Very unpleasant experience at Ready, Aim, Fire range in Bucks

[ThoughtCriminal]

No.

It's like shooting someone in a car who is trying to run you down.....versus shooting someone who is talking on a cell phone and veers in your lane.

You're better off dodging.

As a range officer.....if I shot every person who made an error that I had to correct.......

Lycanhardtocountthrope

Point taken.

[Pocat6]

I got a question about ranges. So do you take turns when you shoot with other people. Or can you fire at will. Also do you have to tell people you are firing before you start shooting your gun? Thanks

[ThoughtCriminal]

lol, I didn't receive any negative rep for these questions......you guys are too nice. This situation really did occur and NO I would not jeopardize my RKBA over this knucklehead's actions.

[TonyF]

I went to Ready, Aim, Fire this past saturday with my father. As we were walking to the lane we both noticed that there were A LOT of people in there. There were six people to a lane in some instances, all of whom were renting weapons, eyes, and ears (included because it was evident they were very inexperienced). We were at the far end so we figured we would be alright. After sending a few magazines worth of ammo down range. A few kids came back to their lane, three down from us, with a full-auto they rented. These kids were about 18-19. I was in the stall shootin, when I came out to allow my dad to go in, he looked pissed. The kid shooting had turned all the way around pointing his weapon at everyone in the place, lucky I hadn't seen him or I would've fired. These kids proceed to get up to the line and just unload the entire mag, every single time. A couple lanes the other way, another kid turns around waving a pistol and his idiot friends decide to SHOVE him back into the stall. I would assume that there are idiot kids who attempt this at most ranges, however, the scary part is that there was an attendant from the range looking through the glass at everything going on AND DIDN'T SAY A DAMN WORD TO ANY OF THEM. This is the first and last time I ever set foot in this range.

Nah, we don't need no stinking training.

[Arcana71]

This just happens to be my local range, so I may be biased... but here goes:

In all the time I've been a member there, the staff has been very professional and extremely safety conscious. I've seen people ejected for less grievous offenses. That's why I'm shocked that the staff didn't take any action upon witnessing something asserious as what you describe. That being said, there where a few newer employees there on my last few visits. These folks remain an unknown quantity to me at this time.

Call them soon. Ask to speak to Joe (the owner) or Mark (the manager). Both of them, in all my experience, are stand-up guys who don't put up with any horse****. Describe your concerns to them in detail (though I'd suggest that you leave out the part where you had briefly contemplated executing one of their customers). I'm sure that they will lend an appreciative ear to your comments.

And truth be told, even I stay out of there on weekends whenever possible. Try them on a weekday... it's a different experience. That's the downside to running a public facility... you really can't choose your public.

[Falcon118]

lol, I didn't receive any negative rep for these questions......you guys are too nice. This situation really did occur and NO I would not jeopardize my RKBA over this knucklehead's actions.

You wouldn't be the first person that said things in the "heat of the moment". I certainly won't condemn you for saying a few things that you probably didn't mean anyway. Rep comming your way for calming down without going off to find the idiot.

[Konsukah_19]

lucky I hadn't seen him or I would've fired.

I sure hope not...

This is one of the many reasons why I try to not be around hardly any people when I go out to train. Havent been in a while, but, that's another story. I would really like to know where the range officer was, and why these young kids were allowed to rent a machine gun. I also would like to know, what are their posted range rules. Range flags, shooter on the line call outs? Their guardian rent that gun for them? Because along with the range officer if they were there, they ought to have their ass kicked too. Anyplace that can allow just any 18 year old to rent a machine gun, is really not the kind of range I want to frequent without any supervision. I would REALLY mention this to the owners of the facility.

Know what times to frequent places, and know when not to. Jackasses like these give responsible and safe gun owners a bad name. No wonder we recieve such bad publicity..

[zoom]

So if I understand this correctly, you saw an unsafe condition and turned a blind eye to it. Basically, you were too scared to approach the group on your own so you placed your own safety in the hands of the range officer, a person, who by your own accord, was not doing his job properly. And then you seem almost enthusiastic about using deadly force.

If you truly think deadly force would be justifiable in that situation then you really need to take some good training classes. Any prosecutor with half a brain would destroy your defense with very little effort. Hell, your defense can't even stand up on here.

If the RO was not doing his job then you should have stepped in. The RO at my local range said he has had guns pointed at him so many times that he is used to it. When he sees someone do something that is unsafe he tells them what they did wrong and he then demonstrates the proper method and watches the person until they utilize the proper technique. You can't simply tell them what to do and walk away. Stay there and follow-up on it to make sure they are acting safely and they understand what they are supposed to do. Doing something as simple as that would have only taken a few minutes, it would have prevented this situation from happening and it may have even taught them something.

[soberbyker]

TC, first thing I'd like to say, be very careful what you say/post on a public forum, heat of the moment or not your words can come back to haunt you. As we have seen, if you followed recent OC cases, this forum is monitored.

Secondly, if/when you see unsafe conditions at a range you (we) need to report it immediately, even if we think the RO was in full view of the incident. Although his/her face may have been looking thru the glass it doesn't mean they were seeing what you were.

You say these people were kids, probably excited about shooting, and as us older folks know, kids really don't know it all, and need to be shown how things are/work. The excitement of going out to shoot if you're relatively new to the sport can and does overtake common sense at times. Remember we were all kids/green once and until we were taught proper safety we may have made the same mistakes, intentional or not .

If you truly fear for your safety by all means get out of there, but please, pass on your concerns to the people in charge on your way out. We need to be able to police ourselves as responsible gun owners so accidents don't happen, so that the few ranges that are left aren't closed because of public outcry over stupidity.

Just a few things to think about, not judging your actions.

Bill
.

[ErSwnn]

My own experiences at RAF have been good ones. The one time I saw the MG being rented a staffer was with the group showing them what to do. As another poster said I do the same....check out what's going on before I unpack. For me, one tell-tale sign of general range safety is looking behind and above the fire line for bullet holes. Check out the walls too....lots of skidmarks there will also indicate some unsafe shooters. Once in the booth I always observe my fellow lane holders for a moment. Several times in my life I have reported negative actions....as I'm leaving before I was finished.