[WaterDR]

I continue to be astonished at the level of idiocy I see at the Range. Can I be frank....based on my personal experience, 30% of the people I see shooting have no business holding a gun. 70% have no business carrying a firearm.

Case in point....a young man and his presumed GF shooting next to me. He working a Walther 22 and a 1911. Grip technique terrible, but he’s teaching his GF.

She can barely keep the flip from hitting herself in the head. She is holding the gun low and wrapping her wrist with the weak hand. I offered to help. Offer declined.

Next thing I know she is trying the rack the slide. Takes the palm of her hand, with a loaded gun and pushes the slide back. Her hand is covering the business end.

At this point, I interject and stop them. Another shooter has same reaction. I ask the dude...did you see that? Nope. Not a clue. And he has a holster stuck in his belt.

 

[BigMau]

I see lots of "bad habits" at public ranges. The main reason I joined a rod & gun club with a private range.

 

[Balor]

Where I live, you would have to bring a certificate showing that you had completed a beginner's firearms instruction course before they would let you shoot in the first place. The private ranges all have CCTV (by law) and they DO watch new shooters - even if they've seen the certificate.

Apart from being a normal common sense safety measure, there is also the aspect of liability (negligence) if an inexperienced shooter injures him/herself or others at the facility.

Balor

 

[olsoul]

I'm not sure where this range is located but as I assume it is a public range each person must sign a release of liability and an agreement to abide by the rules of safety.

You should have reported these behaviors to the person "acting" as range safety officer. If the RSO did not take action you next step should have been to depart the premises immediately and not return until they have their safety issues fixed.

When it comes to safety at the range it is not enough to comment to the "guy in the next lane" you need to talk to the management. If the RSO isn't doing the job he/she needs a new job! If management ignores the issues you are better off finding a new range.

It is far better to read about an unfortunate range accident than be part of one.

 

[WaterDR]

It was reported. The range does not have an RSO in the true sense of the job but rather a manager. They are not in the range but sales personnel. They observe through class but that’s about it. I report issues on a regular basis. It’s a public range but I generally shoot with groups I know. This was not one of those days.

 

[Kar98]

The range we're going to has RSO's, and cameras on every lane. And the RSO WILL step in if he observes something directly, or is being told over the radio as seen by whoever's watching the cameras, or by other shooters.

 

[DeutschlandUberAlles]

I had a 20something couple next to me at FGC range yesterday. They had 2 rentals, a Ruger Mk? 22LR and a Glock 17 9mm. One of the FGC employees walked in with them and oversaw/instructed the first 10 minutes of their session to verify safe practices. New range shooter intervention done right.


Good thing I left the 50AE home, they were unsettled by the Q45.

 

[Prax]

I continue to be astonished at the level of idiocy I see at the Range. Can I be frank....based on my personal experience, 30% of the people I see shooting have no business holding a gun. 70% have no business carrying a firearm.

Case in point....a young man and his presumed GF shooting next to me. He working a Walther 22 and a 1911. Grip technique terrible, but he’s teaching his GF.

She can barely keep the flip from hitting herself in the head. She is holding the gun low and wrapping her wrist with the weak hand. I offered to help. Offer declined.

Next thing I know she is trying the rack the slide. Takes the palm of her hand, with a loaded gun and pushes the slide back. Her hand is covering the business end.

At this point, I interject and stop them. Another shooter has same reaction. I ask the dude...did you see that? Nope. Not a clue. And he has a holster stuck in his belt.

I probably would have minded my business except for when safety was involved. Not really my place to critique and/or lecture other shooters on how to shoot. I would however mention to a R/O and/or leave if I had safety concerns.

 

[WaterDR]

I come from a mind set where we all own safety. I know many don’t feel comfortable but imagine if it happened again and there was a disaster. I tend to speak up...happens again....I get the range involved. This was a case where the individual wasn’t putting anyone else at risk but herself. We have all seen worse.

 

[110Landy]

Some of us have had the phrase "everyone's a safety" pounded into our heads. When on a civilian range, the same applies. Even if it's a bit uncomfortable, either intervene or get the RSO to step in. We all benefit from safe shooters.

 

[Mystro]

I have been a RO for decades. I have seen a pretty common theme at a public range.
Girl/wife assumes the guy automatically knows all about how to shoot because its a gender stereotype. In reality, I have seen more women in my class shoot better than their significant other after a basic lesson. These ladies tend to be more open minded about proper shooting instruction than trying look cool and not "make a mistake" in style points as guys do. The husbands that really wants their wife to defend them self book me for to a firearm lesson for their wife. It eliminates any internal fighting. These guys are smart enough to know teaching your wife to drive or shoot a gun may be more stressful and full of pitfalls they dont want to deal with at the dinner table.

