Body armor for Range Safety Officers?

[Ironbar]

It's entirely personal preference and in all honesty driven largely by my wife lol. Some wear T shirts, some vests or plate carriers. For me, I just lean towards that little peace of mind. But no, in 20 years they have not had an issue that I am aware of.

Funny, at the shooting range is one place in the world I feel LEAST likely to get shot.

 

[Lasers]

Funny, at the shooting range is one place in the world I feel LEAST likely to get shot.

I've never had a gun pointed at me more often than the 2 times I went to a public fee range.

Dispersed or club has been great, 9/10 I'd rather be in the forest

 

[JimBob]

You mean my little orange safety vest will not protect me? <grin>...

 

[Lesliet]

https://www.usacarry.com/range-safety-officer-shot-killed-during-uspsa-match/

So, this happened, not here in the pac nw, but my understanding was a competitor fumbled and dropped a gun, which went off, and killed his RO. So a bit of body armor sounds like a pretty good idea... the guys I've seen at ARPC in the stuff never made me think the range was unsafe, I just figured they were usually in their full gear when they were there.

 

[Dyjital]

@Lesliet there has been members bringing a lot of new shooters/guests and the members aren’t keeping an eye on them like they should or having more than two guests shooting.

These guests can and most of the time are the bad apples. 90/10 guests members. I’ve stopped countless flagging rifles, pistols and guests walking out onto the MR during a hot range (wtf)?

Pure and simple, these are what I’ve come across walking and talking with members and guests just over the last year:

• it was unloaded
• I know my firearms
• Nobody has ever been hurt
• I’ve always done it this way
• It didn’t used to be like this

Add any additional excuse here.​

The more I write it out, the more it makes sense to protect myself.​

 

[Lesliet]

The more I write it out, the more it makes sense to protect myself.

I hope my words weren't misinterpreted. My position is that I think it's a GREAT idea to wear body armor, especially for range officers.

As to all those excuses, yep, I've heard a lot of that from people, too. Everyone is an expert. Which breeds complacency, and leads to accidents. If a range officer is telling you something is unsafe, it's not the time or place to argue. Definitely time to comply, and spend some time assessing whether they might have been right.

 

[Dyjital]

I hope my words weren't misinterpreted.

Not at all. Just adding additional information.