Ya Know........I Guess Real Stupid Is Getting Worse

[arrowshooter]

I was out at Wolf Creek this morning wringing out some 22's on Lane 4, and a couple of gentleman (my age) asked if they could join me which I never refuse. I sat back and let them get their stuff setup, and they were up on range cold/hot, so great right? NOT!

First sign was AR dude pulling an AR off the line that was still HOT (I have no idea if the safety was even on) to work on the scope at the car and then reminded himself out loud to clear it before he walked back to the line. I let that one slide.

Final sign was they called for a cold range to change targets so I went out to pick mine up also. As I reached down to pickup the 70 yd target I heard a pistol rack and when I looked up pistol dude was setting a pistol back down on the table. Then as I pickup my second target at 50 yd, pistol dude is showing his pistol to his buddy and it's pointing right at me. NO SLIDING ON THIS ONE!!!! When I said/yelled something to them, pistol dude just showed me that he had his pistol in one hand and the mag in the other, F. When I got back to the line he looked at me and said his pistol was unloaded, but I was so pissed off that it was best for me to just shut up and leave. Totally bubblegumming oblivious.

A couple of weeks ago, again on Lane 4, a guy shows up to shoot with his 10 year old son which is wonderful. So I sat back as I normally do and proceeded to watch this guy rig up an AR pistol out of a back pack then sling it over his back in such a way that the muzzle was pointing at is kids head while he starts loading mags. Again F. That dude got learned, nicely in front of his son of course, but he had no clue either since he said there was no mag in it.

I am to the point where I am going to go back to my one man spot and be done with it. Plus I can get an honest 100 yards there anyway.

PS: Sorry, but if a mod wants to delete the "F", that's fine, but it's really how I feel on this subject and bubblegum just does not cut it. I did use bubblegum once though .

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[cigars]

Safety is no joke. When goons like that invade your lane, leaving is usually the best option. You can't fix stupid.

 

[RyanG90]

Couldn't agree with you more, I've ran into this few times on larch not to this extreme but there are a lot of ignorant gun owners out there and it is scary.

 

[Diamondback]

Safety is no joke. When goons like that invade your lane, leaving is usually the best option. You can't fix stupid.

True, best you can hope for is that the Stupid brings a Darwinian Self-Correction AFTER you've established a safe distance.

 

[arrowshooter]

100%

These dudes are lucky I didn't have my young grand daughter with me this trip. I think I have already shared the plight of the idot that just could not be any more stupid and how it fared for him, but it's been awhile so I'll keep it short.

My son, his daughter (she was 8) and myself are on Lane 2 and she is having a ball. We hear a car drive up and the door close, so as I turn around I step in front of my G daughter (I am between her and him) and see that my son is already halfway between us and this camoed out dude. Everything is calm but on alert. Dude explains he was out deer hunting and wanted to check out the lanes, so we educated him about the spot. He thanked us for the information and got back in his car to leave, or so we thought, and we went back to having fun. But then a second door shuts on the car and that's when stuff hits the fan. My son starts yelling and this time I grab my G daughter by her belt and drop her over the jersey barrier as I turn around. My son was at this guy in full defense mode and this guy was standing there holding this monster 500 mag, bubblegumming his pants. He tried to explain that he just wanted to show us his gun, so we explained right back that he should have asked if we wanted to see it first and to get the bubblegum out of there.

STUPID!

 

[Aero Denezol]

A lot of idiots out there. Same people who lose a finger on the bansaw or back over the family pet. Or leave the hose running all day.

I used to say "this is why I belong to a private range", but I'm seeing more and more idiots at my club too. A lot of these guys think the rules are beneath them. It's more important to look cool than to be humble and do things the right way.

 

[Kruel J]

Damn man, that sucks. Probably about 8 years ago I was going to shoot at a rock pit I've been to before in Estacada. As I pull into the pit I see a group of young guys with guns. One proceeds to shoot his AK right next to his buddy's head then laugh hysterically. This happened before i even exited my truck. Which worked out because I turned right around and left. Idiots.

