TUCSON, Ariz. – Some U.S. Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border are packing paintball rifles, but they're not being used for games. Agents in the patrol's Tucson, San Diego and Yuma sectors have been armed with guns that launch pepper spray and paintball projectiles and are trained to fire paintballs when they come under attack along border fences.
Splattering paint on rock throwers at high velocities is intended to dissuade them and to combat what has become a sharp increase in the number of rockings and other assaults on agents along the Mexican border.
"It has become a very effective tool," said Border Patrol spokesman Ramon Rivera. "It has helped agents dramatically."
The Border Patrol has about 1,000 of the paintball guns, which have been in the hands of agents since October. The gun, known as the FN303, is produced by a Belgian company and it replaced a less effective paintball gun that was used for three or four years in Nogales, Ariz., Rivera said.
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