detroit about a week ago........They were just driving around shooting at people. I can see this as a growing fad in the inner cities.......
I don't know anything about paint balls, are they actual paint or something that can just wash off if they target your car?
My son and I are avid players. I honestly don’t know what to think about this. There is a possibility of being killed if you’re not wearing a mask or you catch one just right on the neck, but the probabilities are low. Could loose an eye, but you’d still be alive... The markers are just as expensive as a real gun (250 - 5,000$). A guy could make a business out of selling paint and charging bottles with air. Can’t really conceal them unless you’re using a Tippmann TiPX. Bottom line is... No one dies and the you still get to mark up your enemy. Bloods and Crips could use paint corresponding to their colors to tell who got hit and where. Geez... No deaths. That’s the clincher.
Need an /sarcasm or no?
|
 |
It’s basically colored vegetable oil. Kinda thick, but wipes off with water. Leave a heck of a welt on you even thourgh clothes. We call it “pepperoni” because that’s what the welts look like. Pepperoni slices. Very rarely cuts the skin. Leaves a pretty good bruise. Won’t even break glass.
It’s basically colored vegetable oil. Kinda thick, but wipes off with water. Leave a heck of a welt on you even thourgh clothes. We call it “pepperoni” because that’s what the welts look like. Pepperoni slices. Very rarely cuts the skin. Leaves a pretty good bruise. Won’t even break glass.
My sons and I used to play all the time. As for pain and injury, things happen. We would have western-style matches, and it was to the pain: start about 50 yards apart walking and firing until someone cried uncle.
During one such battle, my son’s regulator glitched and he hit my thigh so hard that I had a black bruise that lasted for months. (I cried uncle and a few more unwholesome words.) I’m just glad the gun held together because they aren’t made for those pressures. Good times!
I am sorry, but this is just another form of assault and should not be encouraged. Right up there with midnight basketball for inner city solutions.
I saw this today on I-70 North of Downtown ST. Louis. Two cars weaving in and out of traffic chasing each other at high speed with paint ball splatters on their cars.
Christopher Cullins, the archetype "child" we would hear incessant whining about if he were shot down in the street. "He was just a child".
You mean this? The 15 year old 8th GRADER!!! who returned fire with a REAL gun and shot a 3 year old?
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3652887/posts
I have a problem with paintball wars. Maybe it was hearing REAL rounds snapping past, the thump of H&I fire, in the Long Ago, up in I Corps, and that blank look on a guy who was in Boot Camp, with me, that I met again at LeJeune...
There is nothing wrong with paintball wars as long as they are done in the proper setting. Shooting strangers,”pranking”, is not paintball wars.
I suffered an eye injury from a paintball. Went through the safety glasses. They are dangerous.
I bet more people have played this urban paintball game than ever played midnight basketball.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.