Word of warning - serious eye wound in safe zone

[Fumps]

Some very good points on here so far and great to read other peoples opinions, everyone has the same opinion, procedures need to be followed & maybe a few attitudes changed. But all show concern for the victim which is the most important thing in my mind anyway.

The only time I have ever seen a BB fired in the safe zone at the site I go to (Matlock combat games) it was actually from me:

when I first arrived at the site (Luckily I was pretty much the first one there on that day) I connected the battery to my gun & it went off. It was aimed directly at the floor and luckily no one was hurt (well to be accurate no one was there to get hurt) but the first thing I did was explain myself to the organisers & go and see the tech to make sure it never happened again. Ever since if I am checking my gun by dry firing I always point it out of the safe zone or into something that will not deflect the shot (In my garden I have a small bucket full of building sand).

I think the barrel sock is a great idea, And have decided to make one in a neon colour so I cant forget it.

 

[MrMcG]

Read this and my thoughts are as follows really

It is meant to be the safe zone and the site should enforce that I would hold the site partly responsible if not fully responsible and I say this because of other sites I go to.

Epsom ( I know not everyone's cup of tea ) but you were jumped on the second you brought a loaded gun into the safe zone and God help you if you dry fired it in there.

He had a simple rule 1 warning break it again and shot in the arse with your own gun, hilarity aside this was very effective and those who did break the rules never did again.

The mall marshals as you entered made sure mag was out and had been dry fired wasn't hard to do

Blitz cqb again marshals checked for loaded guns as returning to safe zone..

I'm sorry but I don't see how hard it is to make sure patrons clear weapon and take out the mag

At the mall the guys even checked my grenade launcher to make sure it was empty.

If any of the above was enforced the kid wouldn't be in the situation he is in now. I really hope he is okay in the end it's a horrible thing to have happen at any age but a child well it's truly awful.

These are not things to take lightly and can cause great damage when abused, will be interesting to see what happens now

 

[jreacher]

I was at maidenhead on Sunday & witnessed this happen & it wasn't nice ,imo it wasn't the Marshalls fault .I know absolute gets a bad press in some quarters but I must say they have the same rules in place as everywhere else .People are told to take the mags out & dry fire before entering the safe zone ,if kids or anyone else then choose to mess about after that what can you do apart from reprimand or kick them out .Personally I think anyone under age of 16 or rentals should hand thier weapons in before they get to the safe zone .cheers jack

 

[jreacher]

Another point is they have the owner fixing guns on site so you do hear dry fireing occasionally. I'm not saying no one dry fires occasionally but it's not allowed & you do get reprimanded for it & on occasion kicked off . Maidenhead is not perfect but you name one place where someone doesn't break the rules ,it happens & in this case in led to a tragic accident .I'm not a member at maidenhead & have nothing to gain from posting on here .I just don't want to see a site closed down through the stupidity of a few individuals. Cheers jack

 

[skarra333]

I don't think rentals should be singled out for handing weapons in per se. I see plenty of first timers, never been airsofting before in their life - turn up with a two-tone and start wielding it loaded like they're Chuck Norris. Those folks are equally (maybe more) dangerous.

 

[Jambo88]

The whole point of this thread was that this occurrence hasn't got anything to do with playing airsoft. Or so I thought? As for rare, in it's context, again this is a unique occurrence.

Its got everything to do with playing airsoft. A accident happened at a airsoft site. It's going to make the game seem either unsafe or raise questions about site safety and cause problems for site owners.

 

[jreacher]

I don't think rentals should be singled out for handing weapons in per se. I see plenty of first timers, never been airsofting before in their life - turn up with a two-tone and start wielding it loaded like they're Chuck Norris. Those folks are equally (maybe more) dangerous.

 

[jreacher]

Good point & besides it's easy enough to buy a non 2 tone anyway .I do however think under 16s should be supervised better & should hand in guns before safety zone ,I know it won't stop every one messing about but it would of saved that incident from happening on Sunday & might prevent another .cheers jack

 

[Sacarathe]

[delete]

 

[rosco290]

Jreacher the incident happened with the lads own gun. A two tone.

Also I appreciate what you're saying that the same rules are in place at absolute but they are pretty loosely regulated. I didn't once hear anyone shouting 'no dry firing in the safe zone' which is what I would hear at say lane end for example if someone was doing that. Someone dry fired a few during the safety brief and it didn't come from the direction of the 'shop' either. Obviously you can't hold the site staff wholly responsible for this incident but I felt compared to other places they were pretty relaxed about safety.

 

[Mr Monkey Nuts]

(start at 10min for the relivent bit, or 14min for the important bits, but its all interesting perspective)

worth a watch, its not entirely relevant and is a long way from any real study (of which there are plenty) but it is interesting to see that although its certainly a bad thing to be shot in the eye, its not as bad as it could be. It doesn't always result in a lossed eye and irreversible blindness.

some light reading if you want to learn more: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=eye+airsoft

 

[jreacher]

Jreacher the incident happened with the lads own gun. A two tone.

