What would you have done?

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exbrit49

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Went down to the range with my wife today and we were shooting pistol off hand at 25 yards,
We were just about done when we saw a couple of guys waiting at the 100 yard shack. We finished up our relay and went back to the 50 yard line to pack up our stuff.
We were just loading the bags when I looked at the 100 yard shack and saw a guy all dressed in black pointing what appeared to be an AR15 down the range in our direction. I hollered very loudly at him “to point that "Expletive Deleted" AR15 at the ground and preferably lay it on the bench!” He shouted back we are just taking photos, I said I don’t care if you are playing tiddly winks, you don’t point a firearm down the range while people are there!
I was pretty hot under the collar as I don’t like seeing the barrel of any firearm pointed in my direction. I left the range and went home and cooled down, after more thought I decided to see if I could find any club officers and go and address the issue with the gentleman.
I found the club president and we went back down to the range and spoke to the individual, his response was “it wasn’t loaded!” I stayed calm and explained that I didn’t care it if was checked 10 times. YOU DON’T POINT ANY FIREAM AT ANY ONE, ANY TIME!
The president took his card and made a note of his name and said this is a formal warning, NO MORE INCIDENTS of this type or you are going to be banned.
The guy did apologize and also asked me pass an apology to my wife. I accepted the apology and said I just wanted to be sure that he would never repeat the incident, that’s how accident happen. We shook hands and I felt that he had learned a very valuable lesson.
How would you guys have handled it?
PS Yes it was an AR15!
Roger
 
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I think your reaction was a poor one. That kind of behavior can easily be the catalyst for an altercation. Firm but polite is the way to handle it. If he'd fired a round in your direction, different story. But he didn't.
 
.....I dunno. With the distance, and the fact that people were wearing ear pro, yelling might have been the only way.

I used to be passive about rule-breakers. Not anymore. I have started calling store managers, and standing up to morons who out-rank me.
 
I believe that I might have walked directly up to the guy and asked if he always ignored the cold line. He obviously needed some behavioral guidance, and perhaps a range officer was not necessary to enlighten him. And yes, sometimes yelling is the only way to make a point.

As an AR guy, I am kind of embarrassed sometimes by other AR guys, and this is one of those times.
 
Every one makes mistakes - including you . How do you want to be treated when you foul up ?

Personaly I agree with MachIV . You didn't need the curse word to get the point across, and it just sets up the event for an altercation.
 
Every one makes mistakes

Yep we all make mistakes but not potentially life threating ones, How would I want to be corrected? To be honest I would want to be told in no short order! Cuss words included.
If I screw up on the range I want to be told and I dont care how! Its not the place to screw up.
I was very calm with him when I went back and accepted his apology and felt he did learn something, What was I supposed to do walk my wife back up the range with an AR15 pointing at us?
I dont think so!
 
Hard to say if you did right or wrong. I probably would have reacted the same way. You could have been dead in an instant. Probably not the time to be polite. But I also see the point made about provocation.


Was he a young shooter? Hopefully he learned a valuable lesson today and not only does not make the same mistake again but encourages safe handling of firearms. 'Its not loaded' is how people get killed.
 
Wouldn't have been my choice of words, having worked in retail during college and law enforcement the last 3 years I know for a fact that "expletives" only serve to escalate situations. I wouldn't belong to a range that allowed people to stand around the booths and pose for photo's for starters.
 
Shouldn't have sworn. The ground levels pretty quickly after a verbal loss of control. Beyond that, you're all good in my book.

Fact is: many's the fool who's shot folk with an "empty weapon".

All snakes are poisonous, all dogs bite, no parking brake is ever on and ALL guns are ALWAYS loaded!
 
At my club, no handling firearms while people are down range, period. At the very least, he would have been asked to come down to the board of directors meeting to explain himself.
 
I think you need to keep your cool better than that. Getting loud and profane with the guy pointing a rifle at you, when you are seemingly in the inferior tactical position at that, just doesn't seem like a good idea. When you bark at a guy, instead of making a more polite (but firm) request he is much more likely to bark back. IF you think it wise you can always bark after the polite method failed.

