Airsoft Article/ Interveiw
 

Hi,

I'm writing a feature article for my English class about promoting Airsoft, I've yet to play because i'm under age, but I'm planing on starting for the 2010 season. Anyways we had to choose a topic I chose this becuase I've already done extensive reaserch on the sport so I have the nessacary Information to make an informed choice and figured that this I could probably write a good article with the information and soruces i've already acquired. Also this project also requires an interveiw. I was hoping one or a few non-noob airsofters could give me a few minutes of there time and answer a few questons. If you would like to Volenteer please feel free to PM me and i'll send you the eight questons I have to ask you, also this interveiw requires me to use a real name if you wish to remain anoymous this is fine, if you wish to give me your name to use in my article this is also fine I would also like to use your ASC username in brackets beside ether your name or the anymous to designate whom i've interveiwed from the forums.

Thanks in advance
Hoople97

NO!

Sorry kid, if you cannot properly spell 'volunteer', then you are writing about the wrong hobby.

If you've never played the game -especially not a large organized one like a Wolfpack or Border Wars-like event, you really don't have anywhere close to the information you need to write it.

And promoting airsoft in a school to minors is not a good idea.

Paintball would be more apropriate.

Alright thats cool guys. Thanks for the info on not using the topic

I think its a good idea to educate people of all ages. Our sport is a safe, fun and legit sport that deserves good press. I guess he can't write a story on drinking and drugs because he is underage and is not a drinker/user. Come on guys. I do not promote underage players but if he can educate other kids on the reasons why we play 18plus and teach them about the sport what would that hurt.
Look at sex. We teach our kids at 12 yrs old about being safe and the reasons to wait dont we? If we dont teach them young, they will make uneducated decisions and it can turn out bad. I would be more than happy to help in anyway I can as long as it is in a positive direction for our sport.
I think its silly how we treat young people as they are the future. We should all remember how we felt when we were in our teens and try to be a little more understanding. If everyone mentored one young player by the time they turned 18 they would be a asset to the community.

sorry i must edit
Surebet is right about not promoting airsoft in classrooms. I just wish there was a way to teach young people about why we play 18 plus and the trouble they can get in for miss use. Teens will do what they want and we cant stop them. I just wish there was a way to get the message to them about being safe and not causing trouble, this way there is no bad press on us because a 16 year old went airsofting in the bush behind his school.

Part of the solution of reducing teen airsoft proliferation involves not advertising our sport in classrooms.

I disagree. My friends in Catholic school were never taught about drugs or sex and they did both recklessly. In public school I was taught both, and I've done both...as safely as possible.

People will do what they want. They can find out what airsoft is from Canadian Tire and the internet, or they could get more reliable sources with more knowledgeable information.

+1

When we teach teens about sex it's done by a professional with a background in education. We don't just tell one kid about how sex works and then send them off into the world to spread the word, do we? Nor do we have a kid do a presentation for the class on what they learned about having safe sex from the internet.

There would be some ugly results and a lot more pregnant teenage girls.

Sex and to a certain extent drugs are a normal part of life, this hobby isn't. Making class appearances will only plant an interest in something they would have not known about.

I'm not making a point for censorship, just one against overt publicity.

Also, a random minor without field experience is no more qualified to educate people about the sport than a clerk from Canadian Tire.

Never really thought of it that way. You make a good point. If I heard about this when I was 16 I would want to go to Canadian tire and buy a clearsoft to shoot at friends. Censorship is not needed but I agree about promoting to underage people.

Professional teacher yes, but their lessons, comfort and actual knowledge were debatable. But I understand your point. Yet I have probably done more single handedly to teach my friends about sex and drugs than our public system ever did. It's a matter of getting on their level and having the appropriate knowledge. He can do both, as long as experienced people take the time to help.

Agreed. But he's synthesizing or quite likely directly quoting people. If he is really determined to do the article would it better that he gets information from people who are actually involved and practice safe use in the airsoft community or Youtube videos and Google (increasing the likelihood of information coming from underage sources)?

