Facts of life
You will eventually run into an idiot at a public range. Tam has advice on dealing with the range. Also, people skills are important. I once had to ask a guy to stop pointing his gun at me. Every time he’d reload or handle it, he would point it at me, on his left. And his response was, as anticipated, but it’s not loaded. Then we chatted briefly about safety and how it takes violating two of four rules to really ruin someone’s day. And it worked. I did not have to get all full blown retard on him.
July 21st, 2010 at 10:02 am
It just occurred to me that perhaps I should print the Four Rules on business card stock. Then, when faced with this situation, it becomes a teaching tool. Share the Four Rules along with an explanation of how violating them can ruin your day. Would also be helpful with training new shooters.
Maybe I’ll call them “Say Uncle” cards…
July 21st, 2010 at 11:08 am
I tend to think of incidents like this when I read about people complaining about the local public range’s “range nazi” (RSO) having horrible rules like “no, you can’t practice drawing drills here.”
I remember one time at my favorite range, I had brought a new shooter and was teaching them to shoot. The RSO waved me down for a quick chat, and informed me that he knew I knew what I was doing, but to remind the new guy to keep his finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. I honestly hadn’t noticed, and since we were following the other rules, everything was fine. My reaction? I thanked the RSO and talked to my friend about it.
July 21st, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Years ago, some friends and I were at a local range on a Sunday morning. We shot off a box or so and retired to the lounge to get coffee before going back on the range.
The chairs were along one wall, so I was sitting next to a fellow I didn’t know, who was talking to my friends on his other side. The fellow was wearing a brag vest with an NRA Life Member patch prominently displayed.
I look down and he has a PPK pointed in my direction, finger on the trigger.
“I would appreciate it very much if you’d point that in some other direction” I said, to which he replies, “Oh, it’s okay, it’s not loaded, and the safety is on.”
My friend pointed out that the safety was off(she had a PPK), so he dropped the magazine… it was full.
“Well”, he backpedals, “the chamber is empty” and racks the slide.
You guessed it.
I changed seats and did a threat assessment every time I went into that place, as well as signing up at another range.
July 21st, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I shoot at a small privately owned commercial outdoor range (Hot Wells, if you know the area) just outside of Houston. They accept anyone who shows up, and the rules are simple: No “rapid” fire (2 sec between rounds), when “cease fire” is called, you WILL put down your weapon and walk away from the line, and finally, a RSO will call a safety violation twice, once as a reminder and the second time as a warning. The third time you will leave the range.
One RSO told me weekdays are easy, but on weekends he open carries due to the number of brain-dead that show up. I only shoot on weekdays.