Paintball

[usagi_tetsu]

If you haven't figured it out yet, people are greedy, selfish, and lazy. Knowing these 3 things about humanity, realize that people envy your gear and want it for themselves, and are generally too lazy to do the hard work to purchase your gear for themselves. As such, you will get robbed, burglarized, and have your stuff stolen. Don't believe me? As many of you know, I participate in medieval armoured combat in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Yep, I'm the guy in blue in that first video, and now you know why my nickname translates from Japanese into "Iron Rabbit".

Why did I tell you that? Take a good look at the armour I'm wearing in that video, as it got stolen about a year after that video was shot, and I've never recovered it and probably never will. Why would anyone want to steal my fighting armour? It's not period made, no pawn shop in the world would touch it (it's not collectible or worth much outside of the SCA), it's only good for someone my size, and it's only good for someone who fights in the SCA... which no one would knowingly wear (or buy) stolen armour in the SCA, as we'd recognize it pretty quickly and beat the loving... well, stuffing out of that individual. But steal my armour someone did, probably for no other reason than they could.

So realize that the odds are better than 1 in 10 that your paintball gear will be stolen, either off the table at the field/tourney while you're not watching it directly, or out of your car (back seat or trunk), or even from around your residence, especially if it's in the open. And I'm not the only one telling you this. I invite you at this point to watch this video from Mike of TechPB.com as he explains, in no uncertain terms (and crude language - you have been warned), that your stuff is likely to get stolen.


So what can you do about it? Well, your best bet is taking preventative measures. Take pictures of all of your gear, write down serial numbers for everything when possible, scribe your name into your gear, and generally gather irrefutable evidence about what gear you own. If it is stolen, than you will have evidence to give to the police and others to prove your ownership of that gear. Furthermore, get your gear on your home owner's/car insurance policy (or get them their own policy if you have enough gear to warrant it - ask your insurance agent, you never know what options are out there 'til you ask) as it's more than an even bet that you will never see that gear again once it is stolen, and you might as well get some money back.

So your gear has been stolen, what now? Before everything else, get all thoughts of revenge out of your head. You will more than likely never see, meet, or find the person who stole your stuff, and even if you do, you beating them up is a worse crime (Assault and Battery) than their felony theft of your property. Two wrongs don't make a right, and you will go to jail for longer than the guy who stole from you. The police may high-five you on the way to the squad car, but you will serve time for your actions. The best you can do is drive them away from the paintballing establishments in the area and putting a felony arrest on their record.

As you saw in the TechPB video above, only the thief and the Powers Above know when your gear will resurface and where it will show up. First thing's first - if the gear is worth over $500 (and that's what the gear is worth today... ain't no one paying full price for a used Tippmann Model 98 from 2000, so don't quote full price on it) make a police report. Any theft or damaged property over $500 in value automatically makes that crime a felony. Let the police know everything about that theft - if someone broke into your house or vehicle to steal your stuff, that's also Breaking and Entering and more likely to be investigated. Here's where your preventative measures come into play - take the pictures of your gear, serial numbers, and pictures of your indelible marks on said gear, all of which makes it easier for them to identify the owner if they ever do recover it. It's far more likely the police will recover your gear busting people for other crimes (drugs, grand theft auto, B&E crime spree, or murder) than they will for the single crime of stealing your property.

Don't stop with the police, though - tell your friends (on the boards and in person at the field), pass out flyers with pics and a modest reward ($1000 worth of gear returned for a $50 reward is a net gain for you AND the thief - remember, thieves are lazy, make it easy for them to earn some money, just don't tell them until later that they'll be watched at any field for a good, long while - DO NOT accost the person who brings your gear back) at your local fields and paintball stores, and especially take pictures and a copy of the police report to all of your local pawn shops. If they've already got your stuff, you'll be lucky to buy it back at the exact price they paid to the thief. If the thief comes in with it at some point in the future, you'll be lucky if the pawn broker calls the cops and they show up to arrest the perpetrator. Do not, DO NOT, expect the pawn broker to divulge the address and phone number of the person who ganked your stuff, or even give you your stuff back, gratis, just because it was stolen. It's more than likely not going to happen. If it does, kudos to your local pawn store, but it is not their job to recover your equipment or catch criminals; it is their job to make money, so expect to pay and walk out of the store without the thief's info.

In this day and age of the internet, there are other ways to fence stolen property, namely Craig's List and eBay. If you're not familiar with how to do a "saved search" on eBay, crawl out from underneath your rock and go take a look at this page. Sorry about the harshness there, but eBay has been around for a long time and should already be in your arsenal to get what paintball gear you need for cheaper than retail. Anyway, a "saved search" will help you by sending you email updates whenever something that matches your search terms shows up, so you don't have to search eBay every day.

You can do something similar by setting up an RSS feed off of a Craig's List search - instructions here. These are nice because they will send you an email whenever the search updates, saving you the time and effort of searching each and every day. You can even search multiple Craig's Lists at once! I don't know how to save that search or make it ping you with an RSS feed, but at least the option exists if you live close enough to large metropolitan areas and want to search in your area.



I hate to dash your hopes, but if your gear is stolen, it's unlikely you'll ever see it again. Preventative measures (especially watching your gear or having a trusted friend watch your gear at a field or tournament, and keeping it out of sight and out of your vehicles or garage for extended periods of time) will do more as it's far better to not have your gear stolen than to hope for its recovery. Remember - DO NOT assault someone because you suspect (or even know and have proof) they stole your gear. You have no idea how badly I want to beat the geniuses that stole my armour (and the skills and tools I have to make that happen you can imagine from my other weekend pastime), but I'd have to restrain myself, get as much info about them as possible, and pass it along to the police. You are not, ARE NOT, legally allowed to search another person's property or self, or hold them until the police arrive. Get as much info as possible on the suspect (America is a country of innocent until proven guilty) and pass it along to the authorities. The field your gear is stolen at is not financially responsible to you, and can't do much except help keep an eye out for your gear.

If anyone else has any suggestions for what to do to prevent theft and following a theft, please post them here. We all know what we'd like to do to scum-sucking lowlifes who steal paintball equipment, if the laws would allow us and we could just know by psychic means, so please refrain from those kinds of rants.

[usagi_tetsu]

As an update, someone pointed out this website, the Team Lockdown Theft Guide. Lots of good information in here, some very similar to what I've said above, but also has some new stuff that I didn't get the first time.

[capitalpaintball]

I always say one way to reduce the possibility of theft is to make it non-profitable to the thief.
To many people are only too willing to buy gear that they know is stolen.
If the thieves can't unload it maybe they wont steal it. As a store we ask for ID from anyone selling us used gear, I tell them its for the police, just in case someone claims its stolen.
We have caught quite a few people trying to sell hot gear.

here's a hint, if its too good a deal or the seller has no idea what he has, its probably not his.

problem is most average people dont care. they say "yea i'd buy stolen gear, as long as its cheap enough" then they get pissed when someone steals theirs.

[souz4402]

Great guide...

I once had my original autococker ('94 model) stolen from my house while no one was home (among other things). I was able to recover the marker because of three things:
1. I had the serial number.
2. I had pictures of said marker.
3. I was lucky and someone who purchased the stolen marker took it into a local paintball shop, and I had already informed all the local shops about the theft and the serial numbers. (This was when most paintball stores knew how to work on cockers)

After speaking with the police they told me that if I had not had the serial numbers and pictures it would have been difficult to recover the marker.