Also I appreciate what you're saying that the same rules are in place at absolute but they are pretty loosely regulated. I didn't once hear anyone shouting 'no dry firing in the safe zone' which is what I would hear at say lane end for example if someone was doing that. Someone dry fired a few during the safety brief and it didn't come from the direction of the 'shop' either. Obviously you can't hold the site staff wholly responsible for this incident but I felt compared to other places they were pretty relaxed about safety.

 

[jreacher]

As it's an on going case I don't feel it right to argue the toss about wether it was a 2 tone or not but I was only feet away & virtually saw what happened. I can't remember whether any Marshalls had a go about dry fireing on that day but I should imagine if they saw anything they would have interveened. I did however hear them say on numerous occasions to take mags out & dry fire before entering the safe zone .I can't compare safety precautions with lane end because of haven't been yet .I'm sure more precautions will put in place to help prevent this from happening again & if not I won't be going again.I allso think this unfortunate & tragic accident could have happened at most sites as kids will be kids .As I said before I know maidenhead has its faults but I don't think it's a particularly unsafe place to play airsoft but appreciate you may feel differently.Ive got my views on who I think was more to blame but considering what's happened I don't feel right at the mo to post them either.cheer jack

 

[jreacher]

I remember very well bunking off school with a mate at about 14 ,we met up with his brother who had an air rifle ,to cut a long story short his brother accidently shot him in the eye with it which I can assure you was horrific. As a result my mate returned to school at a later date with a glass eye ,so that's twice I've witnessed someone getting shot in the eye & i truly hope I never see anything of the sort again . Unfortunately this has led me to the opinion kids need complete supervision around any type of gun .cheers jack

 

[GunmanAirsoft]

I've normally found that people who are used to dicking about with their own Airsoft guns with a couple of mates (usually but not always kids) are the ones who engage in this kind of behaviour when they attend their first couple of organised events.

We have banned dry firing in our safe zone ever since an incident where an under 18,used to playing with airsoft guns at home and at his first skirmish, dry fired what he thought was an empty gun in the safe zone. The BB passed between mine and a marshals heads missing both our faces by inches.

Needless to say he got a massive shouting at, pointing out the error of his ways and dry firing has been banned since.

On reflection it's something we should have banned ages ago and could easily have resulted in an injury.

It's tragic that someone has sustained this kind of injury at an organised event, as organised Airsoft events in general have an excellent safety record.

I hope that the injured person is able to make a good recovery, no matter what the circumstances, or how easily avoidable this incident was none of us would wish this kind of injury on anyone.

Hopefully everyone can take a reminder that airsoft replicas should always be treated with the same respect and safety as the real thing, especially ones that could potentially be classed as air weapons. Let's hope this doesn't end up as a test case where high powered Airsoft sniper rifles are found to be air guns...

 

[Aengus]

Yes kids will be kids I guess but as a "kid" I hate your attitude. Yes a lot of us are irresponsible but even then education should be deemed more important than what I consider a light punishment, it's patronising like saying "Son you can play a game with it but you're not responsible so just put it down here love?" If someone said that to me they'd be quickly told to f*ck off. What about gbb users are they supposed to get ready before they hand in their guns or what?

Jeez I can't structure writing

 

[skarra333]

I remember very well bunking off school with a mate at about 14 ,we met up with his brother who had an air rifle ,to cut a long story short his brother accidently shot him in the eye with it which I can assure you was horrific. As a result my mate returned to school at a later date with a glass eye ,so that's twice I've witnessed someone getting shot in the eye & i truly hope I never see anything of the sort again . Unfortunately this has led me to the opinion kids need complete supervision around any type of gun .cheers jack

Not to make light of the situation, but I firmly believe in the rule of 3...

Where are you thinking of playing from now on did you say - just out of curiosity?

 

[jreacher]

Skarra333 it's a secret just to keep everyone frosty .cheers jack

 

[jreacher]

Yes kids will be kids I guess but as a "kid" I hate your attitude. Yes a lot of us are irresponsible but even then education should be deemed more important than what I consider a light punishment, it's patronising like saying "Son you can play a game with it but you're not responsible so just put it down here love?" If someone said that to me they'd be quickly told to f*ck off. What about gbb users are they supposed to get ready before they hand in their guns or what?

Jeez I can't structure writing

 

[jreacher]

Fair point Aengus but I didn't mean to sound condescending.I think the best thing would be perhaps an hours supervised tuition before your allowed to play might be more suitable so there fully aware of the dangers because as you rightly point out some are more mature than others.I allso add it's not only kids this should apply to perhaps anyone new to airsoft .cheers jack