German Politicians are Cowards

Earlier this year a 17-year old in Germany went on a rampage and killed 15 people at his former school. Just like Columbine in the United States, the politicians feel the need to respond to the uproar and show that they are doing what's necessary to keep another such attack from happening. Rather than discuss assault weapons, parental responsibility or even violent movies, they decided to place the blame on an interest group that wouldn't fight back - paintball.

Apparently the teenager who went on the killing spree also liked paintball. (UPDATE: apparently the teenager had no known connection to paintball.) The German politicians have decided that the way to combat teenage terrorists is to claim paintball is responsible for this year's rampage and ban it. The fact that millions of people play paintball and don't go on rampages apparently passed them by. (Update: The fact that the teenager didn't play the sport must really have passed them by).

The German politicians reacting against paintball are simply political cowards. They want to be viewed as acting but they don't want to actually do anything that requires effort, money or will disenfranchise voters. Since paintball isn't widely known or played in Germany, it's a sitting duck.