Border agents to use paintball guns to fend off attackers

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artherd said:
I like the glow-in-the-dark idea.
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I like the idea, too, but not for what you might think.

One of the reasons that illegals have such an easy time here is that there are always American businessmen or companies willing to hire them--although even hiring them is illegal in itself.

But it would be easy to check a suspicious company for compliance if you looked at their assembly line, and half of the workers "glowed."
 
Soon, BP will just be giving out "Welcome" pamplets,handshakes, hugs, and teddy bears for the kidies at the border.Your tax funded "secure border" policy at work....
 
Even though it is from a reputable news source I still laughed.
If they are truly dealing with smugglers then they are probably somewhat dangerous people. You shooting them with a paintball wont make them retreat but they sure might fire back and I highly doubt that they care about human rights, they will be using REAL guns.
 
frozen paintballs really really hurt not that I'd ever use them to deter children from dropping rocks on a passing landrover as that would be naughty
but thats a lousy weapon for self defense :(
 
Having played a few paintball games myself, I find this laughable for several reasons.

#1 Paintballs are very effective at much of a distance. I will be dangerious with rocks at a distance where you won't be able to do much about it with a paintball marker. A paintball gun is no match for a group of people throwing rocks.

#2 Unless they come up with some solid plastic ammo, the traditional gelaten paintballs always break in the barrel/action at the wrong time. And that's with fresh ammo. They guy toting around 6 month old paintballs is doubly unarmed.

#3 Are they shooting with compressed air where the tank has a pressure gauge and a real shutoff-valve? Or just the cheap C02? Cheap guns with no air shutoff-valve are going to leak a little. So in six months when I need my marker, I'm all out of gas.

I would never try to use a paintball marker for any kind of defensive tool of any kind. If I worked for some stupid a$$ agency that wanted to give me a toy to defend myself with and i was retarded enough to spring for it, I would at least go electric airsoft rifle with heavy pellets and cranked up FPS.

This is a complete joke except for the serious escalation of hostilities it is going to bring on, right before the paintball marker craps out.

Or maybe it is such a hot new law enforcement tool that we should replace LEO guns with paintball markers. They could be filled with the same dye you hear about in bank robberies.
 
I can't help myself...

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Not a bad idea IMO. Gives them an option short of using lethal force.

What we really need is a machine gun style paint ball gun every 100 feet at the border tied to a trip wire., No expensive border patrol agents needed.
 
You really have to question the sanity of any law enforcement officer who would allow themselves to be put in a situation where they are fighting for their life with a paintball marker.

Do they long for a government paycheck and pension that bad?

Or are they just self destructive?

Things would change if they would refuse to participate in such childish things. Of course that would risk much. Maybe that's the problem.

Gives them an option short of using lethal force
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And just why should that be?
If anyone don't think stones kill, well jsut ask anyone that has been stoned to death. Oh wait you can't.
 
The paintball guns are for rock throwers not smugglers and pepperballs are not your regular paintball.
 
Im betting they use the FN 303 less than lethal launcher
its pretty sweet, not for 700.00+ though
heres a pic
fn_303.jpg

and the ammunition
fn_303_proj_oc.jpg
 
The FN 303 has come under scrutiny, since it's a bit more lethal than the pepperball type (which is just a paintball marker with OC balls). IIRC, a headshot proved lethal at a riot in Boston when the ball missed the intended target.

And for everyone who thinks it's a substitute for a real firearm, I doubt the border patrol is about to give up their M-4gerys or Sigs for a paintball gun. They'll still carry them, but it looks bad when someone asks you why you killed a migrant and you respond "he threw a rock." This gives them something more effective than running away, but allows them to stop short of lethal force.
 
It looks bad when someone asks you why you killed a migrant and you respond "he threw a rock."
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Or

It looks bad when someone asks you why you killed a migrant and you respond "He tried to kill me with a rock."

I say a mob chucking rocks at you is a decent enough attempt on your life to warrant self defense of some kind, possibly all the way up to lethal.
 
I don't see what the problem is with the paintball or pepperball guns.

Agents are often facing small groups of people throwing rocks. These rocks vary from large marble to fist size. They can kill people. To an agent working alone, the available options are to retreat or defend themselves. Currently, the only tool an agents has to defend themselves from any sort of distance attack is their issue sidearm or a long arm that they check out before shift.

This is not new. When I was an agent the specialized teams were already using them. I'm guessing (no first hand experience as I left over a year ago) that they worked well and are now available to other agents.

If someone has a rock in their hand and they are 10 yards away, they can hurt you. Badly. The thing is, you aren't typically allowed to shoot someone for that. You can tell them to drop the rock, but they don't have to comply. OC spray would be great for this situation, but it has a limited range. The pepper ball guns could be used in such a situation.

If the gun fails, or they start throwing rocks, it isn't hard to toss the pepper ball gun, draw, and go to lethal force.

As Biker said, it is another tool. It serves a specific role, and it has a place. Like any other tool, it is wrong to misuse it.
 
So we're going to give the Border Patrol - the one on the Mexican border - paintball guns with pepper paintballs to protect themselves?

The smugglers and border crossers will just use elastic fishing nets to catch the paintballs and use them in their suppers! Eat spicey food long enough, even the hottest of hot isn't all that hot.

And whether they're using gaming paintballs or peper paintballs, this just seems like a great way to provoke people, in my mind - whether it's illegals crossing who mob the BP agent to death, or smugglers who shoot him/her.

I'm guessing more BP agents end up getting shot w/ pepper paintballs than Mexican crossers.
 
This is nothing new. In 1993 I spent two days shooting paintballs at people trying to come across en masse at the Tijuana border. It wasn't to repel them, but to make them somewhat easier to spot. The opportunity never came up again after those two days, but it was a Border Patrol program.
 
So we're going to give the Border Patrol - the one on the Mexican border - paintball guns with pepper paintballs to protect themselves?
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No. We are giving them another tool. They aren't trading in their H&Ks and M4s for paintball guns. They are getting an extra tool. They will still carry their real guns.

I'm guessing more BP agents end up getting shot w/ pepper paintballs than Mexican crossers.
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I almost promise this is the case, as agents will likely have to undergo training that involves them being shot. Every agent who carries OC has also been sprayed in the face at close distance. When you go into court and they ask if you understand how much pain and suffering you put the rock thrower through, you get to say "yes."
 
ever been shot with something that makes your face feel like a blow torch is touching it while your in 120 degree heat for 45 minutes? i dont think many of you would be willing to advance any further .
 
I heard the smugglers are also arming themselves with paint ball guns just make things fair.

Joking aside, the border patrol agents have a rough job. Most of the illegal immigrants don't pose a threat to them, but smugglers are a different animal. They (BP) need real guns to defend themselves.
 
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