Slashdot Mirror
Roleplayers Seek Removal of Nerf Gun Ban
An anonymous reader writes "LARP fans at Bowling Green State University may have to contend with a crippled game of Humans vs. Zombies after the University banned Nerf guns on campus. In the live-action game, players are either humans or zombies. The goal of the game is to change all the humans into zombies, or for the humans to evade capture by zombies for a certain amount of time. To defend themselves against zombies, humans may use Nerf guns. Players (most likely the human ones) are petitioning the University to lift the ban. The game had troubles back in 2006, when participating students were arrested. That issue has since been cleared up."
University Students Seek Life
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
We're banning nerf guns now? Why?
What are we now, "Land of the fee, home of the scared?"
So they're using nerf guns. What's the big deal. Even if an innocent bystander gets caught in the crossfire, no big deal. Shouldn't they have better things to do?
I play Urban Dead often enough, but doing it in real life is very, very sad. At least I know there are bigger nerds than me still in the gene pool.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
I mean seriously, those are toys, they are specifically designed in a way that tries to eliminate every possibility of injury.
That's like banning my childhood.
...when they're afraid of people getting hurt with a FREAKING *NERF* GUN!
[b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
Zombie want soft-springy-foam Braaaaiiiinnnss. We're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's going to eat your eyes.
They've nerfed the nerf guns? Damn.
Wouldn't roleplayers support a ban on nerfing guns?
There're too many double negatives in that headline.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Forget the rubbish about which OS has the biggest testes, or what our rights are that has been corrupting /. in recent times :)
--I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
I'm not sure if the college administration was making up the part about parents "complaining" or not. I still haven't figured out why parents want to treat college students like they are still in middle school, and why colleges are willing to go along with it!
Nerf should be fine as long as it's obvious that it IS a Nerf weapon. If not, or if it's taking place at night. be sure you play in a place where everyone knows you're in a game, or be prepared for some Very Bad Consequences if you're not careful.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
called Assassin that some frats and/or dorms play at UIUC. A guy locked himself in his room to avoid an assassin, who then camped right outside his door, ready to strike the instant he opened the door. Supposedly, the guy really had to do #2, but rather than open the door and lose, he crapped out his 2nd floor window.
I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire 10 nerf darts or only nine?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a Nerf Dart Tag Magstrike the most powerful nerfgun in the world, and would tickle your nose with a perfect shot, you've got to ask yourself a question:
Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/default.cfm?page=viewproduct&product_id=17890
And to think my college's AITP chapter was planning a possible airsoft gun event AT my college (on the weekend). We never got a dependable plastic sheeting to cover the floor to collect the BBs or empty room of permission though :( But both of our supervisors didn't think it was a bad idea.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
Penn State's spring semester game is just getting underway (stealth zombies period ends at noon tomorrow), and it's fucking awesome, just like last semester's was. Yes, they let us use nerf guns, and nobody's been injured except for one guy who broke his foot while falling down some stairs last game. That's why we make people sign waivers.
It's the best game ever. Hope they get the issues cleared up, as nerf guns and the associated modifications (yeah, I'm an engineering student) are a really fun aspect of it. If your college doesn't play, go get it started. I recommend talking it over w/ the campus cops first though, just to make sure you won't have problems like this.
To defend themselves, humans can use improvised foam melee weapons.
Bonus: It makes it more realistic (what are the chances you'll have your guns with you on Z day?).
You can't take the sky from me...
When do we want 'em? BRRRRAAAAIIIINNNSSSSS!!!!
Here at UMass Amherst we're currently in the opening days of our second game of Humans vs. Zombies. The first was played beginning last Halloween. I'm currently a zombie.
To all those telling us to get lives: we have them. Humans often get tagged because they tried to continue normal campus life during the game. It's not a LARPing thing: nobody dresses up; we just wear a band around our arm or head to indicate team status. Games usually last a couple of weeks, and consist of normal play coupled with "missions" that reward either human or zombie for accomplishing objectives as a team. One of those missions is always a food drive for the poor. Sure, we have to hide our Nerf guns during room inspections, but even the RAs really don't give a damn (like they apparently do at Bowling Green. To top it off, HvZ players are usually some of the coolest, most interesting people on campus (including numerous attractive women).
