Range accident today (not me)

I agree about the rules: But we as a group of gun owners should know that we are the bullet and we are responsible. We should take extra precautions so that these things don't happen. We as gun owners should also know that every error and every broken rule will be highly scrutinized by those with an agenda to take away our rights. Things like this hit the media and adds fuel to an already anti gun agenda. We have to do things right in order to keep respect and keep our argument strong and valid. If the media learns of bumbling idiots out here negligently firing their guns off how does that make us look? H

I know this was a minor event being that no one got hurt etc. For that I am thankful to God. However, it still points back to being responsible and being safety minded at all times. This cannot be said enough imo.

I know accidents occur, but like I said, I feel their is no excuse for this type of accident. If you follow basic safety rules and basic rules for protecting you and your firearm. There should not be a problem.

However, I think I'm going to join a private range from this point and stay away from the 20 dollar lane fee's where all the people who just ran to a gun store , bought a box of ammo, and gonna go shoot are going. lol
 
If you follow basic safety rules and basic rules for protecting you and your firearm. There should not be a problem.
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I agree with this statement...

However, you will never be at any place, private or public, that is immune to mistakes happening. This is not to say that we should not be extra vigilant, but stuff like this is still going to happen...that is just the way it is.
 
I know you and all of you guys are correct and I agree with everything said here. I guess I just got a little shaken and then mad about the situation.
 
I know you and all of you guys are correct and I agree with everything said here. I guess I just got a little shaken and then mad about the situation.
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It is good that you are shaken as this means that you learned a valuable lesson early in your firearm experience in which no one was injured and that will stay with you for the rest of your life and will probably prevent your ever having a negligent discharge. It probably had the same effect on most everyone there...and that is a good thing.

This is what I call a cheap life lesson...cheap, in that it did not cost a life and could very easily save a life.
 
^ That's a very good point. I never looked at it that way. however, we as people become complacent very quickly with stuff and tend to think things won't happen to us. You're right, Every time I go into a range I will be conscience of what happened today and like you said, I bet the others will be too.
 
I stay faaaarrrrr away from ranges during panic times. Lots of new shooters that don't have any training or experience. It really is putting your life in other's hands in that situation.
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I am with you on this one Joe, I wanted to shoot my new PPQ bad so I went a couple of Fridays ago. LOTS of brand new gun owners and people who had guns in their nightstands for the last 20 years but never fired them. More women than normal too actually.

Thankfully at my range no one was hurt; the worst thing I have ever seen there is when someone pointed a fully loaded wheel gun at me while showing it off to his buddies.
 
I remember I took a buddy of mine who was in the National Guard to the range so she could have the opportunity to shoot handguns. I "assumed" that she would have good range etiquette and safety procedures. Wrong! She was waving and flagging the weapons all over. Now, after serving in both the active and reserve components I thought this may happen. So, everything she did with those guns unloaded I asked her to tell me what she was doing. This kept her focused on the weapon.

I could not believe it when she said flagging did not matte as the gun was not loaded.

Golden Rule for all shooters "Treat all firearms as loaded." Accidents don't just happen, accidents are caused. There is simply no excuse IMO for an accidental discharge due to sloppy safety procedures by firearms user. I never keep guns ready to fire in the home unless it is a revolver. My first line of defense and warning is the dog. Hopefully that will give me the few seconds I will need to get my carry gun into operation.
 
You could infer that the accidental shooter had non-existent trigger-finger training. (and several other deficiencies as well)

That's the single biggest thing I see newbies doing wrong - finger on the trigger at the wrong time. Because your finger goes there so naturally.....

Last training of a newbie I had her old the lower to my disassembled Glock with finger off the trigger to give it time to burn into her muscle memory that that is how you hold a gun.

We'll see if that helped next time we go shooting.
 
Some freaking idiot accidentally discharged his firearm in the lobby of the range. He was apparently taking it out of it's case and fired it. I'm not sure where the bullet went but I think it ricocheted off the floor and up through the ceiling as dust was falling from the ceiling tiles after the discharge. This really just made me boil over with anger. At first I was shocked and a little shaken making sure no one was hit. then I just got angry.
1st off , one the main rules in gun handling/ownership is never touch the trigger until you are ready to fire. So why was this numb nuts having his hand near the trigger? Why was this guy unpacking his guns in the lobby instead of the firing lane? People need to think before they act when they are in possession of a deadly weapon. smh.. it just boils me over people's lack of respect and negligence.. .. there were kids at the range, families, etc. Thank God no one was hurt. A lady got a little shrapnel in her leg but no one was directly hit or seriously injured.

This is just a reminder that no matter how comfortable you are or laxed you become with a weapon. Safety is still a priority and should be taken seriously. The guy at the range said they had been there for 5 years and it's never happened. However, that's not good enough. It should not happen.
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this is one of the reasons why I think a firearms safety course ought to be mandatory. say what you will but all it takes is one numb nuts to ruin a perfectly good day, and there are a lot of numb nuts out there. I don't trust anyone with a firearm that hasn't taken a safety course of some sort.
 
