“We’re highly concerned that we’re going to end up with an officer-involved shooting of somebody who does not have a firearm but yet a paintball gun. When you see the weapons, they look very real. When you hear them…they sound very much like a bullet.” – LAPD South Bureau Chief Phil Tingirides in Police Warn of Increase in Crimes Involving Paintball Guns; Public’s Help Sought ID’ing Perpetrators [via ktla.com]
I bet life is about to get a lot harder for paintballers in the LA area…
Anybody have a list of objects cops won’t mistake for a firearm?
A crucifix, Wait, no. Pajamas? Wait, no. A vaping device? Wait, no. An empty hand? Wait, no.
Dildos? No one got shot at that stupid protest, at least
Donuts. I don’t think a cop has ever mistaken a donut he was holding for a firearm. Of course, the problem is the similarity a half-eaten donut in the paint-stained hands of a paintballer has to an AK-47. Any cop could make that mistake.
Where does LA go to find high ranking LEOs? Is there a special school or medical laboratory that cranks out morons like LAPD South Bureau Chief Phil Tingirides? He seems terminally stupid and should have earned a Darwin award somewhere between kindergarten and middle school. And yet he persists.
In the 1960’s, democrats gave endangered species protections to people who were lazy, stupid, idiotic, careless and/or ignorant. We are now overrun with those folks and their offspring. Our National IQ drops 1 point every couple of years now as the rest of the world goes zooming past us on an intellectual level. The only things most American city-slicker youth know how to do these days are fart, poop, and thumbdance their phone.
It’s not a cop talking it’s a police chief therefore a bureaucrat. I’d like to see some of you in a stressful situation I am sure you would never shoot the guy not complying reaching for his cellphone or rapidly stepping out of his car reaching inside his jacket. Which is why by the way, non cops participating in use of force training NEVER shoot unarmed persons lol. I got stopped by cops a few times. I never acted like an idiot, I wasn’t reaching all over the place in my car during the traffic stop I did not come out of the car, and these cops didn’t even have their hands on their guns because they didn’t feel threatened and saw my hands. There are thousands of cops/citizen interactions daily across the nations, how many citizen get shot? Again this is a politician serving an agenda, not your average patrol cop.
What agenda. He was politely saying if you are a stupid kid ruining around shooting people with an air gun or paintball gun, do’t be surprised if you end up shot with something with a little more oomph.
What agenda, you ask?
Why, Getaclue’s pro-LE agenda, obviously.
Getaclue, you’re on the right track but you’re vastly underestimating the number of police contacts vs shootings. Annually, it’s 60 million to 1000. Pretty good odds.
I’ve had the same experience. Keep your hands in sight, think how the officer perceives you, be polite and prepared for what he’s going to ask for and don’t move fast or reach without telling him or her what you are reaching for or even ask permission to reach for something. It’s not a big deal, it doesn’t infringe your rights and it will avoid any confusion.
You know, paint ball guns and air guns are outlawed in Australia, UK and some cities in the US. As are knives, sling shots and the Flail. I don’t agree these things should be banned, that never works to solve criminal violence. If someone is stupid enough to use a firearm shaped anything to commit a crime, they should be prepared for the consequences when facing armed police.
[Blue has been shot]
Cop 1: Jesus Christ! What gun? He’s got a fucking hero sandwich here.
Cop 2: What do you want? It’s pitch black. It’s tinfoil. It looked like a gun!
Cop 1: You moron! I’ll be doing paperwork for two months because of you and this piece of shit, you fuckin’ jerk-off.
-Casino, 1995
Of course. Because most firearms have a giant CO2 canister and ammo hopper hanging off of them. But hey, as long as the cop makes it home that night. That’s the important thing.
Wait, here it comes. One party rule will no doubt pile on a bunch of silly do nothing laws. If only to show the serfs, that the overlords are in charge. Yes, IMAGE and SYMBOLISM rules commie kalifornia.
Looks like real gun? Sound like bullets???? He’s obviously never been near a paintball gun. Much less heard/seen one fired. That or he believes all his officers are idiots
Every time I go to the range I think, “this place is full of paintballers tonight!”
The sounds and smells are eerily similar. Especially the SOCOM 16 in .308. It sounds just like a paint ball gun. At least that what I heard from experts on the LAPD.
I’ve never had much to do with paintballs but I have a suggestion for ya. Just google up paintball guns and hit images. There are plenty that look like the real thing. Maybe you think an officer should wait until some low life pops a few rounds off so he can tell if its real by the way it sounds? Get real.
If you’re dumb enough to shoot at cops with a paint ball g un (or commit other crimes with one) you’re already a Darwin award nominee, so I can only muster up so much sympathy for you if the logical results of your actions occur.
That’s NOT what the LAPD said. They said they look like normal firearms and sound like normal firearms. Which is Bullshit.
If you shoot a cop with anything, you’re likely to be killed. Hell if you shoot at me….
The whole subject was brought up because of a rash of people misusing them, including using them in robberies, drive bys, and shooting at police. I really couldn’t care less about stupid people doing stupid things that get them hurt, although it does occasionally make for an entertaining You-tube video.
What kind of paintball guns are they using in LA? Never heard one sound like a real firearm yet. That chief is an idiot.
YUP, he is. Political hack with a badge and a gun. Pro sanctuary city and state, pro over reaching gun control. And likely corrupt. Look up the story on his badge wearing daughter and the horse LAPD bought from her.
