Handling Rank Incompetence At Handgun Ranges

[sota]

ours currently (still!) has closed membership. Sometimes I wish they'd open it up again (since there's some massive rennovations going on that are going to cost large $$$ for such a small club) but then I read these stories.

 

[fastbolt]

Handling Rank Incompetence At Handgun Ranges

Good luck. I feel it's the job of the RSO's to be alert and willing to impart advice or cautionary warnings.

I stopped using public ranges many years ago for this exact reason. The last time I was using a well known and reputable indoor range, I packed up my gear and left upon being swept multiple times with loaded weapons by a party of guys to me immediate left, and that was after less than 5 minutes. I informed the range staff at the front desk about what was happening, and why I was leaving after having just arrived and paid (non-refundable). He looked toward the window of that shooting bay, shrugged and went about his business.

I'd like to say that was an unusual occurrence among some indoor & outdoor public ranges I used to attend, but it wasn't. Maybe it's different nowadays, and maybe it's not. Dunno.

One of the main reasons I kept my hand in things working as a firearms instructor and armorer upon retirement was so I could still have access to a closed agency range (and their ammo ), as well as keep up my own training, armorer certs, etc.

I've recently discovered I can join another agency's association closer to my home and pay for private member access to the closed LE-Only range they maintain (active & retired from any agencies are apparently welcome to join and get range access). No facilities outside of it being a private, rural range where you bring your own targets & supplies and police everything yourself when you're done.

I have complete empathy for how safety issues may exist at public ranges ... but on the other hand, I can't begin to count the number of times I've been swept by LE while running LE ranges as an instructor.

Slow days & nights are best, giving me time alone out on the ranges, and I can always go find some weapon that requires maintenance or repair (and sometimes they have them waiting for me) while the active instructors are handling the guys & gals arrving to qual, but that private POA-maintained range seems like a great option. I spoke to a friend who joined and has been using it, and he said he's yet to see anyone else there at the same time.

Now all that surprising, I suppose, though.

Face it. How many active (or retired) guys & gals do we know who are going to go out of their way to practice shooting without being paid and required to do so under penalty of disciplinary action?