Another thought occurs: We all know that telling a teen they can't know/do something only increases their curiosity. I'd rather know that solid information was delivered (stressing safety and the necessity of being 18+) than to have them look elsewhere for the information.

I'd have to say i agree with both crowds. BUT I don't think this should be taught in classrooms by an inexperienced person, this is also coming from an underage person.

I got an Idea

Maybe we should have someone who IS experienced post a thread on the forum educating any pass-byers who are interested into the sport of airsoft and need to know every corner of the basics and all the flaws and laws and other BS that might be incorporated.

Just because I have read the talking point from a PETA rep doesn't mean I'll be able to deliver a speech in a manner that would be approved by the organization, especially since the audience might ask questions that go out of the scope of the brief I received.

Also, having a personal agenda that goes against PETA's rhetoric would seriously undermine my ability to deliver said speech correctly. See in this case, even though PETA tells me BBQs are abhorrent, I might like them.

Substitute PETA for ASC, BBQs with minors with guns.

This community has survived by remaining on the fringes of public knowledge. The laws are already in the books to shut us down, hard.

Public solicitation only makes it more likely that we will finally meet the soccer mom that will have the proverbial bug up high enough in her ass to go after us.

Non-issue if they don't know it exists in the first place. Knowledge is contagious, containment starts by not having minors give oral presentations on a sport they know close to nothing about.

I see

(lol at the soccer mom)

I would agree if I thought airsoft gunswere a secret, whereas airsoft as a "sport" mainly is, but I'll concede the point based on the fact that it may indeed be presented to the class. My impression from what he wrote was that this is an article for his class that his teacher would be reading, not a class presentation.

The issue of focusing a school project on replica firearms should also raise red flags from the teacher, but that's something else entirely.

I dunno- sounds like the only soccer mom panic over this is that you've already decided nothing good can come of this. Not all the people on ASC keep airsoft in the closet; if some folks want to help inform people I dont see it as doom and gloom or a threat at all.

Oh, don't mistake my paranoid streak in this thread for something else, I'm personally convinced that people can handle the concept of airsoft, but the medium presented by the OP is not conductive to proper presentation.

Soccer moms have more drive than most of our current national leaders combined, the hyperactivity they experience as a result of PMS is enough to sway the minds of most national organizations.
Anyways, for one, the school wouldn't allow a presentation on replica fireams, maybe consider mil-sim paintball.
two, we already have soccer mom's on our asses, be it not very hard-core ones. Don't stir up the hornet's nest.
"forbidden" things always attract attention, and politicians will always try to appease the masses even if they know it's stupid.

Well this project wasn't meant to be an oral presentation, the reason I chose the topic is the sport appels to me alot and i'm looking forwards to starting up next year. I have done alot of research on the sport and do agree totally with the safety and everything associated with it. The idea of the project was to treat it as if you where writing a featured article for a newspaper and the only person who would be reading this would be my teacher no one else. But I do totally agree with the education from an experienced player I really chose this topic so I could further my information on Airsoft past just internet articles and how the guns operate and how to maintain your equipment.

sorry but most of the fact presented here is simply opinion- generalized misinformed soccer mom type hysterical opinion. Not all airsoft players are keeping hidden and many are actively promoting the sports positive attributes.

I actually know of a local school that has its RCMP liaison officer allowing the kids to use their airsoft guns for a highschool film project. She is also the one who told the local high school kids to use their guns only at the local fields. They recognize that airsoft guns are not dangerous but that improper use IS.

The local fight club in town uses airsoft guns when demonstrating how to disarm people- the local RCMP check in on them often and have no interest in taking those guns. They are only interested in criminal use they said.

Our local field ran a birthday party for a group of 9 kids aged 12 because paintball is unsafe. From that group we have sports teams and school teams calling for bookings. Those soccer moms have told us they HATE guns but that airsoft seems to be a safe way for kids to play active sports (sadly paintball takes the beats from these soccer moms as THAT sport is dangerous for kids lol)

I get that we dont want misinformed people representing our sport. But the hiding our head in the sand approach hasnt worked out for airsoft either...