A group of blind men are suing a White Marsh paintball park, claiming their state and federal civil rights were violated after they were denied access to the facility based on their disability, according to a Baltimore law firm.

The Baltimore-based firm of Brown, Goldstein & Levy filed a federal lawsuit against Route 40 Paintball Park last week on behalf of the Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) and three blind men who allege the facility violated the Maryland White Cane Law. The law requires free and equal access to facilities regardless of blindness.

Reaction to this lawsuit has been mixed with many people offering their views through comments on Essex-Middle River Patch and on Facebook.

"They've done paintball at other places with no problems," wrote Trixie Trish on Facebook. "They should be allowed to play. I can understand if the park is worried about them getting hurt - so just have them sign a waiver of liability. What's the problem?"

Linda Stine Flint had another opinion on the issue.

"[Route] 40 Paintball has to look out and be sure that the users aren't endangered so that they don't contribute to injury," Flint commented to Patch.

"[T]hey were doing what is best. If the blind people got hurt or hurt someone else, then [Route] 40 Paintball would be the bad guy. Damned if you do and damned if you don't."

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