A little freaked out at the range today.

Status
Not open for further replies.
I would have left, and have left, the range when I saw something that unsafe.

One time a guy with a Kentucky Waterfall mullet and his 250 lb girlfriend were two lanes down from me at the local public outdoor range. The woman was shooting a derringer and it misfired. She immediately took the gun and HELD THE BARREL TO HER EYEBALL WITH HER FINGER ON THE TRIGGER and looked down the barrel. I had my gear packed so quickly and was on my way to the truck so fast I must have been a blur.
 
Yup. Nonsense like that is the very reason I join private clubs. If I see something going on there that shouldn't be happening, I will step in and stop it immediately and call someone on the Board of Directors right away if I have to.


But on a public range on public land . . . the response you'd be likely to get is "who the hell are you to tell us what we can and can't do!"


The fact that it's just a plainly obvious stupid, unsafe and highly dangerous act doesn't matter to some kids. It just matters that you can't tell them what they can and can't do.


The evil side of me would ask if this guy wouldn't mind also spotting and marking my rounds for me, since he was already down there . . . as I fumbled my way around loading mags and exaggerated "not really knowing quite how my new gun works".

:evil:
 
WOW......just wow.

I'm just curious how that conversation went between the two. I mean one idiot, at some point, had to convince the other idiot to sit down range and spot....two idiots in one location is scary.
 
Folks with that kinda mentality would have argued with you that what they were doing was actually safe and made you out to be the azz. If they were adults and not a risk to anyone else, you did the right thing by leaving.
 
I think I probably would have done the same thing, who knows how it would have turned out had you stuck around and tried to intervene.

We always joke at work that if overpopulation becomes an issue we could take down all the warning signs and probably see a 10% reduction in no time at all.... your earlier situation would make a great example.

Always remember, you cant fix stupid
 
Maybe he was related to that high-speed-low-drag South American instructor on utube that'd save money on no-shoot targets by using his students/other instructors.. with machine-pistols, pistols and shotguns.
 
They where shooting at the 100 yard range.
Man, now it goes from BAD TO WORST!
I envisioned they were at, perhaps a 25 yard range, at most!

Not that any distance matters as to what they were doing, Carelessness and Danger go hand-in-hand at any distance when two people are playing with their lives in such a manner!

UNBELIEVABLE!
 
I think I would have left as you did but I would have called the local police and reported it on my way out!
 
While I'd like to think I would have mentioned something about safety to these guys, I probably just would have left as you did. I wonder if in these situations it might be worthwhile to hand out an NRA Rules of Gun Safety pamphlet? I think doing so would make me feel like I've done the responsible thing but not have to engage someone clearly shooting unsafely in a conversation. I dunno.

Are all public ranges in the US open to all and never supervised or was this a unique occurrence?
The ranges here run the gamut. On one end there are informal ranges located on private paper company land, forest service land, and state owned land which are either tolerated or have a bare minimum of recognition and zero official funding. On the other end, clubs and commercial ranges have ranges which are public in the sense that if you pay or are an invited guest, anyone can shoot there. They'll have official rules, sometimes paperwork to sign, and someone to run range flags when there are more than a few shooters. Then, there are lots of ranges in the middle -- ranges owned by some level of government or a sporting club which receive a small bit of funding to make sure the range itself is reasonable safe, but have no formal supervision. There might be a few rules posted but no means of enforcement. Then again, there might not be any posted rules or simply a sign which says "police your brass". I get the sense it's in this group that the range in question falls.
 
I got shot "at" once, at the range, by a guy who pulled up during a cease fire and just started plinking at a target downrange while I was still out CHANGING my targets.

I had my (then) 4 year old son with me and rounds were impacting two stands down from me.

I waved my arms and screamed to stop, shoving my boy behind me - he did, but only after someone on the firing line grabbed his rifle away from him.

I was on autopilot after that - went back to the firing line, hell bent on beating the snot out of the guy, and was intercepted by three of my friends who had to restrain me while other people at the range booted the dude.

The RO suggested, after the guy was evicted, that me and my friends have a "mad minute", which helped. Some. That guy's plates were marked and he was banned, permanently, from range membership.
 
I grabbed my new Glock 19 and headed to my local range (County owned and unsupervised) to practice up with a white box of Winchesters.
-Chuck

Hi Chuck,

I have not read the other responses, but I have a question and several thoughts.
First, I find it hard to believe a county owned range would be unsupervised. I mean that is just a recipe for disaster(more on that in a moment). So are you sure it is routinely unsupervised?

Now as to what you should have done, it depends on the situation. If the guys seemed stable (i.e. not falling down drunk or shooting wildly like yahoos), then yes, you probably should have politely explained the dangers to both of them. As responsible gun owners we should try and help prevent accidental shootings whenever possible. Lets face it, everyone who is accidentally killed/injured by firearms gives fuel to the fire of the anti-gun crowd/media.
Additionally, if someone is shot/injured on a county owned range, you can bet your last dollar some personal injury attorney is bound to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the owner if the place is unsupervised. That of course is what led to my question, because I find it hard to believe the county would have such a liability. If the lawsuit is successful, not only will everyone pay for it(just defending it will raise taxes), but they might decide to shut it down.

Where I live, there is one county owned range, but it is staffed with several employees, including a constant range master. Furthermore, to shoot there, you must take a mandated range safety course explaining the rules and safety procedures to get a card you present to be issued a stall. Needless to say, they would not tolerate someone walking past the firing line while it was hot.

So yes, if it were me, I'd have said something to them, with the aforementioned caveat as a potential factor.
 
I have to agree with Vector...

I would have a harder time living with myself if I did not say something, and found out that later they had 'missed'; or worse, taken someone else with them...

Once I had my say, and they continue their idiocy, I would have left and not felt guilty...
 
I shoot at an unsupervised range and a bozo in full camo gear walked downrange when I was shooting. The sun was in a position that it cast a heavy shadow and he was just about invisible in his ninja suit.

When he came back I suggested that he let any and every shooter know when he decided to take a walk. He said, "I thought you saw me" and I replied with,"Isn't that a lot like I thought it was unloaded?"

He started in again and I verbally came up on one side of him, across the top and down the other side. He then left the range and all was safe.
 
Hi Chuck,
I find it hard to believe a county owned range would be unsupervised. I mean that is just a recipe for disaster(more on that in a moment). So are you sure it is routinely unsupervised?


Most of the outdoor ranges around here are routinely unsupervised. No recipe for disaster if everyone follows basic gun safety. If someone there is doing something unsafe, you either say something or leave. As I said before, the OP could have said something, but from my experience, people like he described generally don't listen, nor do they want advice. Kinda the "here Bubba, hold my beer while I........" type of folk. If they would have been endangering someone else, that's another story.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top