Weird Events at the Range

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invention_45

New member
Anybody have truly strange range stories?

Here's mine.

I bought my first .45 at Anthony Arms in Pompano Beach, Florida. Got my CCL training there as well.

My daughter wanted to shoot, so I brought her along with me a few times. She wasn't ready to shoot the .45, so we rented a .38 for her.

We did this maybe 3 times. Then, a little after Christmas we went in again.

We were told that I could shoot, and she could, of course, shoot my gun, but we couldn't rent a gun for her. My daughter, bulldog that she is, wouldn't stop pestering the kid at the counter until he told her why. When we found out, I realized why he was reluctant.

It seems that, the week before, somebody had come in and rented a gun and committed suicide right there at the range.

My daughter sort of gulped and we decided to just go home that day.

I went a few times after that, then had to sell my gun. When I was shopping for my new USP45, I could not reach them. It appears they have closed, and I suspect this event had something to do with it.
 
invention_45,

I have heard of people renting a firearm at a range and then committing suicide with it. For that reason, most ranges will not rent firearms to anyone who is alone. You're right the suicide probably did have something to do with the range closing but I'm not sure why.
 
Very strange event. I never would have thought about that.

I rented a 1911 last week at the range. No problems. But then again they know me since I'm a member and have my own .45. I was looking to rent the 1911 to see how it feels before buying one.

Because of weird events such as this, I always keep a full magazine loaded with JHP while at the range. Just in case someone goes crazy I don't want to have my magazines empty because I'm training.
 
This is not as uncommon as you might think. Like Riverrat said, most ranges will not let someone who is alone rent a handgun, unless they are well known by the range staff. The range probably closed down due to their Liability Insurance going through the roof and they just figured that it was no longer profitable...possibly.
 
Wow, that is a very sobering story to read on a Friday. That does explain why a few ranges I've gone to have said that you have to be with a 'party' to rent a gun.
 
What bugs me is the fact the the business suffers from someone
elses decision to take their life.

Over priced insurance is ruining this country.
 
There's a thread somewhere around here from a TFL or 1911forum member who was at the firing line when one of these episodes happened - yup, witnessed it. Very sad story when anybody feels so much pain they can't resort to anything else - very sad.
 
We had a fellow commit suicide on the local indoor range here in Corpus last year; not sure if he used a rental gun or his own...

Other than that, I can't count the number of times I've seen people blow up guns with bad reloads; shoot the wrong caliber through their pistol (just look in the brass bucket some day and look for 9mm cases "blown out" to .40...); try to stick the wrong magazine in their pistol (in a combat shoot once, watched a guy DESPERATELY try to reload his Sig using a Beretta 92 magazine...); etc. The range is a whacky and wonderful place - as long as you don't get shot or hit by shrapnel...

Regards,

Kevin
 
Very sad story when anybody feels so much pain they can't resort to anything else - very sad.
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A very good friend of mine did it a few years ago and no saw it coming. He was a Vietnam veteran who evidently just could not live with himself anymore. At least he used his own gun (.357) and did it in his car.

But this topic is a completely different thread.
 
If you think about it, suicide at a gun range with a rented gun isn't that weird. It is horrible for all parties involved, but not weird. For the family of the deceased, it is actually somewhat less hurtful as the deceased doesn't die in a home, car, etc. that the family may have trouble occupying or utilizing again because of the circumstances of the death. Of course, it sucks for the range. No doubt they end up with some legal hassles as to why they rented a gun to a person who apparently was suffering significant mental distress. Did they realize it? Could they have realized it?
 
I was a "permanent party" officer at Fort Knox, KY in the mid '70's. Of course it was a Basic Training post, lots of new privates away from home. There was an average of three suicides per year on the ranges from basic trainees.

Fort Knox had another interesting procedure. Drill sergeants marched their platoons to the range and then left them in the hands of professional marksmanship trainers. Some would think it was to increase the level of training but it had the side effect of not finding trainees, loaded weapons, and their "beloved" drill sergeants all in the same place!
 
happened here in greensboro, nc at calibers but that was under the old management. i wonder with range ammo and a head shot if the muzzle wasn't pointed down range if the bullet would go through and through? the new owner of calibers has cameras installed now. he is cool too, but i bet he had to c.y.a. insurance on ranges has to be astronomical.
 
Happened at the range I go to last year. The bigger tragedy, the mans drug addicted teenage daughter killed herself the night before(with one of his guns), after being questioned by the police he went to the range, rented a gun and killed himself.

I wasn't a member then but I 'think' they are under new managment now.
 
several years ago a guy walked into a pawn shop in phoenix and asked to see if a chain saw worked. might have been a skill saw . any ways he cut his own head nearly all the way off. bled out right there.
 
I hate to add to the "commonality" of the suicide at the gun range but... I had a female friend that was suicidal. I believe that it was a combination of a chemical imbalance and severe depression.

If any one had a reason for feeling depressed, she certainly did. She lost an uncle to liver cancer, her grandmother, and her father in the span of just a few years. She felt that she was somehow responsible for their deaths. First, she tried to overdose on Tylenol. They pumper her stomach when she finally admitted to it after complaining of a severe stomach ache. Then she dropped a hair drier in the bath tub. Her sister told me that she could hear her getting shocked before the breaker finally tripped. To get to the point, she asked me to take her to the range and expressed a "sudden interest in guns". I told her I would think about it but I knew no way in heck would I take her to the range. Unfortunately, she was determined enough that a simple plastic bag did her in. She asphyxiated herself in a hospital where they were treating her depression.

While most gun statistics are put out by antis, there is one statistic that I believe... Gun owners are much more likely to suceed in their suicide attempts. Guns are much more deadly and death is much quicker. Death is often immediate and there is little if any chance of saving the person.
 
Because of weird events such as this, I always keep a full magazine loaded with JHP while at the range. Just in case someone goes crazy I don't want to have my magazines empty because I'm training.
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Same here.
 
i also remember that at the az sportsman on 7th and camelback here in phoenix a guy walked in and asked to see a 38spl. the sales man handed it to him and he then pulled out a round . the sales man dove to him and struggled a bit but the guy loaded it and killed him self.

if they want to at least hope they only want to do them selves not take a bunch of folks with them. that is the dangerous people. the ones who want to kill a bunch of others or force some one else to do it cause they are eunuchs and cant do it themselves.
 
Wow - very sad indeed. It's bad enough for the person doing it and his/hers family, but think of what it also does to the people at the range who may see it or have to deal with the after-affects.

I had rented guns at two ranges by myself, one where a RO was right there with you, and another where I was 'set free' in the range. I never thought about the potential suicide issue before.

While I don't keep an extra loaded mag around while shooting, that does seem to be a good idea. I've read online where people keep their BUG on them at all times while at the range just in case something bad does go down.
 
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