Maybe it's a good time to stay away until the panic ends. Many new shooters so ranges better pay better attention to this influx of new shooter's before the News get their grubby fingers on accidents like this. Stay safe
 
Much of my shooting is at a public range just a few minutes from the house. There are sometimes yayhoos who seem to immediately forget the safety they just watched (all new shooters have to watcha safety video). I haven't been since the GREAT PANIC OF OUGHT THIRTEEN but I am sure its full of them.

I'll probably be asked a bunch of questions again (this is fine), help out with a jam and or such and show the proper way (this is fine) get mad at people and getting the range guy if the'yre waiving pistols a little too close to the 180 (deal with it).

But it will settle down. Some of those yayhoos will turn into good shooters and the sport will increase.
 
Too bad the guy didn't have someone to walk him through basic gun safety before going to the range. Any time I take a new shooter out to the range we spend more time going through basic safety than anything else.
At a very minimum, read the manual that came with your new gun. About half of all new manuals cover gun safety.
 
My range has the rule: Take your gun out of the case only at the firing station, unload it and put it back in the bag before leaving the line. But if the shop is crowded and some doofus pulls a LOADED pistol out of a range bag in the shop area -- how's a rule going to prevent that?
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It won't. The rule can only justify kicking the guy out and maybe banning him for however long. But it will not prevent the moron from bringing a loaded gun into the lobby and having a stupid accident with it.

That's why so much of these new gun control laws are so stupid. They will prevent nothing and the bad part they are supposed to prevent are already punishable under current law so what's the point? Unless the point is the next step in someones process.
 
The range owner just called me. He said the guy was sitting in a row of chairs waiting to enter the range. He had his gun in his bag and reached in the bag and grabbed the gun to pull the slide and discharged the gun.The gun discharged through his bag, hitting other ammo, hearing protection and then grazed the ladies leg I mentioned in the original post. Totally negligence on the gun owners part. He said they were now going to implement a check in policy and strictly enforce the already existing rule of no guns out or unholstered in the lobby. They also blew up a picture of the guy and put it on the wall as a reminder that he is lifetime banned and not allowed to ever shoot there again. He also said with this he's made bigger signs stating these rules and there will be a 0 tolerance policy on it. If you remove your weapon or unholster in the lobby you will be removed and banned. If you need gun smith service they unpack and unload your weapon. Not you. I am glad they took a proactive approach and a serious tone to this. He was very appreciative for my feedback and input. I am enjoying the hobby and sport of shooting. I don't want things like this to ruin it. So I feel a little better about the situation.


It's killing me not to be able to mulit-quote.. lol however, the above poster is right.. if you read the stinking manual the 3 main rules is scattered through out on almost every page as well.
 
gaseousclay, I would have no problem with a range requiring new shooters (to their facility) to take a safety course in order to use the range. Frankly, that might be a good thing.

Having the government require safety training for ownership is another matter. Too much potential for abuse (fees, course scheduling issues, you name it) and not much evidence to show that training would make a significant difference.
 
gaseousclay, I would have no problem with a range requiring new shooters (to their facility) to take a safety course in order to use the range. Frankly, that might be a good thing.

Having the government require safety training for ownership is another matter. Too much potential for abuse (fees, course scheduling issues, you name it) and not much evidence to show that training would make a significant difference.
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in the case of firearm safety i'm not opposed to either a government program or a private program, so long as a new gun owner is familiar with firearm safety and proper gun etiquette. to me it's inexcusable that there are morons out there who have no business owning a gun, especially if they don't comprehend the basic rules of firearm safety. i'm 41, I took my firearm safety course through the DNR 2 yrs ago even though the law stipulated that I wasn't legally required to do so. I did it because of incidents like the OP mentioned. I didn't want to be that guy
 
The range owner just called me. He said the guy was sitting in a row of chairs waiting to enter the range. He had his gun in his bag and reached in the bag and grabbed the gun to pull the slide and discharged the gun.The gun discharged through his bag, hitting other ammo, hearing protection and then grazed the ladies leg I mentioned in the original post. Totally negligence on the gun owners part. He said they were now going to implement a check in policy and strictly enforce the already existing rule of no guns out or unholstered in the lobby. They also blew up a picture of the guy and put it on the wall as a reminder that he is lifetime banned and not allowed to ever shoot there again. He also said with this he's made bigger signs stating these rules and there will be a 0 tolerance policy on it. If you remove your weapon or unholster in the lobby you will be removed and banned. If you need gun smith service they unpack and unload your weapon. Not you. I am glad they took a proactive approach and a serious tone to this. He was very appreciative for my feedback and input. I am enjoying the hobby and sport of shooting. I don't want things like this to ruin it. So I feel a little better about the situation.
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i'm curious about the guy whose gun discharged - why was his gun loaded to begin with? I'm assuming this isn't common practice at a shooting range, right?
 
(Referring to post 38)

Good for you. From that, I can deduce that you had the money to pay any course fees DNR may have charged; you were able to obtain or provide your own transportation to wherever the course was held; you had no work nor family conflicts with the DNR course schedule.

To some people, any one of those factors could put such a course out of their reach.
 
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