 

[DarkeWolf]

WaterDR- yeah, I've seen some pretty stupid, downright stupid stuff involving firearms. Not just out on the ranges, but out in the country as well. ( I grew up as a farmboy)
At least out there, we had fathers and grandfathers teaching us how safely handle and respect firearms. And we started out with BB guns as kids, then went thru the safety course to get our hunting permits.
Most kids nowadays are learning how to shoot playing Tour of Duty. :eyeroll:
Youtube has quite a few "Fail" vids with idiots and guns. Some people are downright stupid. Some just need to be educated.

I will say tho that I have noticed that a person with a strong femininity, and I don't mean just women, there's men like this too, seem to have more...issues...with handling the entire firearms situations, until they build up the confidence, and the familiarity. Plus the noise of a public range really doesn't help them at all with with their nervousness.

Now, on the other hand, some people need some serious "tough love" when it comes to guns. I was going to take a friend of mine to the range, so she came over a couple of days before the trip, and we spend about 4 hours going through things.
TWICE she swept the barrel past me! And she wouldn't keep her finger OFF the trigger. Every single time, I had to get onto her for it.
Third time, she swept the barrel past me, with finger on the trigger (completely unloaded pistol, no loaded chamber, no mag.) and I straight out kicked her in the butt so hard that she almost fell over.
We didn't go to the range.

 

[Kar98]

Girl/wife assumes the guy automatically knows all about how to shoot because its a gender stereotype.

Sadly, it's worse. GUY automatically assumes he knows everything...

In reality, I have seen more women in my class shoot better than their significant other after a basic lesson. These ladies tend to be more open minded about proper shooting instruction than trying look cool and not "make a mistake" in style points as guys do. The husbands that really wants their wife to defend them self book me for to a firearm lesson for their wife. It eliminates any internal fighting. These guys are smart enough to know teaching your wife to drive or shoot a gun may be more stressful and full of pitfalls they dont want to deal with at the dinner table.

Yup! Every single woman I gave just a few basic hints immediately improved noticeably. Every single guy... got worse if anything. There are like, no exceptions to this!

I'm a natural shooter, just the way it is, no bragging. But I was kinda suggesting to my wife she book a class with a professional instructor to avoid marital conflict She absolutely didn't want to. So I figured to teach her properly I'd get fit in Modern Technique and that's what I taught her. Eff me if she hasn't become a better range shot than I am, LOL. I'd be so salty if it hadn't been me who taught her in first place (I'm still faster, more unflappable, and natural )

 

[DarkeWolf]

Sadly, it's worse. GUY automatically assumes he knows everything...



Yup! Every single woman I gave just a few basic hints immediately improved noticeably. Every single guy... got worse if anything. There are like, no exceptions to this!

I'm a natural shooter, just the way it is, no bragging. But I was kinda suggesting to my wife she book a class with a professional instructor to avoid marital conflict She absolutely didn't want to. So I figured to teach her properly I'd get fit in Modern Technique and that's what I taught her. Eff me if she hasn't become a better range shot than I am, LOL. I'd be so salty if it hadn't been me who taught her in first place (I'm still faster, more unflappable, and natural )

Heh, it kinda depends on the mentality of the person tho too. Some of these "I'm gonna do what I want, when I want" or "I'm gonna do it MY way" types are darned hard to train. Male OR female.
One fourth of July, I taught one of my nieces how to shoot with my Ruger 10/22, and she started hitting my bro up for him to buy her a gun. He was thinking about it til he heard her threatening to shoot one of her brothers! HA!

One of my ex GF's, one of her friends had "shown her how to shoot", and immediately handed her a 12ga shotgun. Turned her off right away. We spent some time with the guns, and then went out to the country. And she gave it another try.
She really took to it, she was outshooting me with my Beretta 92fs I had back then. I'm telling ya, after she got used to it, she was filling the O's in the "Coca Cola" cans we were shooting at, at 30 feet. Me, I was lucky to hit the can, at that range with a pistol.
Paintball markers, no problem. Rifles, with iron sights, I can bounce them. Pistols, that small, nope.

So yeah, idiot "trainers" can definitely make a big difference. And some people can get really good, with the right instruction and training. Then, there's some people that just don't need to have one in their hands. Or anywhere around them.

Case in point, there's a youtube fail vid where some people put a ROCKET LAUNCHER in the hands of a LITTLE KID. The thing takes him off his feet when he fires. I was honestly hoping that he ended up blowing up one of their cars, camels, or whatever they were driving.

 

[Kar98]

Yeah, idiot trainer is mostly two parts: not knowing how to shoot themselves in first place, and starting a trainee off with a full auto 12 gauge sawed off snubnose revolver or guns to that effect. You know, to show the little woman how **** she is and always will be, or just for hyucks, if they don't have even THAT mental depth.