Believe me, I know from experience. Paintball guns will not deter a raccoon from visiting in the future. I saw havahart traps at Lowes this past weekend for like $50 or so. If you are unable to discharge firearms, trapping the critters is really the only other way.
Once they've gotten a...
It's not necessarily the size of the cloth that's important, since most have a pretty tight mesh. It's mainly the gage (thickness) of the wire. I just picked some up at the Home Depot in my area.