Does this article seem fake to you? - 'Confessions of a Gun Range Worker'

[Aim1]

He writes it and makes it sound like there are so many suicides at the gun range that it's a common occurrence. Seems unrealistic to me.






http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/confessions-gun-range-worker

Confessions of a Gun Range Worker

I saw suicides mopped up with kitty litter, racist paranoia—and three rampage shooters.

KYLE TAYLOR (AS TOLD TO JOSH HARKINSON)SEP. 9, 2016 6:00 AM

I've worked in the firearms industry for decades, including at a range in Orange County, California. It's inside an industrial park, in your standard warehouse type of building. People come in and say, "Oh, I never knew this place existed." Once you check in, there are two entryways and 16 lanes. The lanes are monitored by video cameras, and there are also large double-paned windows, which, it turns out, are not made of bulletproof glass.

I later worked as a contractor at ranges all over the region. I've seen a lot. I've witnessed multiple suicides. Three rampage shooters practiced at the Orange County range. The general vibe at the ranges has gotten much more extreme and paranoid. I don't think this is unique to where I worked. The gun industry is really changing for the worse.

Gun ranges often have policies that require anyone who rents a gun to be accompanied by a friend. It's supposed to be a way to prevent suicides, but it doesn't always work very well. Eventually the range started paying a service to come pick up the bodies and scrub everything. But before that happened, Christ, what was it? Bleach and kitty litter. I remember one time I had come in for a shift change and there was a pool of blood. We didn't have any bleach but we did have some kitty litter. I remember using that to soak up the blood. And because we didn't have the bleach, some of my members were kind enough to go across the street to the grocery store and buy some. In hindsight, we had no protocols, we had no protective suits. I could have exposed myself to blood-borne pathogens.

 

[Sergei Mosin]

Mother Jones is as radical a left-wing rag as you'll find. I'd sooner read (and trust) Pravda.

 

[longknife12]

Total BS
Dan

 

[jmorris]

I don't know if their information is correct but I found this.

Between 2000 and 2012, authorities in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties logged at least 64 suicides at more than 20 shooting ranges.

....Coroners in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties logged about 17,800 suicides of all types during the 12-year period reviewed by the Register.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/range-598714-suicides-ranges.html

If the information is correct, that amounts to .36% of the suicides were at gun ranges or 99.64% were not.

 

[Coyote3855]

Suicides at gun ranges happen. People who shoot at gun ranges may go on to commit crimes. But for all this to happen at one range? Yeah, BS. Liberal rag.

 

[buck460XVR]

I would think it very easy to verify whether or not he is telling the truth about his own experiences. Does not mean that his experiences mirror the experiences of the rest of us.

As for the Kitty litter and bleach. Wasn't that many years ago no-one even heard of Blood-born pathogens. Kitty litter was and still is a great absorbent. Still is the basis for many Commercially available Blood-Born pathogen kits available on the market today. Bleach is still the number one most widely used disinfectant for blood-born pathogens, if not by it's real name, it is the main disinfecting ingredient used in the chemicals supplied in the same commercial Blood-born pathogen kits. The walking across the street and buying readily available bleach and mixing it directly before use is still one of the best methods to use. That part is true.

 

[jmorris]

Looks like a total of 6 at one range in Orange County over a 12 year period.

 

[jmorris]

Also interesting that they take aim at an industry where less than one half a percent occurs. Surely more deaths were caused by prescription and/or over counter drugs. Tall buildings and bridges, etc.

They also haven't started a campaign to round up everyone with mental illnesses either, to protect them from themselves and that would be the best place to start.

Over 90 percent of people who die by suicide have a mental illness at the time of their death.

http://www.suicide.org/suicide-causes.html

A fairly classic case of can't see the forest for the trees.

 

[RX-79G]

Read the actual article. None of it sounds particularly surprising or unusual.

It isn't like the author actually names a number of suicides. 3 would be an alarming number if you witnessed them in a few years.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

According to that Orange County Register review of coroner reports, 2000-2012, there were at least 64 suicides at 20 shooting ranges out of a total of about 17,800 suicides in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. That would average 3 suicides per range over 12 years, or an average of one per range every four years.

I am 68 in Tennessee and I don't recall any reports of suicides at local shooting ranges that rent guns. Perhaps in California a few suicidal people may decide to go to a range, rent a gun and shoot themselves, but to the extent portrayed in that story plus blaming it on changes in the gun industry using code words like "racist paranoia"? Considering the source, I think the story is being spun.

 

[RX-79G]

I did not get from the article that the author is blaming gun manufacturers. I think he is speaking as someone in the gun industry (range employee), that the industry has changed for the worse - mainly because of the patrons, not the businesses.

 

[Ryanxia]

I remember some goofball "kid" in his twenties who worked for mother jones ordered a parts kit online, made his own AK receiver and put together an AK (in an illegal configuration actually, he was in CA). He said 'its this easy'. Well yes but its not legal the way he did it, so if he was trying to say it's this easy for criminals to get guns he was right on lol.

That organization is quite biased though.

