Out Of Control Range Officers

[HOWARD J]

That case deal really did not bother me.
What bothered me was when a guy next to me was shooting a winchester mag 22 cal rifle & the brass was coming under my feet. The RO told me to stop kicking the brass under my feet into the grass as someone has to pick that up & the guy next to me said the same thing.
The guy with the 22 gets up & beats it out of there.
The RO tells me " you got a lot of brass to pick up""
When I see that type of person I make sure I sit far away.

 

[ilbob]

I don't shoot at commercial ranges these days. In the past I have and every once in a while you run into a range officer on a power trip. Some people are just that way. If you want to shoot there you have to tolerate their idiocy.

 

[Ryanxia]

An overzealous RSO? The hell you say.

Almost spit out my coffee lol. I know right?

Our private shooting range does just fine without an RSO and I aim to keep it that way.

 

[ford8nr]

I opened the case flat on the bench & the barrel was pointing toward the yellow line.

So you do realize YOU WERE WRONG, correct ?

THAT would get a response at most ranges. Her response was probably over exaggerated. If I was there upon opening your case I would have asked you to turn it around BEFORE touching the rifle.
The one AD I saw years ago before such rules existed was someone casing a gun facing rearward behind the shooting line. Ended up there was a round in the chamber, finger hit the trigger and he put a .30 cal round into a Ford F150 radiator.

The concerning theme here by some seems to be we should be able to be as unsafe as we want.

 

[HOWARD J]

So you do realize YOU WERE WRONG, correct ?

THAT would get a response at most ranges. Her response was probably over exaggerated. If I was there upon opening your case I would have asked you to turn it around BEFORE touching the rifle.
The one AD I saw years ago before such rules existed was someone casing a gun facing rearward behind the shooting line. Ended up there was a round in the chamber, finger hit the trigger and he put a .30 cal round into a Ford F150 radiator.

The concerning theme here by some seems to be we should be able to be as unsafe as we want.

all these years I have never seen a set of rules posted on or at a MI state range

 

[ford8nr]

a set of rules posted

And that's why we have them...

I find if it's not a posted rule people don't figure it out.

 

[Officers'Wife]

When you deal with people you are going to run into jerks on occasion. The first question you ask is if the RSO was the jerk or you were? There is one major piece of information missing from this story and that's what was on the RSO's mind when he made contact with you. Could it be such a thing there had been problems with bystanders throwing things across the fence or in general making nuisances of themselves?

 

[HOWARD J]

When you deal with people you are going to run into jerks on occasion. The first question you ask is if the RSO was the jerk or you were? There is one major piece of information missing from this story and that's what was on the RSO's mind when he made contact with you. Could it be such a thing there had been problems with bystanders throwing things across the fence or in general making nuisances of themselves?

This was an 18 year old female showing that she keeps the peons in line--she spent a lot of time that day to show the peons who was boss

 

[Hanzo581]

all these years I have never seen a set of rules posted on or at a MI state range

You don't have any rule posted about always keeping muzzles pointing downrange? Sounds like a very trusting range.

 

[HOWARD J]

You don't have any rule posted about always keeping muzzles pointing downrange? Sounds like a very trusting range.

State of Michigan---if they have them--they keep them hidden

 

[ford8nr]

This was an 18 year old female

And she's probably fighting an up hill battle even when she's right.

 

[Officers'Wife]

This was an 18 year old female showing that she keeps the peons in line--she spent a lot of time that day to show the peons who was boss

I see, just so I can be clear... which condition makes her unfit as an RSO, that she is female or 18? And before you answer please be aware that when I was 18 I was responsible for hay crew including the safety of the employees.

 

[HOWARD J]

I see, just so I can be clear... which condition makes her unfit as an RSO, that she is female or 18? And before you answer please be aware that when I was 18 I was responsible for hay crew including the safety of the employees.

How did you get loose from the old site

 

[HOWARD J]

I see, just so I can be clear... which condition makes her unfit as an RSO, that she is female or 18? And before you answer please be aware that when I was 18 I was responsible for hay crew including the safety of the employees.

She reminded me of a mean drill sergeant

 

[Jim Watson]

I have encountered mostly casual but observant and helpful range staff.
One stricter than most, but I assume he knows his clientele.
One drill sergeant.

 

[Old Dog]

One may start out one's range safety officer career as mostly a silent observer, casual, kinder and gentler ... but after many years of witnessing routine instances of almost unbelievable stupidity, stuff one just can't make up, one's micro-managing, over-the-top inner range Nazi will come out in many ... I was a really mellow guy when I first became a firearms instructor in the military, and later as a law enforcement weapons instructor, but to be honest, it doesn't take much now to get my blood pressure up.

The range to which I belong displays trust in members who've been around for long enough that their base-line behavior is well known, but when it comes to new folks, yeah, occasionally they'll get barked at if they even look as though they're about to do something unsafe or against the range rules.

An unsupervised range may be a thing of great joy to some here, but frankly, if you've new, inexperienced shooters who've had no firearms mentoring before, it's not a situation that will work itself out.

I guess my point is, that if you haven't worked supervising a range for a few years, you probably won't be able to see from the perspective of the guy with the red vest and the microphone ... And getting yelled at doesn't constitute "an out of control" range officer in my book.

