Ebonclaw
08-29-2001, 12:20 PM
Important! Must Read For Paintball Players!
Muck: Yes, I know the thread is in all caps, but it's important.
This is a review of the BE Blade gun as reported by an attorney. I'm also enclosing the letter I wrote to him, and I encourage you to do the same.
Review by: Fred H.
Date Reviewed: 08/28/01
Good: Unknown
Bad: This gun seems to break easily. I'm an attorney and represent a 15-yeear-old boy that had his eye shot out by the BLADE gun. He now has a false eye. My client was NOT playing paintball. He was a pedestrian and had stopped next to the car of friends that were on their way to play paintball elsewhere. As my client leaned his head into the car to chat, a paintball gun within the car allegedly misfired and struck my client's left eye from about 10", effectively blowing it out of the socket.
Just prior to the accident, the boys in the car stated they were having difficulty loading the co2. After one of them thought he had properly loaded the co2, he rested the gun on the back of the front right seat. The boys in the car recall that they heard co2 leaking from the gun immediately before the gun fired. The shooter does not think his finger was on the trigger when the gun fired. None of the boys thought the gun was loaded with a paintball when it fired.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experienced similar misfirings. Please e-mail your comments or call me at 800-471-4442.
Fred Hadley
Attorney at Law
Indianapolis, IN
Conclusion: Conclusion:
From my investigation into the safety of these "markers," the risk of serious injury far outweighs the benefits of using them, particularly when it is very difficult to determine whether it is loaded.
Rating: 1 / 10
My reply:
Dear Fred,
I am indeed grieved to hear about the misfortune of your client. However, I can tell you one thing. No one (and I do mean no one) loads a marker with CO2 unless he is intending to fire soon. And no one uses Blades for anything beyond drive-by shootings, as you've noticed from the reviews that it has terrible performance. Sadly, this kind of thing gives a bad name for our sport. Just as there are morons out there who beat people up with baseball bats, does anyone go attacking baseball? As I read your account, I couldn't believe the defense's take on things and literally started to tear it apart as I read it, being an avid paintball player. You're a lawyer and I'm sure you can already put the weird coincedences together.
Coincidence that the marker happened to be pointing at just the right angle?
Coincidence the safety was off?
Coincidence the gun had paint in it? (Note that to get paint into the BLADE you must first pump it all the way back and all the way forward)
Coincidence that the "friends" of your client had to put the CO2 in before they got to the field?
Why was there only one gun in the car for more than one person going to play?
I'm not saying they were out to put an eye out, but I do think they intentionally meant to shoot their friend as a joke. This is not the gun's fault. This is not paintball's fault. This is the fault of irresponsible owners of the gun who decided it would be fun to do something besides play paintball with it, which is totally stupid. If the defending clients had taken the time and care as to how to properly treat a paintball gun (or any gun), this would not have happened. I have never heard of ANY gun randomly firing without someone pulling the trigger. Never. At all. The CO2 leaking had nothing to do with the firing of the gun by the way, all the Co2 did was make the gun CAPABLE of firing. BE is notorious for making crappy paintball products, but the sear is not tripped unless the trigger is pulled after the gun is cocked. The gun's trigger mechanism should be examined of course, but I can predict that you will find the trigger in pretty good shape. Trigger mechanisms are hard to screw up, and as far as I know, no one does custom "hairpin" trigger jobs on a gun as worthless as a Talon.
What can we do to keep kids like these from getting a hold of paintball guns? Keep them out of Wal-mart! Honestly, no one is going to spend $100 or more, mail order, to buy a Spyder to do drive bys with. But a $20 Blade in Wal-Mart is just the perfect gun.
I ask in conclusion to help the paintball community out and accuratly represent paintball as so many others have neglected to do. We recieve bad media attention all the time (you may have read about paintball's appearances on King of Queens, *******, etc.) Paintball is statistically safer than ballet. Plese keep in mind the paintball community as well as your client when you present this case. If you have any further questions about the Blade, paintball, or anything else, let me know, and I'm sure you'll find people in the forums who are willing to discuss it with you as well. I wish you luck with your case and give the boy my condolensces.
Sincerely,
Michael Bell
What do you guys think about all this? Was it the gun's fault? Granted, it is Brass Eagle, but I've never heard of ANY gun misfiring like that.
