No question about it: you were assaulted and robbed, badge or not!!
You may have even been stalked.
Grey morel::You stated,"The same range rules are posted at this range that are posted at the other DNR ranges that i have been to...." At the Winnamak (DNR, Public no-fee) range there was a new rule posted 6/16, that only applies to Illinois residents: IL residents may NOT bring private handguns into Indiana to shoot. Per In. State Police. This is too new to be challenged, but it sure looks contrary to the Second Amendment. IOW, at In. ranges, an Ill. license plate makes you look like a felon with a gun!! !! !!// john BT :: "I'd grab a BUG and shoot him." Let's see, he's holding a loaded gun - yours - and has one of his own and you're going to try and outdraw him? How foolish are you? You can't be that stupid can you?"" Hey, JohnBT, somebody has just STOLEN my handgun, and I didn't see who/what he was, and I have a rifle in my hands. Hmmmmmmmm; has the word "Buttstroked" ever entered your mind?? Just what would be the normal reaction?? Duuuuuhh!! // Macgille says, ""The idiot who grabbed your gun should have been decked on the spot. There is no reason to have a handgun in a holster while you are shooting a long gun." Oh really !?!?!? Ever heard of the 2d amendment?? "...shall not be infringed (be the infringer a R.O. or not." In IN. there is NO rule or law preventing a long-gun target shooter from CARRYING ON HIS PERSON a pistol NONE!! // {Officers' wife}: (Is that apostrophe in the right place??) ::"In Indiana a DNR employee is considered a law enforcement officer." So is a Police dog, and this RO was dumber that THAT!! ANYONE pulling my weapon out of my holster from behind my back gets DECKED, and THEN I.D.d. It's the old "judged by 12 vs carried by 6" argument. A DNR employee is not necessarily inbued with LEO authority. IOW, it may just be the badge that gets the on-that-spot authority. DNR personnel don't take the LEO oath. Stalking me from my blind-side and stealing my weapon without announcement is not just PLAIN STUPID AND RUDE, it may be deadly. When I was shooting recently, a pair of "Dudes" in the typical teen-age regalia came to the 25yd range and broke out and loaded-up NINE handguns to show their tag-along girlfriend how to shoot to protect herself. They all 3 were very mannerly, all muzzles always downrange, announcing going to post tgts, "fire in the hole", and all that. As I left I pondered, that if some person knew that these kids had all of these guns out at once, it would be an easy "smash-n-grab" (in this case "shoot'em-dead-n-grab") to kill 3 teens and grab the weapons. Not keeping a BUG in reserve for cases like this is silly. I believe that one of our site members was killed at a range for his guns. And my last rant: I would have decked the "assailant" and asked questions later. I might even have shot "him", whoever "it" might have been, depending on the "condition" of my long-gun at that moment. Just my $0.02
XX