It's good clean fun for college kids that doesn't necessarily involve getting wasted (though you can, and we do, play wasted here at UMass). What's not to like?
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
We have an assassin's guild at my university (Indiana University). We have not really had much trouble, with the heads of the university understanding that it is all just harmless fun and games.
The only involvement we have had with the police was when they saw a bunch of us gathered together at night and they asked us what we were doing and let us on our way. We also have rules banning painting the guns black.
And I'm sorry... but LARPers? It is not freaking larping, it is just playing a game.
Someone call the NRA.
I mean, no one's gonna eat their eyes.
Beware the silly string! You'll know what's about to happen when you see all those birthday candles!
Heh, I went to BGSU. Apparently the zombie problems have only worsened in the 6 years since I graduated.
They are also banned where I go to school - they play that game by tagging eachother now. Can't say I'm too disappointed not to have seen kids shooting nerf guns at eachother all around campus (instead they just run around like fools trying to tag eachother). Actually, not allowing nerf guns allows the rest of us to have some fun by straight charging at any group of people wearing the zombie headbands. Haha, they will disperse faster than any group you've ever seen.
Hanging up neon cartoon characters flipping people the bird in Boston????
Yeah, my karma sucks....but so do the mods.
One more thing - how the hell does this make the front page of /.? So what, a school doesn't need a bunch of kids running around shooting nerf guns at eachother. Imagine if you were visiting as a high school student and saw a bunch of kids in green bandanas running wildly from someone just launching nerf bullets (or whatever you'd call them) at them. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd think twice about attending (playing tag with green bandanas doesn't come off as quite as strange)...
...but not Nerf CROTCHBAT!
Hit 'em right in the zombie junk!
Distributed proteome folding @ WorldCommunityGrid.org
Team Slashdot - Members:#1 Run Time:#1 Points:#1 Results:#1
Not to sound overly harsh but... CHILL THE FUCK OUT. Arresting people for having fun? Anyone who has had a childhood knows that nerfguns are BIG, NEON and shoot 3 inch long bright SPONGES. Danger of getting hit by a sponge vs outlawing a game that sounds pretty awesome. This is ridiculous, I hate watching universities cave to every little whim, taking absolutely no risks. One nice example, some schools aren't allowed to play anime at all, since they find it bothersome to verify whether or not every rule is being followed for ownership and playing. I wish people would show some backbone over this kind of thing. But then again, the police would probably have any students doing sit-ins forcibly removed http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/03/21/campus-protest.html?ref=rss ....
The only explanation is that campus administrators are zombies. The cheating bastards want to make sure nothing stops them from eating more brains.
Is it really that surprising that a campus that hosts some 20,000 students will have more than a few students that don't trust LARPers with anything even remotely resembling a gun? Especially considering: * They tend to travel in groups and wear matching armbands (interpreted as "gang-like" behavior) * The average LARPer is already something of a social deviant (not quite anime-convention-strange but strange enough) * Recent high-profile college shootings, which some people were personally affected by (or knows somebody who knows somebody who was) It's basically a recipe for raising suspicion and paranoia, especially in the first year when very few people on campus knew about the game until the police started arresting people.
Waaay off topic, but I'm a big zombie movie fan and I'm glad to see that the rules account for the often unanswered question, "So, how long does a zombie live?" Forty-eight hours according to the rule set I looked at.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Wait what? I read in the comments about campus cops, room inspections and complaining parents. It sounds to me like a cross between military school, prison and kindergarten. What business have parents complaining about 18 year old adults?
I'm very glad to know that American citizens are being protected from this terrible danger. I've heard, in fact, that more American children have been attacked by Nerf weapons than by all other types of weapons combined. We're taking a good first step toward eliminating this terrible menace.
If we must all be turned into zombies, well, that's just the price we pay for safety. Besides, we'll be completely safe that way, nothing hurts a zombie! What's to lose?
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
Is it the same penelty to carry NERF as it is to carry Colt?
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
If I was the Judge that had to deal with these citations, I would give each and every issuing officer a good 'ol fashioned judicial beat-down.
Nerf guns are just like firearms and just as dangerous:
Nerf Guns:
Brightly colorful.
Use compressed air.
Don't resemble, even remotely, real guns.