That chief is just a puppet for the left and wants to keep his job. He has to say exact what the script reads. He can’t be that dumb, but it is Cali
Hunter, too bad half of the readers on TTAG have a hard time making the difference between a political puppet assuming the function of chief of police in CA and spending most of his time in an office, and an actual patrolman. I am sure the chief of police has to worry a lot about shoot/don’t shoot or going back to his family at the end of the shif lol. I’d like to see some of the TTAG specops guys in uniform in the streets of LA, Miami, Chicago etc, I am sure they wouldn’t get all jacked up at all on some traffic stops and other situations.
Actually, I see this as an educational opportunity. We ought to be telling parents (and other adults) that it’s fine for children to play with toy guns, squirt guns and paint-ball guns. And, NOW is the opportunity to teach them the disciplines that go with such play. Children must take care that they play with such guns in an appropriate context; ideally, a fenced-in back yard. To walk alone in any public space such as a street or public playground risks someone mistaking them for having a real gun. Such a misunderstanding will likely lead to the police (or even a citizen carrier) shooting them.
There is a spectrum of children to consider. The least of our problems is a well-behaved kid “Tommy” who is carrying his super-soaker to his friend Jimmy’s house. Such an incident could result in an horrific shooting; but it’s not likely. The far more severe problem is some much-less astute child deciding that he is at liberty to brandish his AirSoft gun because he didn’t get an ice cream at McDonalds. The lesson he needs to be taught is that HE is at GREAT risk of being shot.
The big 12-yo black kid in the park was a case falling somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. I wasn’t on the scene (of course) but it’s my opinion that the police acted precipitously in that case. Still, the kid should have been taught that he is not at liberty to brandish anything that looks like a gun in a public space – with no obvious context of child’s play – and ESPECIALLY not in the face of on-coming police.
It is in OUR interest (as PotG) to minimize the number of such tragedies. They are fodder for the Antis’ arguments. We should be seen as continuously preaching gun-handling discipline – including toy-gun discipline. We are NOT going to prevent thugs getting shot holding-up 7/11’s with AirSoft guns; that’s not the objective. We want to minimize the number of innocents getting shot.
The cases cited involved people doing ‘driveby’ shootings. So in those cases all you might see is the barrel poking out the window.
And you know what? If they get shot, too bad. Anyone driving around LA shooting 9 year olds with paintball guns to the extent shown is just going to graduate to the real thing anyway.
Come on guys, give the poor copper chief a break. We all know how hoppers can be easily mistaken for clipazines, and tanks are really adjustable stocks. Not legal in Cali. 64 caliber?!? That’s way over a Fifty Cal……weapon of mass destruction.
Well it was as if people that can’t get commercially available firearms will just switch to another type of weapon…
I’ve never understood why police forces haven’t embraced the use of paintball guns. Paint balls filled with indelible ink along the lines of the dye used in dye packs for bank robberies. During riots perps can be marked for easy identification later without the need for immediate physical contact. It is a non lethal form of deterrent which is much cheaper than rubber bullets or bean bags.
..and/or stick the paint balls in the freezer overnight and you have a potentially non-lethal, rapid fire, bell ringing, compliance device.
‘just sayin’
It’s all fun and games until someone get hit int he eye, then the taxpayers are on the hook.
I don’t know WHY they should be on the hook, but they are.
Get shot in the face without a paintball mask and you could easily lose an eye (great bodily harm) or die from the trauma. Sounds like deadly force response would be permitted by any victim being lit up by one.
So LA paintball guns look and sound like real ones? Okay, then, it’s unfortunate that LAPD officers don’t look and sound like real cops.
As someone who spent part of his life making a living carrying guns and getting shot at by other people who made their living carrying guns, this police chief — like so many around America — has not even the faintest fucking clue what he’s even talking about.
Paintball guns do not look like or sound even remotely like real guns. Someone who says that they look or sound like the real thing has obviously never even seen, much less shot, a real gun. THAT is the only logical explanation for his willful pig ignorance.
Ok this is really getting old. Plenty of paintball guns look the real thing. A cop to has to make a split second decision as to whether or not he’s about to be shot. What the hell is he supposed to do, listen for the sound? Really. Remember what happens to peoples hearing and information processing in that situation?
Are cops shooting too many people today? Hell yes. Does it seem like there is a policy of shoot first investigate later, hell yes. Do all paintball guns look exactly like real firearms. No, but many look pretty damned close. Hell there are plenty of firearms that don’t look like firearms. A UTAS 12 Ga or a Tavor for instance.
I timed it: It took me all of 15 seconds to find one that looks like a real gun:
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/tippmann-a5-response-trigger-paintball-gun-16tpmu5rspnsxxxxxptb/16tpmu5rspnsxxxxxptb
I’ve heard a shitload of Paintball guns fire, but never one that even remotely sounded like a real gun firing. But then again, it is a cop in L.A. saying that……soooooo…
So… I have about 6 or 7 paintball markers(been a while since I counted, or played for that matter) and not one of them looks like a actual gun I have ever seen or sounds like a gun I have ever fired…
Now I know that you can buy markers that look like guns… and I always thought that was a bad idea personally… makes the marker too long for shooting around bunkers, prefer the standard looking marker…
I started typing this with a point and somehow lost it along the way…
Excellent post. I like this Ban Paintball Gun. This gun is really awesome and looks like a real. These paintball guns sound more than like bullet. Thanks for you sharing great gear on this post.
I like the injury stats. I had no idea paintball was so safe compared to a lot of other standard sports.
Thanks for sharing a nice podcast…I really love your series!
I’ve never had much to do with paintballs but I have a suggestion for ya. Just google up paintball guns and hit images. There are plenty that look like the real thing. Maybe you think an officer should wait until some low life pops a few rounds off so he can tell if its real by the way it sounds? Get real. In my opinion its not.
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