 

[Frank RW]

people aren't born with gun safety knowledge. it's not "common sense". nothing can fix that but training and experience.

the gun community would scream bloody murder, but i don't think it's a bad idea for a show of some level of competence before buying a gun.

 

[oremike]

Sounds like just another day around Portland to me. 30 years ago or so me and another guy were shooting at a 100 yd berm up above Estadada. You know 2 pickups backed in with the tailgates down 100 yds or so from the berm should be pretty obvious, right? Well into our AO comes a few Toyota land cruisers , I mean like between us and the berm and then up and over the berm. We can hear them on the other side of the berm, out of sight ripping up the mud hole that was over there. After a few minuets they come back over the berm and drove off. It quite literally was like we weren't there

 

[bionic knees]

I don't shoot with people not in my group "usually very small, 4 at most" and that is just the way it is.

 

[TTSX]

Mistakes happen, but pointing a gun at someone, loaded or not is a conscious decision. Maybe you should have pointed one right back at him, see how he likes it. Because it's no big deal, right? Since you know, it's "unloaded" and all

 

[bpyycpyy]

Main reason I no longer go to public land/ranges to shoot. Too many idiots using them along with great people but you just never know which...

There's a huge reason why there is a no hands on firearms, unloaded (verified by bolts/slides back) and magazine removed while anybody is downrange rule. My club has a red line behind the firing line and nobody is supposed to cross it while range is cold. No handling of firearms even to put them away until the range is hot. I saw this once on the pistol line, well away from me but someone's young guest picked up a 22 rifle while range was cold. It was promptly dealt with by the parent/supervisor of that party with a sharp/loud request to put the rifle down immediately. Some people don't have a great attention span and do things carelessly sometimes so when I bring guests, I try to remind them casually of range rules (prevents me from having to be an ahole).
I'm with Frank RW on this where I think a gun safety test should be required (it's required to drive a car) to prove competency but don't see how it could be enforced. I guess WA tries a bit here by requiring anyone born after 1971 to obtain a hunter education certificate before a hunting license can be purchased.

 

[TTSX]

Main reason I no longer go to public land/ranges to shoot. Too many idiots using them along with great people but you just never know which...

There's a huge reason why there is a no hands on firearms, unloaded (verified by bolts/slides back) and magazine removed while anybody is downrange rule. My club has a red line behind the firing line and nobody is supposed to cross it while range is cold. No handling of firearms even to put them away until the range is hot. I saw this once on the pistol line, well away from me but someone's young guest picked up a 22 rifle while range was cold. It was promptly dealt with by the parent/supervisor of that party with a sharp/loud request to put the rifle down immediately. Some people don't have a great attention span and do things carelessly sometimes so when I bring guests, I try to remind them casually of range rules (prevents me from having to be an ahole).
I'm with Frank RW on this where I think a gun safety test should be required (it's required to drive a car) to prove competency but don't see how it could be enforced. I guess WA tries a bit here by requiring anyone born after 1971 to obtain a hunter education certificate before a hunting license can be purchased.

As much as I would like to see more competent shooters, comparing a privilege such as a driving license to a right, such as bearing "arms" whatever those happen to be at the time doesn't add 2+2. In trying to stay logically consistent with my views, I have to respect what rights and privileges are and the differences between them

 

[CLT65]

Off topic a bit, just a comment about car vs. guns. We often hear how cars have to be registered, how you need training, license, and insurance to drive them, so we need to do the same with guns.

They seem to forget that you only need these those things to operate a vehicle on a public road. You can have as many cars as you want, and drive them as much as you want, with no registration, license or training, on your own property or private track.

I'm a huge proponent of safety training, but I don't know about the efficacy of legally requiring it. It's required for a drivers license, yet the roads are full of reckless jerks with no regard for the rules of the road.

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Last time I was at Brown's Camp there was a big rock pile in the middle or it with some idiots hiding behind it while some other idiots shoot at the pile. Spent about 30 seconds trying to figure out if my brain was playing tricks on me and than NOPED! the fudge out of there

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

I was out at Wolf Creek this morning wringing out some 22's on Lane 4, and a couple of gentleman (my age) asked if they could join me which I never refuse. I sat back and let them get their stuff setup, and they were up on range cold/hot, so great right? NOT!