Shoot big yellow sponges.
Sponge "bullets" bounce off of their target and usually make the target laugh.
Make funny noises when fired.
The target either never falls down, or gets right back up immediately, provided he or she didn't fall of a cliff.
Can be bought at any Toy's 'R' Us by a 10 year old.
Cost as cheap as $10.
Real guns:
Black or chrome plated.
Use smokeless powder.
Resemble reals guns because they are real guns.
Shoot lead or copper-jacketed bullets.
Lead bullets penetrate the target and usually make the target scream in pain.
Makes a loud bang when fired.
The person who was shot doesn't usually get up.
Can only be bought by someone who is 21 or older at licensed dealerships, plus State and Federal background checks.
Usually cost between $500-$2999 (hardly milk money)
So, yeah, I can understand how the police became easily confused between the two. Someone should give Barney Fife and his fellow deputies a public commendation for protecting safe fun-loving people from themselves.
I was looking through my college's regulations to see if they had rules prohibiting Nerf Guns and came across the following:
"Weapons and Explosives
1. Possession, use, or sale of any incendiary, explosive, firearm, or destructive device is not permitted. At no time will live ammunition of any type be permitted in or on university premises.
2. Any weapon including, but not limited to guns (i.e., air soft guns, BB/pellet guns, paintball guns, potato guns, pistols, revolvers, firearms, etc.), knives, and any items that are a reasonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited.
3. Ammunition or explosives (including fireworks) of any kind are prohibited.
4. Failure to report to campus security and/or residence hall personnel the presence of an unlawful weapon, explosive or incendiary device, when the presence of such weapon or device is known or reasonably suspected is a violation of the rules and regulations of the University.
5. Reporting the false presence of an unlawful weapon, explosive or incendiary device with the intent to mislead or deceive is prohibited."
It doesn't list Nerf guns, but states that guns "that are a "resonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited". This allows anybody with half a brain to successfully argue that Nerf guns are not a "resonable facsimile".
Interestingly enough, the preceeding section is of the following:
"Projectiles
1. Throwing, dropping, or projecting objects from any residence structure, including but not limited to self, keys, bodily fluids, and trash is strictly prohibited. In addition, throwing objects or playing sports in community courtyards is not permitted without permission from the Community Director of that area. Individuals and/or residential communities may be held financially responsible for repairing damages, painting costs, and general maintenance related to projectiles."
So, technically, that means it is against the rules to play flag football, catch, pickle, or Frisbee without getting permission. Man, we didn't even have to ask the Yard Duty for permission to do these things in Elementary school. I guess I should pack up my lawn darts.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
So is my thinking wrong?? Either way it sounds like a damn fun game and I sometimes feel cheated by not going to Uni (Traineeship, experience and courses make up my resume, uni would have been a waste as far as employability goes, but it sounds like a shit load of fun!)
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of cats. MEOW!!
crazy. Mental note: UIUC must suck as a learning institution.
on the other side of cyberspace, COMPUTER roleplayers (now there's an oxymoron) are hoping for the removal of nerfs in their games.
Ah, sooo, that was their vulnerability. Before unleashing my hordes genetically-engineered mutant zombies TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD, I must first get all governments to ban Nerf guns. I won't be foiled again.
*cackles manically in his labcoat*
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?
You can't possibly mistake a nerf gun for a real gun. Real guns don't have giant nerf darts sticking out of them! Nerf guns look RIDICULOUS, they're brightly colored and shoot big pieces of foam! You'd have to be an idiot to not see the difference! LOOK OUT, THAT PIECE OF FOAM MIGHT HIT YOU IN THE EYE IF THE WIND IS JUST RIGHT AND IF YOU STAND REALLY STILL!
I could see an especially lame campus banning water pistols or toy pistols (on the assumption that they look too real perhaps). Yes, it is pretty crazy, but I could see a bunch of soccer moms getting together and complaining about it. Sure, keep the water pistols out of the elementary schools, whatever. But there can't possibly be ANY justification for banning nerf guns. NONE
I recall a student at the U of Arizona was expelled for sharpening some chop sticks and sticking them to his wall in the honors dorm. THEY'RE CHOP STICKS, and he got EXPELLED. Who the hell arbitrated that case?! "Well you're an honors student spending your first year of college in the dorm. You sharpened some chop sticks and used fun tak to stick them to the wall. Seems like a pretty open and shut case to me, EXPLUSION!" Later that night, that administrator went home and told his wife about it, and that's when she realized that she's married to a completely moron and got a divorce. Okay, so I made that last part up, but it's still stupid.
