WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government issued sharp warnings on Wednesday to paintball gun users, announcing new safety measures while investigations continue into two deaths caused by canisters flying off the guns.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said both deaths occurred after brass valves unscrewed from the pressurized carbon dioxide canisters on the guns, which turned the canisters into projectiles.

In June 2003, a 15-year-old boy from Washington state died after the canister he was removing struck him in the head, the commission said. In February, a California mother of two was instantly killed by a canister that propelled off a gun someone was disassembling nearby.

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