"Gel blasters" now require a "gun licence"

in this state. There is outrage over this. There are threats of legal action. 

   "Why do you want to spoil our harmless fun?" users are asking.

Except of course it is not harmless. People get hurt. Gel blasters are weapons. They may not be as lethal as a gun which fires bullets but they can still do harm. If you don't know the difference then they can still be used for criminal purposes is what the police are saying.

I don't know anything about the operation of gel blasters or paint ball guns and I don't want to know. I have seen pictures but I have never seen the real thing and I don't want to see the real thing. Why would I? Those in favour of such things say they do things like "develop competitiveness" and "foster team spirit".  Surely there are other ways to do these things?  

I had reason to look on line at some "games" in this past week. I haven't played a board game in a while. My memories of them are of things like Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, draughts, and chess. I have stopped playing chess with Ms W. She surpassed me years ago even though she isn't terribly keen on the game. It is something she does at school "because you have to do something like that and you get to use your brain a bit".

But there were so many other games out there - and so many of them involved capturing and killing. I asked the boys who live opposite Ms W and her father about video games. The older of the two thought about it for a moment and then said,

   "Yeah, you're right. Most of ours are like that. It's why our mum doesn't like us playing them."

I wonder why they like that sort of thing. They weren't around when my brother was that age. I doubt he would have been interested. He was too busy making things. The toy soldiers he was given one year were still in their box when we moved twelve months later. Our mother probably gave them away. We were never encouraged to play with guns or shoot people. We didn't need to anyway because we had too many other things to do. 

It seems to be different now. There are people who don't allow their children to play with toy guns. The local toy shop has a policy which does not allow it to stock guns. (It has a wonderful selection of toys with real play value.) Despite all that there are the violent video games and the actual "games" with the gel blasters and paint ball guns. I am told it is "exciting".

I suppose there must be girls and women who do that sort of thing but I have never met any. All the people I know who are involved or know people who are involved are boys and men. They seem to get something out of it, out of the mock violence.

If the decision to require a gun licence is upheld - and I hope it is - then there will be people who lose their livelihoods, people who have to find something else to do with their weekends and more. I genuinely feel for them. It is going to be tough but it would be so much better if they were sawing timber or welding metal and making something. 

Could someone please invent a hobby where it gives people as big a thrill to create something as it does to "kill" someone?