The people who need or enforce a nerf gun ban are insane. What they need is a mental institution. You bring that case before any shrink and they'll recommend a long stay at a mental health clinic. Even a 10 year-old could correctly diagnosis these people as NUTS.
It's kind of shocking that someone could mistake one of those things for anything besides a toy, but apparently it happened. Some paranoid person decided it would be a better idea to call the cops than just ask the kids to stop carrying them around.
hey, they're up and running around. they're doing their part to fight the looming obesity crisis, in addition to training to combat the looming undead crisis.
They're running from ZOMBIES! The slowest of the undead by far. And they're even downing the zombies with guns! If this was REALLY fitness-oriented, they'd instead be taking on something a little faster, like vampires. Or they at least could be felling the zombies with traditional anti-zombie weapons like chain saws instead of projectile weapons.
This is clearly set up to minimize physical effort, not promote it.
paintball
They nerfed Nerf!
Exactly
:-)
I just want to know who was the genius zombie that decided to attack the University admin block first. Getting nerf guns banned = sure sign that the zombies are gaming the system
News for nerds - Absolutely
Stuff that matters - ?????
What will they ban next? The perpendicular thumb and forefinger?
If everybody is so worried about real weapons, surely the solution is to remove real weapons from circulation? What kind of logic is it to ban toy weapons but permit real ones?
I realise the university doesn't permit real weapons on campus either, that the ban on toy weapons is not federal law, and that the university environment is not U.S. society in general. I still think, however, that the mindsets displayed in this case argue quite strongly that something needs to change.
I think she's gonna need some Nerf Stairs too.
> Sure, keep the water pistols out of the elementary
> schools, whatever. But there can't possibly be ANY
> justification for banning nerf guns. NONE
Actually, in elementary school you would ban them for sure, at least from class, because they'd be a terrible distraction. If you've got a place where the kids can store things out of the way during class (e.g., lockers), you could allow them for recess only, but otherwise it's not worth the hassle, just tell the kids to leave them home. It's not like they don't have several hours of daylight left to play in after school lets out.
(Note that I'm not saying you'd never let the kids play. But something like a Nerf gun, just by being present, actively prevents anyone from paying attention in class, ever. You can make them stop shooting and put it down, but everyone in the room is still going to be looking at and thinking about the stupid thing. This is what I mean by "terrible distraction".)
Of course that reasoning doesn't apply to banning something from an entire college campus.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
The army does. I read several years ago that silly string was being used in Iraq. The lightweight strings, and the propulsion device, are ideal for detecting tripwires.
Clovis
^ Clovis, look! It's that guy you are!
"You can have my Nerf gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands." - Charlton Heston
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
We have our own Human vs. Zombies games here at Rochester Institute of Technology. We had to stop last semester due to (I think) someone falling over while running away in the game, and ending up needing stitches when his head and the pavement met. I guess it's not really the nerf guns that do the damage ... ?
In an entirely unrelated story, Bowling Green State University has canceled their Civics 101 class, as they were unable to find a professor with the requisite knowledge to teach it.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Whatever happened to the days of using paintball guns that looked like real guns?
Can I bum a sig?
called Assassin that some frats and/or dorms play at UIUC. A guy locked himself in his room to avoid an assassin, who then camped right outside his door, ready to strike the instant he opened the door. Supposedly, the guy really had to do #2, but rather than open the door and lose, he crapped out his 2nd floor window.
I'd have just told the guy that I'm crapping on the first thing I see when I come out of the room. This guy failed to realize that he had the better weapon at the time.
zombeeeee favzzz goooood arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Responsibility or something?
Raising a child to be responsible?
You stupid or something...??? Don't you know you're supposed to let your TV raise your child. So you can blame everything bad that your child does on some TV show, video game, or anything else you can think of - enabling you to be sue happy and blame someone else for the fact the failure to teach responsibility to your child.
What you're advocating will make your child safer, smarter, and more responsible. Leaving you with no one to sue but yourself.
