At the range today, I witnessed a range officer inform a customer that he needed to be inside his firing booth whenever handling a gun. It was a simple and polite contact involving someone who was, in fairness, obeying the Four Cardinal Rules but nonetheless violating posted range protocol. As soon as the RO turned her back, the customer and his two buddies started giggling like little girls. They thought it was high comedy that someone had come out to tell them to follow the rules.
These are not the kind of people I like to have next to me on the firing line.
If you think safety is a joke or that rules don’t apply to you, you’re an accident waiting to happen. You don’t have to like all the rules, but when you step onto someone else’s range you obey them or you don’t. If you show me you don’t feel obligated to follow one rule, I’m going to assume you don’t feel obligated to follow any of them.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
I was at the range today and usually go on weekday mornings because I’m usually the only one there, and the RO graciously allows me to practice certain drills (controlled pairs, drawing from concealment, rapid fire, etc) as long as I’m the only one on the firing line. It is a privilege that I appreciate and am very careful not to abuse.
There are several stereotypical shooters I avoid like the plague, and today it was the “bubba twins”…actually a trio today. they each brought their 8′ bbl .44 and .500 magnums and began to hoot and holler after each shot as they started to systematically destroy the steel knockdown targets one at a time. After the first wave had subsided, I politely reminded them that those targets were limited to .45 cal and <1000fps ammo. They giggled like the silly schoolgirls you describe, as I packed up and left the firing line. As I passed the RO shack advising her to keep an eye on these yahoos, they were lining up a series of the range bowling pins (also not allowed) to destroy…
When I see these type of shooters, It reminds me why many non-shooters view gun owners as a bunch of drunk hillbillies that just want to kill something…very sad.
The people described in the paragraphs above are the same people that will be on YouTube next week when one of them shoots themselves or their buddy. To many of these “gamer types” go out and buy a gun thinking its like Modern Warfare 3 and play with the guns as such. Enough accidents happen with guns and people who are not being idiots just careless. On my range you behave lke a civilized adult or you are gone PERIOD.
Andy, I’m guessing that you’re not using “gamer types” in the traditional industry sense to mean competition shooters. In my experience, competitive shooters, especially IPSC/USPSA shooters, as a group tend to be more safety conscious than any other subset of the shooting populous.
I’m surprised that many indoor ranges in my area don’t have safety/range officers. I just recently switched indoor ranges because of safety concerns.
At my old range, the owners are more concerned with moving merchandise than responsibly operating a safe range. The “range officer” also runs the range counter, and often is way too busy to monitor the range. And if the establishment doesn’t take safety seriously, you can be assured that a number of the shooters standing beside and behind you, don’t either.
How you do one thing, is how you do everything.
Sounds like cincinnati’s only indoor public range. I won’t go somewhere where 70% of the employees have had nds in the SALES portion of the store.
Range morons are not fun. I was at an unsupervised outdoor range getting my target with a buddy after an “all clear”. Some yahoo starts shooting at his target as we are walking back from the 25 yard line; not a happy moment.
Once at an outdoor range, during the cease fire while people were changing out/inspecting their targets, I noticed the guy right beside me pick up his pistol, go condition 1, and zero in at something down range as there were people still out there. I moved over as fast as I could and screamed cease fire. The dumbass looked at me, smiled, and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize there were still people down range.” Why I no longer shoot at public ranges.
I had someone doing head shots with a shotgun and got hit with double odd buck in the face. The poeple had no idea what they were doing. I have had other poeple doing stupid stuff at the range. I don’t like the indoor rnage. It is the only place to shoot in the area that is not not a shooting club.
Hey now, be nice to the gamers. I love a good fps and Modern Warfare is one of the better ones.
That said, I know exactly the people you are referring to. There is no way to eliminate them and they come from all walks of life. Just one more reason to remain vigilant, at all times. Most especially true, on the firing line.
After some horrible experiences I swore off public ranges. The private range I belong to has a majority of safety oriented shooters, and I can shoot on my own 75 yard deep by 20 yard wide range (they have 12 of these lined up for cowboy and IPSC shooting).
100% worth the price of admission.
PREACH IT, BROTHER!