HORRIBLE range experience, Wexford. PA

[NathanW]

I went to the Wexford game lands this weekend on Sunday (erroneously believing that there would be nobody there due to the Pen's game). I had a HORRIBLE experience there, but it was not due to range officials, it was due to the fact that at 5 pm there was NO range official! Upon arriving at the range (again around 5 pm Sunday) Someone yelled range "range clear check your targets". I was on the 7 yard pistol bay, on the far left side. There were 3 men and a lady in a group to my far right. I preceded down to hang a target and arrived back to a new group of fellows directly beside me. This was not a problem, however I did not want to hit them with my flying brass while they were shooting, so I would wait for a break in their fire to shoot. As I returned to the firing line I bring my own gun up to charge a mag I see a VERY LARGE stainless steel barrel pointing DIRECTLY at MY head with a finger BURIED in the trigger guard!! At which point I duck down and move back The whole time saying "MUZZLE, MUZZLE, MUZZLE"!! At which point the guy turns and looks at me with this very confused look on his face and again pointing his firearm at me, (finger still in the BURIED in the trigger guard mind you) At which point I instruct him to "Point the gun DOWN RANGE"!! He begins going on a tirade that the "Gun is NOT even "F" ING loaded", And next (now get this, and it is no made up, I swear) He begins twirling the gun around on his index finger "COWBOY STYLE" !!! At which I respond, "I do NOT care if the firearm is unloaded, "DO NOT POINT THAT AT ME"!!! So he retorts, "look there is not even a "F" ING "clip (second clue he has no idea of gun edicate) in it!! To which I respond, "What about the chamber!!!?" (you see, the slide was closed.) He replies, "do you think I would point a loaded gun at myself"? To which I reply, "I do NOT care if you point a loaded gun at yourself, do NOT point any gun at me!. Now he goes off on a triad of expletives, at which time I decide to pack up my things and going home. ( I am way to shaken up by all of this to shoot any more, nor do I want to be on a range where someone is displaying this poor of gun handling skills. Before I leave I try to speak as a gentleman to this fellow and explain to him nobody is looking for a fight here, but you should never point a gun anywhere but down range, and he again launches into another slew of expletives and stating that I did not need to yell at him!, I say I was not yelling, but needed to get my point across in an swift manor that he was pointing his firearm at ME. He goes off again, and I call it a day!
So why is it that you need a licence to drive a car, but any person with the money can buy a gun, which is FAR more deadly, and walk out the door with it!? I believe that there should be some type of small course given to firearm owners when they purchase a firearm, just my .02. Please feel free to share your stories.

[markheck1]

there's always one......
guys like that give us a bad name

[TonyF]

I've witnessed many similar situations.

What that fellow fails to understand is that 99.9% of ND's occur with "unloaded" firearms.

[wellcraft]

first your last sentence sounds like something you'd read on a gun control website, while there are stupid people who own guns i'm 100% against any kind of government mandated training/licensing in order to purchase a firearm. it violates the part of the 2nd amendment that says "shall not be infringed".

second, once they guy identified himself as a dumbass you should have stopped trying to reason with him. some people can't accept the fact they made a mistake so instead of owning up to thier mistake they resort to cursing and other childish antics. best thing to do is leave the range or move to another firing point. unfortunately there are plenty of dumb, ignorant firearms owners out there that practice unsafe habits and it's best to steer clear of them.

[Emptymag]

Well, that's the problem with rights.

Do I think everyone who touches a firearm should attend an instruction class? Yes.
Do I think it should be mandatory? No.
If you want freedom, sadly, you have to take the good with the bad.

I also think there should be a competency test before a person is permitted to procreate, but that's another issue altogether.

[HiredGoon]

How much do you want to bet that there WAS a round in the chamber...idiot

[Brown-Bear]

I believe in "Party Politics" so while I may feel that some sort of instruction at a minimum would be a good idea. I also feel that the rest of my 2a brothers in arms disagree and soliderity is all we have left, so I can't go aginst them on this issue. It may also be the 1st step towards a major "infringement" of our rights. Gotta take the good with the bad I always say. Sorry you had a bad day, but glad that at least no one got hurt.

[crakkajakka15]

You did the right thing and got out of there. Too bad a range officer wasnt there he would of probably chewed him a new one. The next time someone yells at this clown, he will think back to your time and say maybe that guy was right, which we all know you were.

[LittleRedToyota]

i used to shoot out there. i rarely do any more. i witnessed a few crazy incidents.

people handling firearms when the range was clear. people at the pistol stations not realizing there were still people downrange on the 100 yard rifle stations and starting to fire. people blasting away the target backstops, etc.

my favorite, though, was:

about 6 or 7 teenagers/early twenties guys all show up with one handgun.

one of them hangs a lifesized torso target at a pistol station (about 10 yards).

they all take turns shooting. they are all holding the pistol sideways ("gansta style"). all but 1 or 2 of them don't get any rounds on target. several of them are hitting the ground in front of the target (this is at 10 yards, remember).

one, immediately after sending all rounds into the ground in front of the target, gets on his cell phone and starts giddily telling someone how he is "out at the range killin' fools".

i cut my range trip short that day.

it's actually a nice range for what it is (stationary, static shooting)...too bad it gets abused.

(ETA: i would recommend finding a private club/range to join. assuming you find a good one--like PMSC, wink, wink--you won't have to put up with safety violations and you can do a lot more than you can do at the wexford range...like practice drawing and shooting, doing IPSC style drills, longer rifle range, etc. etc.)

[BenningBoy]

I admire the way you handled it. If I see a muzzle pointed at me, and the guy is an asshat about it, I tend to think left hook.