Responsibility = bad...puts lawyers out of business!
Good thing he didn't go to Bowling Green U. He'd have been arrested for dropping bombs!
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
This whole thing reminds me of the old Steve Jackson game Killer.
It also reminds me that I lost my copy in a flood 12 years ago and how bitter that made me feel.
And then it motivated me to see if I could find anything related on the net, and I see it's back in print.
http://www.sjgames.com/killer/
Thanks Slashdot! I feel a lot better!
... to see how mindbogglingly stupid this advice is. Both are dangerous for kids after all.
The fact is that children prefer playing with familiar objects, compared to things that are "new and strange". That's why they mostly have a favorite doll or teddy bear. That's why they prefer branded toys from films and TV, compared to no-name toys, though both are produced in the same Chinese factory. That's why they want the same toys as their friends.
The worst thing you could do is make guns familiar. I hope you lock away dangerous things like bleach or medicines. You should take no less care with weapons.
Reduce, reuse, cycle
We had a game of assassin in my dorm. The last two survivors were me and my roommate. The dorm was neutral ground, which made getting in and out interesting. Do you remember that cartoon with Wile E. Coyote and the sheepdog? It was just like that. "Mornin', Sam."
Actually, it does. Only, instead of distracting 10 year old students, they would distract double-digit IQ administrators.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Well, that's what she told the cops, anyway.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Maybe switching from Nerf to Lasertag? A real-life Halo zombie map? Just make sure they're not high-powered...
Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders?
While I understand the compelling reasons a police officer might want to react quickly to a perceived threat (his/her life is in danger), one would expect that they perform at a least a minimum level of target scrutiny before pulling the trigger. For example, enough to review whether that's a big, colorful, toy NERF gun vs. a credible-looking real one.
Yes, that means the bad guys get the first shot. That's un-f'ing-avoidable in some cases. We simply cannot have a society where the 'peacekeepers' are able to reflexively draw & shoot at any potential threat.
It's like hunters that shoot cows (or dogs, or people) by accident when hunting deer. If they can't see the target well enough to identify that it's not a deer, they shouldn't be SHOOTING. If a cop can't be clear enough about their target to know that it's not a toy gun (or a harmless civilian, or a child, or whatever) THEY SHOULDN'T BE PULLING THE TRIGGER. It sometimes sucks to be the good guy, but dammit that's their job.
-Styopa
"Don't nerf me, bro!"
For the record, I agree with you on gun control. But to play devil's advocate, how do you justify owning a gun and having children in a house to, let's say, a 39 year old mother of two from Peoria, Ill? Said woman is from a family that grew up in the suburbs, never owned guns. She's liberal, against the war in Iraq, and is totally focused on her kids. The only time she's ever experienced the gun issue is when someone with an awful lot of anger stands up and shouts about his right to carry fire arms (note, she's focusing on the anger here), and then she reads about some kid from a family pretty similar to hers (she's getting this from the media, so she's not getting the full story) getting hold of gun and accidentally killing himself? Or she hears about troubled kids from another suburban family getting a gun and going out and shooting up a school? Then she looks at Canada and England (which she doesn't know much about) and sees that they never have school shootings there? I'm making this persona up, of course, but I'm doing it to push a point here. The people who do not believe in the second amendment don't want the government to take control of their lives. It's that they literally do not see any reason for people to have guns in this day and age. We live in a largely peaceful society (despite the attempts of the media to convince us otherwise) and so most people have never been put in a position where a gun was needed (I myself have never been in a real fight). Chances are, they will go the rest of their lives without ever encountering a need for a gun. So how do you convince them that guns are necessary, when nothing in their lives or experience leads them to believe so? And when the evidence that they see leads them to conclude otherwise? I'm not trying to disrepect anyone here, I'm trying to promote some understanding of the common gun-ban favoring opponent.
Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
Perhaps all of you LARPers and role players are forgetting the horrific homocides that have happened on several campuses the last few years.
You know the ones, the ones where people show up with guns and shoot everyone? run across the campus quickly going bang bang and people dropping left and right?
