Safety with any firearm is always a basic starting point. A paintball gun is not a toy – all of them say that right on the gun itself. Whether you’re new at paintball or a seasoned veteran of the greatest sport on the planet you always need to consider safety. And safety with any weapon, even those airsoft bb guns, is important. There are so many accidents each year from guns that we should always remind each other about weapon safety.

There are two main areas to be concerned with on your marker (paintball gun). The first of course is the gun itself. The gun by itself is not harmful but when you mix it with the human element somebody always ends up doing something stupid to make the weapon unsafe. And the second is the air system. If you haven’t guessed by now we are going to have a discussion about safety, and more specifically about paintball safety. Lets get to the meat of it shall we.

One of the most basic safety tips is to always treat your marker as if it were loaded. I’m sure that you have heard that before but lets break it down and really get to what it means. If your gun were loaded would you point it at anybody? Now that is a hard one but you see when we are playing a game and your opponent is 50 feet away and wearing complete safety gear then that’s one thing. But what everyone means here is to never point it in an unsafe direction while not on the field or in the middle of a game. So if your gun was loaded and you are not on the field and nobody around you has safety gear on would you point it at anybody? I hope not. Accidental discharges can kill.

Always keep the safety on when not on the field. The safety switch on your marker is there for a reason and that reason has nothing to do with being on the field and painting your friends. The safety switch is there so that when you are in an unsafe environment that you should have it on just in case the trigger is accidentally engaged. BANG! Always point your marker in a safe direction. Whether that is pointing it down range, toward the ground or up in the air doesn’t matter but never have it pointed in a direction where if it went off someone might get hurt. Always, always, always make sure that your paintball gun is unloaded when not in use. Think about these three things for a second, if the safety were not engaged would the gun go off? No, if you had your marker pointed in a safe direction and it did go off would anybody get hurt? No, and if the paintball gun were not loaded and it went off is there still a chance that someone could get hurt? Yes! If the gun was not loaded but it accidentally went off the air in the gun could still injure someone.

Okay, what about the air system? Most air systems are designed to hold high-pressure air and have the weapon ready to fire in an instant. So if you remove or disengage the air system is there any chance that there is still pressure in the system? The answer is a definite yes. So again the above safety tips apply. Always keep the safety on – sorry I was about to repeat the previous paragraph. No need I’m sure you got it this time.

Lets recap; The safety – always on, always keep your paintball gun pointed in a safe direction, always point the weapon in a safe direction and never, Never NEVER assume that the gun is NOT loaded. Because for our safety purposes it is always loaded. Be safe and happy hunting.

Author Bio: Layne regularly writes for ProlificPaintball.com, they carry such paintball equipment as Paintball Guns and the Invert Mini, as well as many other items from a variety of manufacturers.

Category: Sports
Keywords: Paintball Guns, Invert Mini