First sign was AR dude pulling an AR off the line that was still HOT (I have no idea if the safety was even on) to work on the scope at the car and then reminded himself out loud to clear it before he walked back to the line. I let that one slide.

Final sign was they called for a cold range to change targets so I went out to pick mine up also. As I reached down to pickup the 70 yd target I heard a pistol rack and when I looked up pistol dude was setting a pistol back down on the table. Then as I pickup my second target at 50 yd, pistol dude is showing his pistol to his buddy and it's pointing right at me. NO SLIDING ON THIS ONE!!!! When I said/yelled something to them, pistol dude just showed me that he had his pistol in one hand and the mag in the other, F. When I got back to the line he looked at me and said his pistol was unloaded, but I was so pissed off that it was best for me to just shut up and leave. Totally bubblegumming oblivious.

A couple of weeks ago, again on Lane 4, a guy shows up to shoot with his 10 year old son which is wonderful. So I sat back as I normally do and proceeded to watch this guy rig up an AR pistol out of a back pack then sling it over his back in such a way that the muzzle was pointing at is kids head while he starts loading mags. Again F. That dude got learned, nicely in front of his son of course, but he had no clue either since he said there was no mag in it.

I am to the point where I am going to go back to my one man spot and be done with it. Plus I can get an honest 100 yards there anyway.

PS: Sorry, but if a mod wants to delete the "F", that's fine, but it's really how I feel on this subject and bubblegum just does not cut it. I did use bubblegum once though .

This is exactly why I refuse to allow people I don't know to shoot near or with me. All it takes is one "whoopsies" to not go home that night. Its also why I generally dislike most "new" shooters until I get to know them.

My last straw was at Browns Camp when a bunch of "gangsters" pulled up in one of those old cadillacs and litterally positioned their vehicle sideways to shoot out the window as if they were doing a drive by. They/he then fired out the window without telling anyone downrange or below eyesight in the pit that they were shooting let along shooting from the vehicle.

The two other groups of dudes as well as myself freaked out and all yelled (some aimed their firearms AT the Cadillac) and the "gangsters" sped off.

The first negative experience at BC was skin head "southern pride" dorks (flags and all that) drinking (heavily) at the pit at BC zero muzzle awareness and shooting out the back of their truck bed as well as posting up on the side like they were doing active shooting drills.. Once I physically saw the alcohol I was out of there.

 

[Member 34319]

It's depressing to admit, but part of the reason I left Trash No Land and proceeded to get a Tri County membership, was witnessing way too much of this.

 

[Mikej]

No one but me thinks another way to handle things like this could be a gentle education? Coming unglued on a guy in front of his son is going to be extremely demeaning. That's not the best way to educate people. That's one reason I'm hesitant to, or downright refuse, to join a range with RSOs. I know the rules BTW. Cold range, hot range, the whole thing. But IF, you get yelled at for a minor mistake? No, EFF that.

 

[Kruel J]

No one but me thinks another way to handle things like this could be a gentle education? Coming unglued on a guy in front of his son is going to be extremely demeaning. That's not the best way to educate people. That's one reason I'm hesitant to, or downright refuse, to join a range with RSOs. I know the rules BTW. Cold range, hot range, the whole thing. But IF, you get yelled at for a minor mistake? No, EFF that.

Depends on the range.

 

[bpyycpyy]

No one but me thinks another way to handle things like this could be a gentle education? Coming unglued on a guy in front of his son is going to be extremely demeaning. That's not the best way to educate people. That's one reason I'm hesitant to, or downright refuse, to join a range with RSOs. I know the rules BTW. Cold range, hot range, the whole thing. But IF, you get yelled at for a minor mistake?

I agree with not being a douchebag when the situation allows for it but pointing a gun downrange when the range is cold isn't what I would consider "a minor mistake". If it takes a little demeaning of the "snowflake" to get the idea instead of talking with the police why there is an injured/dead body due to their actions, then I'm OK with that.