Imagine someone doing that while a role playing game with nerf guns is going on? Imagine someone whipping up a bright orange gun near a police officer hunting the bad guy. Question: is it a real gun painted orange? how many seconds to decide? Worse - how long before the bad guys gun IS painted orange?
you know what - imagine for just one second that there might be a history of extreme violence over the last few years, and that college campuses have been and continue to be a prime location for such events, and that maybe a few LARPers, you know, the statistically unlikely to graduate on time, or at all crowd, might be the last group on campus that the administration would want to bow down to.
Imagine for just one minute, that college is a place to get an education first, and have fun second, and that rules to that effect are there for a reason. I played assisins in college too, and we never once needed a gun to have fun. change your rules to respect those around you, or dont be surprised when no one has any respect for you.
Actually, that's not what the text of that amendment says. It says, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
Way I read it, it says that a militia (well regulated, no less!) is necessary for defense. You know, in case the British attacked you from the north again (Canada was still a British colony), or Spain from the South, or God knows what else, they wanted to have a large pool of armed men to defend against those. That's it. Whatever else those founding fathers might have had in mind, they sure didn't write that.
How much that militia is still needed, or even useful at all, in an age of tanks, airplanes, and nuclear missiles... well, I'll leave that for another time. For now, let's just say: learn what that constitutions and those amendments actually say, before waving them around.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Someone show me a real world weapon that looks like those nerf guns? How in the hell are they considered a facsimile?
That's ridiculous. At my college there was an emergency door that had an alarm in the dorm. It had to be their to provide access to the emergency exit, due to coding issues, but is not meant to be used normally as it separates the living area from the administrative. It emits a high pitched alarm for about 2 minutes if you go through it.
So I got a nerf gun and started blasting people who went through the door since my room was a few doors down. It worked wonders. Someone eventually called security, who laughed in their face.
Although I agree with your major point, you are mistaken about the meaning of those regs you quoted.
"i.e" means "For example". It does not mean "these things only". "etcetera" means "and more stuff in this general vein that we aren't going to list". I'm not a lawyer but I've seen this language play out in a court case in Virginia, USA.
The rules you quoted say, in part:
2. Any weapon including, but not limited to guns (i.e., air soft guns, BB/pellet guns, paintball guns, potato guns, pistols, revolvers, firearms, etc.), knives, and any items that are a reasonable facsimile of such weapons are prohibited.
That means, among other things, that ALL guns are prohibited. Squirt-guns, nerf-guns, rubber-band-guns, salad-shooters, anything that can be said to be a "gun" or to "reasonably" resemble a gun of any sort. So, a giant sugar cookie that is visually indistinguishable from a harmless nerf gun is prohibited.
Personally, I think the regulations you've quoted are profoundly stupid and inhuman. People need prior permission to fly paper airplanes in a courtyard? Perhaps the robots have already won.
You have my sympathies. When you are old and empowered, change the rules!
What's next? Banning SCA http://www.sca.org/ Weapons on campus? Those can do Wayyyyyyyy more damage.
Of course, in my day, we played Highlander (There can be only one) Ever have a sword fight in the service corridor of a mall, or in the center of town..nothing was off limits...we were a bit 'nutz' back then; but we were also LARP players.
In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the c
While some people claim the undead just hate the living and need to be nerfed and dismembered, this is not always the case.
Many undead were just done with the rat race we call "life" and them BAM! (Apologies to Emeril) they are the walking dead. Some abuse this status and give the others a bad name. Most are just glad to have this second chance and just want to be left alone.
So enters the arrogant nerf toting lifers (griefers) who won't leave these poor undead alone. They just want to nerf them left and right indiscriminately. This is so wrong. The undead could be reintegrated into society. They could be used in slaughter houses to find cows with Mad Cow Disease, swiss brains are a zombie delicacy after all.
Well enough of a rant, time to go hide from the Evil Day Star.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
My dorm-mates and I played a couple rounds of Assassin at university too. It was a lot of fun, so we were very disappointed when the university banned the rolled up socks we used as weapons because they looked too much like hand grenades.
He knew everything there is to know about guns, arms, riffles and many other artifacts created with the only purpose of killing people.
He would have slapped you for being so stupid.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
In the US the gun lobby has managed to convince a majority that having a gun is a right.
