Gel blasters are incredibly fun, and it’s easy to get carried away while enjoying a thrilling game with your friends. However, safety should always be of paramount importance for children and grownups alike. Gel blasters are completely safe to play with, but only if you follow the safety guidelines and play responsibly. If you’re planning to give gel blasting a try, stick around and go through this article for tips that will help you enjoy a safe and fun experience.
1. Wear protective eyewear
Eye protection is absolutely mandatory for gel blaster players. In fact, you won’t be allowed to play in a gel blaster arena unless you wear protective eyewear. While gel beads are soft, they’re shot out at speeds of up to 200 FPS or more and can result in severe eye injury. Goggles should suffice for the purpose, but wraparound eye protection is the best choice.
“I strongly recommend wearing glasses when playing with gel blasters. Gel balls are soft but they can cause injury if hit in the eyes”- said professional gel blaster player Tavish Archer from ThrilloGaming.com in an interview. So, it’s very important to wear protective eyewear.
2. Keep your skin covered
While this isn’t mandatory, it’s a good idea to wear long-sleeved clothes to a gel blaster game. While gel blasters aren’t as painful as Airsoft or paintball guns, the water beads can still sting a bit against bare skin. Long clothes will also protect your skin from scraping against obstacles while you run around during the game. Accessories like earmuffs and hats or helmets can be useful too.
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3. Wear some padding
When preparing for a gel blaster game, consider padding your elbows and knees to protect them from impact and prevent stinging sports. You don’t need to buy any special padding – an old pair of socks with the toes cut off should work just fine once wrapped around your knees or elbows. If the gel beads sting too much even over your clothes, you can always put on an extra layer.
4. Carry the blaster properly
You must be aware that guns are always to be carried with the barrel pointed straight up in the air. A gel blaster may not be a real weapon, but the rule still applies. An accidental discharge might otherwise injure a bystander. You may also carry the gel blaster with the barrel pointed towards the ground, which is especially convenient for pistols.
5. Barrel wrap
In addition to carrying the gel blaster properly, it’s also recommended to cover the barrel with a barrel wrap to prevent accidental discharge. Making a barrel wrap is easy – just put a piece of cloth or a sock over the barrel and secure it with a rubber band.
6. Avoid running and climbing
While you might need to move fast at times, avoid running around. It’s easy to crash into obstacles, cover structures, or other players if you don’t watch your step, which is hard while running. In this regard, you should also refrain from climbing over obstacles. Besides potentially injuring yourself, you might also damage them. Arenas often have specific rules against running and climbing for these very reasons.
7. Never freeze the gel beads
Curious gel blaster players often freeze the gel beads to harden them. Frozen gel balls not only damage the blaster’s internal components, but can seriously injure anyone you shoot. The whole point of using soft gel balls is to have fun without hurting anybody. Apart from potential eye injuries, hard frozen beads can also cause severe bruising.
8. Keep out of reach of young children
Gel blasters make great toys for children, but they should be old enough to play safely and responsibly. Kids younger than 9 years shouldn’t be allowed to play with these toy guns unsupervised in the first place. If you do have such young children at home, you might want to lock away the gel blaster somewhere safe.
9. Don’t take it too seriously
The last thing you want to do while taking a cpr and first aid training is to get into a fight with other players. Remember – it’s just a game, and that’s the way you should see it. Don’t take it too seriously and end up fighting over trivial disagreements. Most importantly, play fairly and uphold a spirit of sportsmanship. Shoving or hitting other players to put them at a disadvantage is not only cheating but also puts them at risk of injuries.
10. Don’t shoot at random strangers
Shooting unsuspecting strangers with a gel blaster might sound like a harmless prank, but it’s actually quite dangerous. There have been several reports of people getting suffering eye injuries this way. Kids might also end up with bruises on facial bruises. Besides, someone assuming your gel blaster to be a real firearm might even panic and meet with an accident, especially on the road. Any person you attack with a gel blaster may also retaliate or sue you for assault.
11. Keep realistic toy guns concealed
Some gel guns are extremely realistic, with designs based on popular guns like the M4 series, AK-47, MP5, etc. Apart from the orange tips attached to mark them as toys, they are quite difficult to distinguish from real weapons. Now, walking around with such realistic toy guns might feel cool, but it can seriously endanger your life.
In several unfortunate incidents, law enforcement officers have shot individuals because they mistook a toy gun for a real one or the person pretended to brandish a real weapon. This is why several states have laws prohibiting the display of such toys in public places. Just pack your gel blaster in a bag when carrying it – this is also convenient and will keep the gun protected from damage.
Wrapping up
Don’t let all these guidelines overwhelm you – they are all easy to follow and several of them should be common knowledge anyway. Just make sure to gear up properly and be a responsible player. If you’re buying gel blasters for children, make sure they understand the safety guidelines and why they’re in place.
