Range accident today (not me)

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.
Click to expand...

yes, I had the means to take the course on my own. the cost of the course was minimal.....a little over $20 from what I can remember. I also lucked out and managed to find a course being offered at a VFW relatively close to my house. The downside to the DNR course, classes fill up quickly and their locations can be out of the way depending on where you live. The other downside is that I took my course with a bunch of 10 year olds who were there with their parents. I manage to get a good laugh from my wife about it but it was a little embarrasing at the time as it was the only class I could get. but, I was there to learn about firearm safety and nothing more.

I think part of the problem is that there are some adults who think that taking a safety course is beneath them, or that they don't need training. people tend to get caught up in gun culture and just want to start shooting things and having fun. I get it. when I became interested in hunting I went out and bought a rifle almost immediately. but, after doing so I knew I had to take a firearm safety course if I was going to actually go hunting or handle a firearm. I know when my son is old enough to understand guns I will personally teach him firearm safety, but I will also enroll him in a safety course for good measure.
 
As I have noted in other posts, I am a fan of training, and for that matter am a certified instructor.

The problem I have with "mandatory training" is, as I noted above, it is just not feasible for some people. This is a matter of economics, not attitude.

It may be money; it may be distance; it may be time. Any one could be an obstacle - and that is assuming the government entity responsible for the course does not deliberately set it up so people have trouble finding or attending a course.
 
We all make mistakes, it is human nature. I've gotten my chops busted by the range personnel for forgetting to put my glasses back on and that could have meant, in the occasion that something went wrong with the gun, going blind.
 
I'm with Joe Pike, find yourself a buddy with a nice chunk of land and leave the unsafety of your ranges. I support people learning how to shoot and defend themselves, but do it away from me ;)
 
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.
Click to expand...
It won't help. I've been to ranges where new customers have to watch a video. Folks roll their eyes and harrumph through the whole thing. It doesn't work.

I've seen trained LEO's have ND's. I had a competition shooter (and LEO) crank one off on a busy salesfloor. Another I know had one at home, in which the bullet traveled into his neighbor's house.

A mandatory class won't solve basic irresponsibility.
 
The problem I have with "mandatory training" is, as I noted above, it is just not feasible for some people. This is a matter of economics, not attitude.

It may be money; it may be distance; it may be time. Any one could be an obstacle - and that is assuming the government entity responsible for the course does not deliberately set it up so people have trouble finding or attending a course.
Click to expand...

I suppose you're right. the only reason why I like the DNR safety courses is because they're inexpensive. but, the DNR relies on volunteers for their training courses. if it were a private/for-profit company I can foresee cost being a big factor for people. in this case you'd be paying trainers to instruct people, but their level of expertise might be better. I really don't know in either case.
 
The range I go to most often (private indoor range) has absolutely no firearm or ammo handling in the lobby. It's a one strike and you're out rule. You can have it in a box, case or holster, but if it's in your hands...you're out. The only exception is when you are at the counter, and having an employee (gunsmith, or whatever) look at your gun, but even in that case, the employee clears it before letting you touch it.
 
I used to be an instructor at our range. We get many new shooters from the Phoenix area. It is unbelievable what people will do. I have seen shells loaded backwards, but my favorite is when they turn to talk to you with a loaded gun pointed AT you, if you are not close enough to stop it, which I always try to be.
Click to expand...
This is a funny post but very sad.
It's just like new drivers, don't know what they are doing.

This is why I wear BODY ARMOR LVL II W/2xtrama inserts.

I once saw two women (21-26 in ages) rented some guns, one was a Glock 23 in 40 cal. I saw her finish shooting and hes like I am out. I saw her place it on teh table, she removed the magazine but the trigger was still forward, meaning round in chamer/slide never locked back. I told her that it was still loaded, and shes like what? me about :mad::eek: now, I just sit back and watch. The younger friend picks it up and racks the slide and says, oh its loaded. :confused:
 
It was just an accident in which no one was seriously injured. Saying there is no excuse for it is like saying there is no excuse for getting in any kind of accident. The individual involved was certainly not using proper gun handling rules but I'm willing to bet that each and every one of us has at one time or another broken a gun safety rule. Hopefully this guy learned a valuable lesson and will never have it happen again.
 
It was just an accident in which no one was seriously injured. Saying there is no excuse for it is like saying there is no excuse for getting in any kind of accident.
Click to expand...

Accidents happen. When a firearm goes off when it's not supposed to, however, it's not an accident, it's negligence. The attitude that says, "Oh, it's just an accident" is the kind that minimizes the severity of what happened. It's what makes people complacent, and makes them do something stupid.

If that person had done everything exactly as he had done before, except someone got shot as a result, would you be throwing around the "It was just an accident"? Of course not. You'd probably say he was negligent. Negligence happens whether someone is hurt or not.

The individual involved was certainly not using proper gun handling rules but I'm willing to bet that each and every one of us has at one time or another broken a gun safety rule.
Click to expand...

Whether I have broken the rules or not is irrelevant. He broke them and his firearm discharged. I haven't had that happen. By the way, do you do dry fire practice? If you do, you're breaking at least 1 of the rules, and sometimes as many as 3 of them. Yet most professional shooters say dry fire is mandatory. The difference is not being negligent while handling a firearm, regardless of the rules...period.

Hopefully this guy learned a valuable lesson and will never have it happen again.
Click to expand...

That's a potentially expensive lesson. Someone could have been seriously hurt, or killed for it.
 
Do ranges you guys go to have rules set in place to keep this sort of thing from happening?
Click to expand...

All guns do NOT get uncased until you are on the firing line. We have tables set up at each shooting bay that is placed within the shooting berms. All long guns that are not cased MUST have a chamber flag in them to be carried any where on the range and to and from your vehicle.
Our range is also a COLD range and is outdoors.
 
Albert Einstein
The big difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Click to expand...

Here in MA we have mandatory training. Plus towns get to add their own training requirements on top of the state's mandatory training requirement (this worked out to over 24 hours for me). I used to shoot at S&W's range, which makes you watch a safety video as well. None of this stopped some guy several lanes down from me dancing his laser all over me. I noticed it when I saw it on my arm. He was not doing intentionally.... just an idiot, who was not new to firearms!

All I can say is "be smart, and be aware".
 
Go to a "card-lock" indoor range in Milwaukie, Oregon. After shooting I go to the lobby to disassemble and clean my XD's. Carpet mats are provided by the range to protect the tables. Seems everyone I've seen here knows their stuff or is properly supervised. It's nice to just sit, clean and talk shooting with others. Hope it continues....
 
Go to a "card-lock" indoor range in Milwaukie, Oregon. After shooting I go to the lobby to disassemble and clean my XD's. Carpet mats are provided by the range to protect the tables. Seems everyone I've seen here knows their stuff or is properly supervised. It's nice to just sit, clean and talk shooting with others. Hope it continues....
Click to expand...

This will probably continue until someone has an ND. Not sure how many people frequent the range, or utilize the cleaning area per day, but statistically speaking, at some point, it will happen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top