Unfortunately, many retail stores have recently started to allow only people eighteen years of age and older to purchase paintballs. A lot of players in the game are younger than that. This new limit makes it difficult for them to play at all. The worst part is this restriction is not even rational. A paintball is a thing made up of a thin gelatin coating and filled with paint. It is hardly an item that is dangerous enough to need restricting. Since, one has to be eighteen to buy a paintball gun, these kids already have indirectly gotten their parents consent to play; that is enough. The constraint on younger people to own these risk-free - unless ingested - balls of paint is not practical. At the age of sixteen many teens can operate thousand pound vehicles at high speeds, but they aren't allowed possess paint. I can only assume that retailers think the sport is a risky one and young teens should not be playing it. In my experience, injuries in other sports such as football or basketball are much more likely. No one would imagine putting limits on the sale of footballs and basketballs. It's the same idea as limiting paintballs and it is just not rational.
Another problem is that here at North Carolina State University paintball markers are unfairly banned from campus. This is an act of discrimination against the sport and its players. The university invites us to come here on their assumption that we are intelligent and responsible students. At the same time, the university insults us by also assuming we cannot handle a paintball marker. One of the university's mains concerns is that someone could get hurt or harassed. Anyone who has played before knows that serious injury is highly unlikely. It would be much more probable that students would hurt themselves or someone else while riding their bicycle around campus, yet there are no rules about wearing helmets or where to ride.