Muck: Yes, I know the thread is in all caps, but it's important.
This is a review of the BE Blade gun as reported by an attorney. I'm also enclosing the letter I wrote to him, and I encourage you to do the same.
Review by: Fred H.
Date Reviewed: 08/28/01
Good: Unknown
Bad: This gun seems to break easily. I'm an attorney and represent a 15-yeear-old boy that had his eye shot out by the BLADE gun. He now has a false eye. My client was NOT playing paintball. He was a pedestrian and had stopped next to the car of friends that were on their way to play paintball elsewhere. As my client leaned his head into the car to chat, a paintball gun within the car allegedly misfired and struck my client's left eye from about 10", effectively blowing it out of the socket.
Just prior to the accident, the boys in the car stated they were having difficulty loading the co2. After one of them thought he had properly loaded the co2, he rested the gun on the back of the front right seat. The boys in the car recall that they heard co2 leaking from the gun immediately before the gun fired. The shooter does not think his finger was on the trigger when the gun fired. None of the boys thought the gun was loaded with a paintball when it fired.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experienced similar misfirings. Please e-mail your comments or call me at 800-471-4442.
Fred Hadley
Attorney at Law
Indianapolis, IN
Conclusion: Conclusion:
From my investigation into the safety of these "markers," the risk of serious injury far outweighs the benefits of using them, particularly when it is very difficult to determine whether it is loaded.
Rating: 1 / 10
My reply:
Dear Fred,
I am indeed grieved to hear about the misfortune of your client. However, I can tell you one thing. No one (and I do mean no one) loads a marker with CO2 unless he is intending to fire soon. And no one uses Blades for anything beyond drive-by shootings, as you've noticed from the reviews that it has terrible performance. Sadly, this kind of thing gives a bad name for our sport. Just as there are morons out there who beat people up with baseball bats, does anyone go attacking baseball? As I read your account, I couldn't believe the defense's take on things and literally started to tear it apart as I read it, being an avid paintball player. You're a lawyer and I'm sure you can already put the weird coincedences together.
Coincidence that the marker happened to be pointing at just the right angle?
Coincidence the safety was off?
Coincidence the gun had paint in it? (Note that to get paint into the BLADE you must first pump it all the way back and all the way forward)
Coincidence that the "friends" of your client had to put the CO2 in before they got to the field?
Why was there only one gun in the car for more than one person going to play?
I'm not saying they were out to put an eye out, but I do think they intentionally meant to shoot their friend as a joke. This is not the gun's fault. This is not paintball's fault. This is the fault of irresponsible owners of the gun who decided it would be fun to do something besides play paintball with it, which is totally stupid. If the defending clients had taken the time and care as to how to properly treat a paintball gun (or any gun), this would not have happened. I have never heard of ANY gun randomly firing without someone pulling the trigger. Never. At all. The CO2 leaking had nothing to do with the firing of the gun by the way, all the Co2 did was make the gun CAPABLE of firing. BE is notorious for making crappy paintball products, but the sear is not tripped unless the trigger is pulled after the gun is cocked. The gun's trigger mechanism should be examined of course, but I can predict that you will find the trigger in pretty good shape. Trigger mechanisms are hard to screw up, and as far as I know, no one does custom "hairpin" trigger jobs on a gun as worthless as a Talon.
What can we do to keep kids like these from getting a hold of paintball guns? Keep them out of Wal-mart! Honestly, no one is going to spend $100 or more, mail order, to buy a Spyder to do drive bys with. But a $20 Blade in Wal-Mart is just the perfect gun.
I ask in conclusion to help the paintball community out and accuratly represent paintball as so many others have neglected to do. We recieve bad media attention all the time (you may have read about paintball's appearances on King of Queens, *******, etc.) Paintball is statistically safer than ballet. Plese keep in mind the paintball community as well as your client when you present this case. If you have any further questions about the Blade, paintball, or anything else, let me know, and I'm sure you'll find people in the forums who are willing to discuss it with you as well. I wish you luck with your case and give the boy my condolensces.
Sincerely,
Michael Bell
What do you guys think about all this? Was it the gun's fault? Granted, it is Brass Eagle, but I've never heard of ANY gun misfiring like that.