Blitzkreig wrote:I am simply a representative of all teenagers who airsoft.
No, you're not. You're an exception to the rule. There are a metric fuckton of idiotic teenagers who play out there, and
they are the reason most older player have no respect for the group in general. You're not going to change the viewpoint of anyone towards minors in airsoft in general. You'll just fall into the select handful of kids who play and aren't fucktarded.
More to the point, this story is just another example of a dumbass doing dumbassed things and getting caught. I've seen worse (a kid running around with an airsoft M9 in the commons at my school, shooting people, and not getting caught). Shit happens, and the press will get wind of it. It's been happening for a long time, and nothing has happened to our hobby. Flipping out every time some kid gets laid out because he was flinging a toy gun around in a public place is as the same level of retardation as "Oberma's gerna terk er gurns!". Seriously people, calm the shazaam down.
Now, I'm almost done with my rant, but I want to touch on one more point. Alex and Justin, I love you both, but you're wrong. Making airsoft more cost-prohibitive would just increase the number of jackasses on the field. More bleeding rich kids would be playing, and rich people are entitled, and stupid as hell when it comes to firearms, real or replica (I should know; I go to school with 1200 of them). What needs to happen is game organizers need to start being more restrictive as to who they let play. If someone has a history of cheating, unsafe behavior, or general assclownery, don't let them play your game.