In Switzerland owning a gun is a duty, a duty for which you bear entire responsibility.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
All countries with strict gun controls are safer than the US (at least when it comes to diying of a gun related injury).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Sorry to say but banning guns in a country like Brazil (or Mexico) is futile since many levels of the government and the police are infiltrated with criminals of one kind or another.
The ban is a good thing, the ban is not creating a violent situation, the general state of Latinamerican societies makes impossible to enforce anything effectively.
In places like the UK (or Australia) where the rule of law applies, the ban is effective and the places are immensely safer than either the US, Brazil or parts of Mexico.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Crime is not going up in the UK. Period.
And even if it was, gun violence is minuscule compared to what happens in the US, and constrained mostly to intergang warfare.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
As a LARPer on the campus of SUNY Purchase, I am happy that we have a very tolerant/lax university PD, and as a result had no problems with using boffers and nerf "weapons". They actually are relatively curious, understanding, and as long as we follow campus policies seem to be completely cool with us doing this stuff.
I wish the same could be said for other places though, I mean come on... no nerf guns?
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
He forgot to mention that it's a fairly new law, and it seems to be working, 18% drop and all. Also even in 2004, the U.S. still tops the list, of gun violence deaths.. Both those were from this simple search.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
Yes, they still make silly string. I'm sure just browsing that story will give plenty of google ads for buying cases upon cases of it online.
:P
MassHoles notwithstanding, Silly String is harmless
This strongly suggests to me that you have not read the U.S. Constitution, nor are familiar with any of the (other) writings of the Founding Fathers.
Correcting someone who posted a confused, condescending reply is not trolling.
You can't take the sky from me...
This is just insane. They are arresting people for possessing toys. My dorm played 'nerf wars' in the basement all the time, it was a blast.
I *highly* doubt that any jury in the US would consider a big, brightly-colored, plastic toy gun that almost every member of the jury would've seen or used as a kid to be a reasonable facsimile of a gun.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I'm sorry, but give me a bloody break. Parents should not be calling a University or College with concerns over a Nerf-based silly little game. It's not high school for God's sake -- the students there are adults.
- For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
You're beating a strawman. It should be (and probably is) painfully obvious to even the most irrational among us that an effective ban of guns leads to a gross reduction in gun death rates. Fewer guns means fewer opportunities for shootings, accidental or otherwise.
Any real look at whether the laws are 'working' would take into account the rates of non-violent and violent crime (especially the homocide rate) and break the numbers down in a meaningful way (i.e. self defense/accidental/homocide/self inflicted/military or police/gang related/etc).
Obviously, some students are having fun reporting to the police that they're scared that the obviously harmless nerf guns might actually be real guns. That's their game, and I'm sure they enjoy it.
The retaliation is this: organize a group of students around the premise that the obviously real badges on the local police officers are, in fact, fake. Any time anyone in this group sees a police officer on campus, call the police and report a man with a gun stalking the campus. If necessary, include that he may be wearing a fake uniform. Now that humans vs. zombies is illegal, I'm sure there's a group that would be willing to play this new game.
"Yes officer, I just saw him, he was wearing all black, and had a belt on with a pistol, a flashlight, and some sort of blunt weapon. My god! what is he planning to do to those poor students!"
Pound! Bang! Bin! Bash! is this a shell script or a Batman comic?
Why do they need justification? It's not a public place, is it?
What there is no justification for are people like you with your insane overreactions to a choice the campus has made.
I'm a Brit so please excuse my ignorance on this but these students who have had their nerf guns banned.. Can't they go out a purchase a real firearm legally and keep it in their own room?
This isn't meant as a flame I'm just interested.
Ok, a little off topic, but I feel compelled to say something.
What sort of roleplaying is involved in fighting off zombies? Does the Zombie team try to discover the new limits of their undead natures and overcome them, possible regaining some of their humanity through the struggle? No... they're zombies, they stagger around try to eat everyones brains. Now, there might be a bit of roleplaying possibilities on the Human team, but even then it would be very basic.
I'm a table top RPG guy myself, and quickly developed a distaste for LARP, but this game sounds even further removed from the spirit of true roleplaying. I think that LAFS or LASEU would be more appropriate names.
LAFS or "laughs"; pron. lahfs; Live Action First-Person Shooter
LASEU or "lasso"; pron. la-soo; Live Action Shoot 'Em Up