a man killed himself at an indoor range today

kcub, thanks for the info i figured it might have been reds as its happened at their south location twice now if i remember correctly man talk about bad luck . definitly sad to hear about stuff like that especially for all those there just trying to enjoy a day at the range, heck i was just there shooting last saturday myself.
 
This is just an awful situation. I am sorry for you OP, I hope you have someone in your life you can talk to if you need to. Suicide is a mental health issue, and another example of it being scary for mentally unstable people getting their hands on firearms. Can it be easily screened? no.

You can talk about selfishness, you can be angry at the guy... But the bigger issue is that he obviously had a lot of problems and saw no other way out.

The lesson to be learned? Are there any people in your life/scope of influence that maybe need a friend? Maybe if this guy had a community, a place to belong, a buddy to talk to, he wouldn't have done this.

Bad for guns, bad for the range, bad for the OP and other people that were there... worst for this guy and his family.
 
Many ranges have rules against renting a firearm if you are alone. To rent, you must be accompanied by a friend or family member. Doubt that eliminates the risk, but probably lowers it significantly.
 
Suicide is the most selfish thing a person can do. Even though they may be depressed it's tough on those they leave behind. Perhaps that is why the Bible condemns it so harshly. It was not too long ago when suicides were not allowed to be buried in "hallowed" ground and were buried outside the cemetary proper. A close friend lost his 23 year old daughter to suicide. She was brilliant and a 3rd year med school student...at 23!! Finished her bachelors degree at 20 years of age. Her mother got so depressed she took her life the following year. Now he is alone. :(
 
It has happened quite a few times before. I had a close family friend ask me to bring her to the range. I already knew she was depressed and had attempted suicide before. She had never expressed any interest in shooting before her depression. I politely declined. Unfortunately, she succeeded in her effort to end her life. She was in a mental hospital and she asphyxiated herself with a garbage bag.

Suicide is tragic, but there was most probably some kind of chemical imbalance with her. There was also a lot of tragedy as she lost her uncle, grandmother, and father in short span of time due to different illnesses. She somehow felt she was responsible for their deaths.

Some ranges now will not rent guns to new shooters. They must go with someone else who has shot before. The are also issuing membership cards so they know that those have gone there before. I'm not sure if it has helped cut down on the gun rental suicides, but I sure hope so.

kcub, glad you're okay and sorry you had to witness that. :(
 
Not to make light of these situations, but this is why you should never
rent a gun to someone who says, "I only need one bullet ".

........................ Jack
 
I don't know anything about the man. One of the range personnel said he had several buddies he served with who have killed themself just in the last year.

The guy looked not older than mid 30s, I wonder if he served.
 
My son-in-law works at a Marine Corps base and they won't allow a visitor to use their firing range without a 3 day notice so they can check out their background.
 
Rational arguments are of no value when it comes to suicide. It is a sad day indeed when an unfortunate soul (pushed to their limit) comes to the conclusion that there is no other option left to them but suicide.
Be carefull how you view this person and what you say, you will be surprised by who will find the limit of their endurance and seek to end their suffering at their own hand. The why and where will not make sense to you because you remain rational while they can not see beyond their pain.
I for one will be praying for the family as they come to grips with what has happened to their love one.
 
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checking out ranges where I am new to, Florida's Gold Coast, and find that they do not rent guns to a person if he is alone unless he brings a gun of his own in with him... unloaded as they also do not want the customers to be carrying.

go figure
 
I went to an indoor range several times CCWing.
No one ever said a thing, no signs posted and not in the rules.

One day I walk into the range room and the attendant asked where my gun was. I said in my holster.... He flipped the heck out... I apologized and stated that it wouldn't happen again.
The next time I went, a different attendant was there, I carried my pistol in unloaded and the slide locked back, showed the guy. He asked why I showed him. I explained what happened. He asked,"do you have a license?" I told him I did, he said I could keep it in my holster then. Go figure.

I could see them having a rule about already owning a gun, or not be alone to rent.
 
Not that I'm advocating more background checks, but if it solves a problem (allegedly), why can't a gun range have access to the NICS system?
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And add a $35 "transfer fee" to every gun rental? I'm sure it would be very popular among gun control, uh, that is, gun safety advocates.
 
No trying to be harsh or funny but there is a silver lining. It was really good that the guy didn't go and shoot random strangers or hop into his car and drove on a downtown sidewalk.
 
Suicide is the most selfish thing a person can do
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Strongly disagree with that. For example, a more selfish thing to do would be to, oh, murder everyone that person ever thought offended him. Or kill a bunch of random strangers, just to make people know his name.


Suicide is a sad thing. In many cases, a little help might prevent it. However, I tend to feel that they have the right to that choice, if that's what they want to do. Better if they do it in a way that doesn't harm anyone else, of course.
 
Better if they do it in a way that doesn't harm anyone else, of course.
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Impossible, unless nobody loves them, even a wee little bit. And nobody has to clean it up.

Unknown man jumping in to a volcano or paddling his small boat out to sea and jumping off it? Otherwise, it becomes horribly difficult for them to exercise their "right to choose." It's not so easy for folks to clean up another one's final, selfish wish.

The motivation itself may not have an ounce of selfishness in it, but the act leaves many burdened.
 
I feel sorry for the poor man and his family. However, I am glad he did not decide to take others with him as in so many recent mass shootings.
 
Just for info - a fair number of gun cleaning ND deaths and single car accidents are suicides.

We just had a case of a pet store guy letting a cobra bite him repeatedly and killing him.
 
I feel sorry for the poor man and his family. However, I am glad he did not decide to take others with him as in so many recent mass shootings.
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I had that thought, more so since I was there of course. I'm more worried about someone who can't bring themself to do it and decide to get in a shoot out and have someone else kill them, maybe intentionally miss, maybe not. And then all the safety rules go out the window when people have to defend themselves and God knows who's going to get shot then.

I'm very glad there were no kids there.

Talked to a manager at the range and mentioned requiring renter to own a gun and he said they had thought about it and talked about it. They sell a lot of guns to first timers who don't know what they want and it makes sense for them to rent and try out guns rather than make an expensive mistake. A lot of those first timers are women and may really need to protect themselves from some goofy ex. They decided if someone really wants to kill themselves there's little you can do to stop it.
 
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