David Hoback
member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2019
- Messages
- 870
What’s the craziest thing you’ve witnessed in a shooting range?
Years ago I was the Range Manager/Instructor of a large & busy indoor range. I ran into quite a few crazy things, but two stick out and bare repeating.
First even, I was taking a brake from the range, and just checking people in. Probably a line of 30 or more people with targets, their personal bags, weapons, etc. I notice two young men, 20-somethings, next in line. The one just starts convulsing and falls straight backwards....straight into the corner of one of the shelving units in the store’s showroom. His head became halfway lodged under the shelf & he had fallen back with his leg turned inward. He was having a very intense seizure. The friend kinda just stands there as I immediately go the aid. I pull the man away from the shelving unit he had fallen back on, checked his head for bleeding and yelled to my co-workers to call 911. He came around before paramedics got there and they continued aid. He was ok, and didn’t suffer any injuries. Of course he was not allowed on the range after. I continue today with thoughts....what if that had happened on the range with a loaded firearm? Pretty scary.
The worst instance for me involved a shooter on the range. Another young man came in with a friend and rented our Beretta 92 9mm. He had a few problems with stove piping and needed my assistance several times. At point he asked me a question, to which I stepped close and turned my ear to him to better hear his question...as I turn my head back to answer, I notice his shoulders squared up to me.... I was standing to his Left. I then look down to see him holding the Beretta at gut level, pointed right at me with the safety off & his finger on the trigger. Without a word, I brace his arm with my mine, back towards the range. To which he blurts out, “Oh my God! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I did that!” My blood was cold for about half an hour. By this point I had already had many guns negligently pointed at me. But I would always see it coming. This one caught me off guard. Was completely unsuspected. And a shot like that, at point blank would have been imo, unsurvivable.
Crazy thing...months before I started working at the range, a man had committed suicide, and maybe a year after I left, a patron accidentally shot another with a rented gun. Never was an accident on my watch. So what Crazy things have you seen on a range? Indoor, outdoor, back yard... whatever.
Years ago I was the Range Manager/Instructor of a large & busy indoor range. I ran into quite a few crazy things, but two stick out and bare repeating.
First even, I was taking a brake from the range, and just checking people in. Probably a line of 30 or more people with targets, their personal bags, weapons, etc. I notice two young men, 20-somethings, next in line. The one just starts convulsing and falls straight backwards....straight into the corner of one of the shelving units in the store’s showroom. His head became halfway lodged under the shelf & he had fallen back with his leg turned inward. He was having a very intense seizure. The friend kinda just stands there as I immediately go the aid. I pull the man away from the shelving unit he had fallen back on, checked his head for bleeding and yelled to my co-workers to call 911. He came around before paramedics got there and they continued aid. He was ok, and didn’t suffer any injuries. Of course he was not allowed on the range after. I continue today with thoughts....what if that had happened on the range with a loaded firearm? Pretty scary.
The worst instance for me involved a shooter on the range. Another young man came in with a friend and rented our Beretta 92 9mm. He had a few problems with stove piping and needed my assistance several times. At point he asked me a question, to which I stepped close and turned my ear to him to better hear his question...as I turn my head back to answer, I notice his shoulders squared up to me.... I was standing to his Left. I then look down to see him holding the Beretta at gut level, pointed right at me with the safety off & his finger on the trigger. Without a word, I brace his arm with my mine, back towards the range. To which he blurts out, “Oh my God! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I did that!” My blood was cold for about half an hour. By this point I had already had many guns negligently pointed at me. But I would always see it coming. This one caught me off guard. Was completely unsuspected. And a shot like that, at point blank would have been imo, unsurvivable.
Crazy thing...months before I started working at the range, a man had committed suicide, and maybe a year after I left, a patron accidentally shot another with a rented gun. Never was an accident on my watch. So what Crazy things have you seen on a range? Indoor, outdoor, back yard... whatever.