 

[Officers'Wife]

Any further comments I make would not be approved by Sister Beatrice so let me say simply to find the immediate superior and voice your displeasure at her deportment and demand an explanation.

 

[stoky]

An unsupervised range may be a thing of great joy to some here, but frankly, if you've new, inexperienced shooters who've had no firearms mentoring before, it's not a situation that will work itself out.

Conversely, and harder to deal with, are those that consider themselves too "advanced" for the Four Rules.
Funny thing is, these are very seldom (if ever) folks that can shoot.

 

[luzyfuerza]

In my service as a Range Officer, I've always tried to remember that I have two responsibilities to customers: the first is to help them stay safe by following the rules of safe shooting and applicable range-specific rules, and a distant second is to help them enjoy their time at the range. ROs can fulfill both of these responsibilities if the customers will cooperate.

If an RO only thinks about the first responsibility and forgets about the second, then he can really leave customers confused and angry. On those occasions when I've had to raise my voice and issue immediate, forceful commands, I've always tried to circle back to the customer that I yelled at and say something like "I apologize for raising my voice to you a few minutes ago, but I couldn't allow you to handle your pistol on the line when we have people downrange...it makes them kind of cranky. I'm sure you understand." Once they recognize the problem with what they did (or were about to do), every single customer (except for one) has thanked me for helping keep the range safe for them and for everybody else.

In ten years, I've only had one customer who refused to follow instructions when they were presented like this. This one customer chose to repeatedly argue with clear instructions, and ended up leaving the property, let's say, earlier than he would have liked.

 

[Old Dog]

I agree with this in principle - as you say, "if the customers will cooperate." You seem to work at a squared-away operation with an above-average clientele.

I am seeing in my area an awful lot of shooters who seem to feel that they are entitled to do things however they want, disdain any authority and apparently believe they should never be corrected even if they happen to screw up. I can't even feel safe going to a couple of the local commercial indoor ranges anymore.

I'm not going to go so far as to imply that this is a mainly a generational thing (although I find the so-called millennials to be even worse than the Gen-Xers) since I have seen 30-somethings and middle-aged guys who display assclown behavior on the range).

 

[Wisco]

Some of the biggest "snowflakes" (a word used here often by many members as synonymous with and in addition to the ever-reviled "liberal") are, in fact, the grown men who own guns and won't abide any sort of correction from anyone because, you guessed it, they're special!

 

[redneck2]

A view of our overbearing RSOs.

Uhhhhhhhh......everybody needs to go back and look at post #35. And look at all the bullet holes in the canopy. If you don't believe that some of shooters at ranges are absolute chimps, this should be enough evidence

There is a public range in Kingsbury, IN. The roof is concrete. The numbers of bullet divots is astounding. Too many bullet holes to count.

 

[rskent]

Out of control Range Officers

Interesting topic, with a lot of different viewpoints. I only have the viewpoint of the RSO.

I belong to a large club in a very populated county that runs a public line. On the public line, there are usually four or five Range Safety Officers. Most of the RSO’s are long term members and try to be very helpful. But they are volunteers not professionals. They are not payed, in money at least. Why would they (we) volunteer?

First, the club is our favorite place to shoot and we want to keep it open. In the past stray rounds have left the property. Neighbors being neighbors, they didn’t seem to understand rounds hitting their buildings. We like shooting here and we want to keep the place open.

Second, most of the RSO’s at the club shoot some discipline or other. In order to practice we need a range. Being a RSO, we get a key to the club, we get to practice unencumbered by the rules at the public line. Lots of rules, just different ones. We like shooting here and we want to keep the place open.

Third, mostly it’s fun. You stand around talking to gun people, mostly about guns and shooting. You get to check out lots of different firearms. Most of the customers are great people that share an interest in the same things we do, shooting. What’s not to like?


Random points:

When I am standing behind you I am not dogging you, critiquing your gun handling, or checking out your girlfriend’s ass. I am simply checking to see that your gun is pointing down range and not at your neighbor.

When I ask you not to point your gun at your neighbor, it’s because I saw you do it. It’s amazing to me just how many people do this without knowing it.

When I ask you to uncase your gun on the line, it’s because we don’t want you to point your gun at your neighbor.

If you need help, just ask. That’s is what we are there for. And to point out where the restroom is.

 

[redneck2]

When I ask you not to point your gun at your neighbor, it’s because I saw you do it. It’s amazing to me just how many people do this without knowing it.

When I worked at the LGS, I had one guy that pointed a firearm at me multiple times. But he thought it was OK because it wasn't loaded. Even though he hadn't personally checked it. Got all kinds of pissy when I told him to knock it off.

So, I simply told him the the next time he pointed it at me, I was going to point one at him. Told him I wasn't sure if his was loaded, but I knew whether mine was.

 

[EIB0879]

There is a need for RSOs and I don't just say that because I'm a qualified RSO. I used to occasionally shoot on an indoor 100 yd rifle range with four lanes. There was no RSO ever on duty. It was a small ready area where people were usually uncasing rifles behind you. It is also very expensive ($35/hr).

The last straw was when I was shooting and saw a laser spot appear on the wall a few inches to my right. Guy had an AR pointing down the firing line. I haven't been back.