 

[GAF]

Badger One had two in a week. It may happen more often that we think.

http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/92599124.html

 

[buck460XVR]

I did not get from the article that the author is blaming gun manufacturers. I think he is speaking as someone in the gun industry (range employee), that the industry has changed for the worse - mainly because of the patrons, not the businesses.

Kinda how I see it. He said he was leaving the industry because "I don't want to have to be around a bunch of crazy people."

I might feel the same if I had 3 people blow their brains out next to me. That said I see nuttin' paranoid with having 6 months worth of food, 30+ guns or the reasonable stockpiling of ammo. I do agree that the industry is fanning the flames for profit by playing into people's paranoid fantasies...kinda what capitalism is all about. Gun forums like this have BTDT also.

One guys perspective of the industry from an inside view. Again, it may or may not mirror the experiences of the rest of us, but it is easy to very his facts.

 

[jmr40]

This is why many ranges don't let people come alone, rent a gun and shoot. Suicide is a LOT more common than most of us realize and renting a gun at a firing range is a popular way for folks to do it that don't own guns.

The article seems legit to me and I don't see it as taking a cheap shot at gun owners. It is just stating facts.

 

[jmace57]

Read the actual article. None of it sounds particularly surprising or unusual.

It isn't like the author actually names a number of suicides. 3 would be an alarming number if you witnessed them in a few years.

I have witnessed 3 suicides looking out my office window in the past 11 years. Two threw themselves off the building across the street and another (believe it or not) DROVE his car off the top floor of the parking garage (he banged into the wall 3 or 4 times til the wall broke down).

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Unless there is an interaction with state law I don't know about there is no reason that that C&R status should impact an 18 year-old's ability to buy a long
arm from a dealer. That part makes no sense.

Mike

 

[RX-79G]

I wondered about that, too. But maybe CA law puts restrictions on those under 21, or he just meant that he couldn't buy a pistol and only afford a surplus rifle.

Maybe a CA member could clarify.

 

[chicharrones]

He writes it and makes it sound like there are so many suicides at the gun range that it's a common occurrence. Seems unrealistic to me.






http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/confessions-gun-range-worker

The line you have in bold from the article is interesting - "Eventually the range started paying a service to come pick up the bodies and scrub everything."

They imply the range "picked up the bodies"? Pretty unbelievable to me. Around here, the county medical examiner "picks up the bodies".

The clean up? I can see the range being stuck with that, but moving or picking up a body in a potential crime scene? No way.

 

[Old Dog]

Mother Jones is actually a quite credible media source. Only "liberal" because that's who constitutes most of its readership.

This magazine has done some excellent undercover reporting, so I'm taking the article seriously. And yeah, kitty-litter is quite useful in absorbing any kind of biological fluids/waste, particularly on cement floors.

Commercial indoor ranges have had almost zero regulation for a long time. We've seen one local range sued by former employees -- rightfully so -- for being seriously exposed on a long-term basis to lead hazards.

The OP said

He writes it and makes it sound like there are so many suicides at the gun range that it's a common occurrence. Seems unrealistic to me.

Nope, the article's author is right on. This IS a regular occurrence at commercial indoor ranges.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I know it's happened around here before. Every so often, an Army soldier will kill himself at one of the local shooting ranges.

Sad but it's reality.

 

[vaupet]

a coupe a months ago, a police officer in Brussels, who had suffered from depression, was deemed ok and fit for duty again.
So he went to the gun room in the police station, took hold of his duty gun and shot himself to pieces, right there;
(police in belgium weren't allowed to take their duty guns home because of the high rate of suicides. That measure is now overruled because of terrorist treaths.

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnen...ssaris-pleegt-zelfmoord-met-dienstwapen.dhtml

Some people will commit suicide were they can get hold of firearms. **** happens.

 

[old lady new shooter]

There are two indoor ranges reasonably close to my house. Both will only rent a gun to a person who comes in alone if the person brings their own gun with them.

There are two outdoor ranges sort of close to my house. One doesn't rent guns at all. The other (further away and with a more "upscale" vibe) doesn't seem to have any restrictions. I went there once (to try my SD ammo because my indoor range wouldn't let me shoot it there), and while I was dumping out the empty cases from my 686 WITH THE CYLINDER OPEN the range officer scolded me because the muzzle was not pointing downrange.

The indoor range where I am a member has mostly Hispanic guys behind the counter and the senior (in "rank", not age, I'd guess none are over 35) ones are very sharp, they actually "interview" people who come in to rent guns, I've watched them and marveled at how they manage to be very nice while nevertheless very prepared at all times. All of them are armed and certified as security guards. One time I was in there and I guess someone on the line did something I didn't even notice, without missing a beat or seeming the least bit nervous all the counter guys had their hands on their weapons (but did not draw them) before I could even blink. I feel very comfortable there. I know the other indoor one has experienced some suicides over the years but I don't think this one has.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Somebody who really wants to commit suicide doesn't need a gun to do so.

 

[Crawdad1]

Their argument is a gun is irreversible and no chance is given for the person to reconsider and call to seek help and save their lives. I say, yea, you're right, but jumping off a bridge or building is pretty irreversible also. So how do we restrict them?