in all seriousness, its rather a counter response to to the counter response.
you know, at LL1, when sal got up on stage and said he was a pump gun player, and for all the pump gun players to raise there hands, there was probably only about 25 folks besides me and bryce who raised our hand. might have even been less. i remember going to fields and having to explain using a pump, or what they even were.
and im happy to see that change. now, its common to go to an event like that, and 2 out of 10 are rocking pumps. and probably 5 in 10 have a pump back in the staging area. and likewise, im very happy to see mechanical and old school guns take off again. cockers are back, mags arnt weird anymore. people shoot them on a regular basis, and im very happy to see that.
but there is something slightly hollow, about that victory. we switched people from $1200 electronic guns, to 600 dollar CCM pumps and 500 dollar automags. a victory? yes, clearly. but the point of switching to mechs and pumps was to show that guns didn't matter. we created a counter culture to the firepower and gadget craze, and in doing so, created something almost as bad. old school elitism. we destroyed the old gun/gadget hierarchy, only to create a new one, when the point all along was that it didn't matter. when the real point all along as been this one:
The ultimate truth in paintball is that the interaction between the gun and the player is far and away the largest factor in accuracy, consistency, and reliability.
and as my position as tech-guru has come and gone, i have always tried to impart that lesson on folks. that while im happy to argue the fine details of anything technically related to paintball ... the ultimate truth is that simply doesn't matter. it never did.
and
i just love the way that little guy points ...![]()