Editing Paintball (section)

== Safety statistics ==
[[File:Paintball welt.jpg|thumb|Injured paintball player]]
The rate of injury to paintball participants has been estimated as 45 injuries per 100,000 participants per year.<ref name="pmid15178668">{{cite journal | title = Injuries from paintball game related activities in the United States, 1997–2001 | journal = [[Injury Prevention]] | volume = 10 | issue = 3 | pages = 139–43 |date=June 2004 | pmid = 15178668 | pmc = 1730099 | author1 = Conn JM | author2 = Annest JL | author3 = Gilchrist J | author4 = Ryan GW | doi = 10.1136/ip.2003.004101  | issn=1353-8047 }}</ref>
Research published by the Minnesota Paintball Association has argued that paintball is one of the statistically safest sports to participate in, with 20 injuries per 100,000 players annually,<ref name="safety">(2003): National Injury Information Clearinghouse of the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington D.C. (Published by Minnesota Paintball Association) [http://www.paint-ball.org/paintball/safety_report.htm Paint-ball.org] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107061120/http://www.paint-ball.org/paintball/safety_report.htm |date=January 7, 2016 }}. Retrieved February 19, 2007.</ref> and these injuries tend to be incidental to outdoor physical activity (e.g. trip-and-fall). A 2003 study of the 24 patients with modern sports eye injuries presenting to the eye emergency department of Porto São João Hospital between April 1992 and March 2002 included five paintball eye injuries.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Modern sports eye injuries | journal = [[The British Journal of Ophthalmology]] | volume = 87 | issue = 11 | pages = 1336–9 |date=November 2003 | pmid = 14609827 | pmc = 1771879 | doi = 10.1136/bjo.87.11.1336| author1 = Capão Filipe JA|author2 = Rocha-Sousa A | author3 = Falcão-Reis F | author4 = Castro-Correia J }}</ref> Furthermore, a one-year study undertaken by the Eye Emergency Department, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in [[Boston]] has shown that most sports eye injuries are caused by [[basketball]], [[baseball]], [[hockey]], and [[racquetball]].<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Larrison WI, Hersh PS, Kunzweiler T, Shingleton BJ |title=Sports-related ocular trauma |journal=Ophthalmology |volume=97 |issue=10 |pages=1265–9 |date=October 1990 |pmid=2243676 |doi=10.1016/s0161-6420(90)32421-1}}</ref> Another analysis concluded that eye injuries incurred from paintball were in settings where protective equipment such as masks were not enforced, or were removed by the player.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Changing trends in paintball sport-related ocular injuries | journal = [[Archives of Ophthalmology]] | volume = 118 | issue = 1 | pages = 60–4 |date=January 2000 | pmid = 10636415 | author1 = Fineman MS | author2 = Fischer DH | author3 = Jeffers JB | author4 = Buerger DG | author5 = Repke C | doi = 10.1001/archopht.118.1.60 | doi-access =  }}</ref>
Eye injuries can occur when protective equipment is not properly used and such injuries often cause devastating [[visual loss]].<ref>{{cite journal | title = Ocular trauma and visual outcome secondary to paintball projectiles | journal = [[Ophthalmology (journal)|American Journal of Ophthalmology]] | volume = 147 | issue = 2 | pages = 239–242.e1 |date=February 2009 | pmid = 18835471 | doi = 10.1016/j.ajo.2008.08.007 | author1 = Alliman KJ | author2 = Smiddy WE | author3 = Banta J | author4 = Qureshi Y | author5 = Miller DM | author6 = Schiffman JC }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title = Ocular trauma resulting from paintball injury | journal = Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv für Klinische und Experimentelle Ophthalmologie | volume = 247 | issue = 4 | pages = 469–75 |date=April 2009 |pmid = 19034480 | doi = 10.1007/s00417-008-0985-2 | author1 = Pahk PJ |author2=Adelman RA |s2cid = 1935916}}</ref> For safety, most regulated paintball fields strictly enforce a 'masks-on' policy, and most eject players who consistently disobey.

Regardless, paintball has received criticism due to incidents of injury. In Canada in 2007, an eleven-year-old boy lifted his mask and was shot point blank in the eye by an adult playing on the same field,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/doctors-say-paintball-too-dangerous-for-kids-1.246775|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724182909/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/20070628/paintball_injuries_070628/20070628/?hub=Health&subhub=PrintStory|url-status=live|archive-date=July 24, 2012|title=Doctors say paintball too dangerous for kids|access-date=September 16, 2009|date=June 28, 2007|author=DeMelt, Annie|publisher=CTV.ca}}</ref> leading to calls by the [[Montreal Children's Hospital]] to restrict the minimum age of paintball participants to 16 years. In Australia, the sport attracted criticism when a 39-year-old man playing at a registered field in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] died of a suspected [[heart attack]], after being struck in the [[chest]].<ref name="tasmanianews" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/paintball-organisers-defend-sport-after-death/2008/01/15/1200159443228.html|title=Paintball organisers defend sport after death|access-date=September 13, 2009|date=January 15, 2008|publisher=The Age Company Ltd|location=Melbourne|archive-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908233831/http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/paintball-organisers-defend-sport-after-death/2008/01/15/1200159443228.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Additionally, the use of paintball markers outside a regulated environment has caused concern. In the United States in 1998, 14-year-old Jorel Lynn Travis was shot with a paintball gun while standing outside a [[Fort Collins, Colorado]] [[ice cream parlor]] – blinding her in one eye.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1024078997304|title=Paintball Suit Results in Defense Win – Case against a youth who hurt a girl settles|author=Langer, Sara|magazine=The National Law Journal|date=July 17, 2002|access-date=September 21, 2009|archive-date=October 3, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003034624/http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1024078997304|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2001, a series of pre-meditated and racially motivated [[Anchorage paintball attacks|drive-by shootings]] targeted [[Alaska Natives]] in [[Anchorage, Alaska]], using a paintball marker. In [[Ottawa]], Canada in 2007, Ashley Roos was shot in the eye and blinded with a paintball gun while waiting for a bus.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=6f0caf25-05b1-48ae-b160-43e5874c6122&k=40617|title=Paintball gun shot could leave woman blind in one eye|access-date=September 14, 2009|newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen|date=May 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628223201/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=6f0caf25-05b1-48ae-b160-43e5874c6122&k=40617|archive-date=June 28, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/girl-17-and-man-20-charged-in-ottawa-paintball-shooting-1.678058|title=Girl, 17, and man, 20, charged in Ottawa paintball shooting|access-date=April 21, 2010|publisher=CBC News|date=May 11, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618211339/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/girl-17-and-man-20-charged-in-ottawa-paintball-shooting-1.678058|archive-date=June 18, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/24032--appalled-paintballers-help-victim|title='Appalled' paintballers help victim|date=October 30, 2007|access-date=April 21, 2010|author=Wieclawski, Tim|publisher=Metro Ottawa|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629045304/http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/24032--appalled-paintballers-help-victim|archive-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref> In 2014 in the UK, as a marketing strategy,  one company advertised and hired a Human Bullet Tester.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/paintball-company-seeks-human-bullet-tester-for-job-that-pays-40000-9880351.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/paintball-company-seeks-human-bullet-tester-for-job-that-pays-40000-9880351.html |archive-date=May 24, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Paintball company seeks human 'bullet tester'|access-date=April 27, 2015|newspaper=The Independent|date=November 24, 2014}}</ref>