I guess to sum it up: It sounds like you barked when you were in no position to be able to bite, but he probably was.
 
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I agree to an extent with WARP. You where in an inferior position with inferior weapons to respond. Calm heads always prevail over hot heads, especially in tactical situations. Why intentionally try to escalate a losing position?
I am of a mind set that an armed society is a polite society! I suspect anger management class is in your near future or a road rage incident.
 
Only my 2 cents...

I take it Very seriously when a gun is pointed in my direction as a direct consequence of rule #1 "Never point a weapon at anything You do not intend to shoot."

I'd say you did the right thing with that in mind. OTOH (on the other hand), I would personally be very careful to judge how confrontational I am in a 'controlled' situation that involves guns ;)
 
What kind of a range lets you go down to the 25 yard line to shoot?? The shooting line should be all the same with the yardage to the target being th only difference. CALL Range Cold or the RO should call it to get your targets but thats the only darn reason to be down there. Maybe you need a differnt range. I also know a few guys that if you got that sharp with by mouthing a couple fine 4 letter words at would have been in your face for lack of basic controls on your part too. Sounds more like evrone need some better range education.
 
I had a lazer dealer put a red dot on me from 50 yards away at a gun show one time. Even though it was mounted on a toy pistol I had no way to know by looking and my first instinct was to dive for cover. He thought it was funny until I came over and to his table and thretened to smash it.
 
You do something stupid like that, you deserve to be cursed at. You did absolutely nothing wrong. If you had continued to berate the guy when you went back, different story.

All snakes are poisonous, all dogs bite, no parking brake is ever on and ALL guns are ALWAYS loaded!
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Agreed except for the snakes part. I see a lot of people killing non-venomous snakes because of this line of thinking. I will agree that if you don't know what it is, you should leave it alone.
 
Sounds like the lines were parallel to each other, and the 100 yard guys on the far left or right of the OP.

OP did the right thing. His response to the OP's safety concern says it all. "...just taking photos" and "it wasn't loaded" are just excuses and not an acknowledgement of his mistake. He either had no clue that what he did was wrong, or he was too wrapped up with himself to care. I suspect both.

If you had left it at that and not reported him, he would have blown you off and would continue his dangerous behavior.

I've had someone start shooting one time while I was down the range setting up my targets. Granted he was way on the other side of the range, but I hit the deck when I heard the first shot. I then look up to see my wife running towards them waving her hands to cease fire. His response was that I should have let him known I was down there... The line was cold, and that range was not very strict (early light range day = no supervision and communicate/call your own line breaks), so reporting it would be useless. I packed up and left.
 
exbrit49, I can understand your frustration. Folks have already said that you should not have used profanity and you have said that you would want to be cussed at if you did something that boneheaded.

Not anymore. I have started calling store managers, and standing up to morons who out-rank me.
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I guess that both you guys just assumed that the guy with the AR15 who held the decidedly more powerful and less endangered position had the proper mindset such that he would not act on impulse to shoot you. He may not have had his meds today.

If you are going to cuss at the guy, then don't be so stupid as to do so when you hold such an inferior position.

What kind of a range lets you go down to the 25 yard line to shoot??
Click to expand...

Some of the best ranges in the US.

The shooting line should be all the same with the yardage to the target being th only difference.
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I take it that you have never been to the Whittington or many other long range shooting facilities where they definitely do not have the targets changing range, but the shooters. Neither setup is right or wrong, just different.
 
I think I would be as justifiably outraged as you were.
I don't take kindly to being put in a position to look down the barrel of a gun.
I doubt I would have said, "Excuse me, sir, would you mind not pointing a firearm at me? Thank you."
Polite has it's time and place but I'm not sure this is one of those times or places.
If the range considers this acceptable then I'd find a new range.
 
this comes under 3 of my favorite sayings in life,
1 "The check is in the mail"
2 "Of course I'll respect you in the morning"
3 " Relax it's unloaded" or "I didn't know it was loaded"
Other than the deletd explatives you were well within your rights to be upset and reading him the riot act was well within your pervue
 
I think your reaction was a poor one.
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I agree. Approaching the guy and CALMLY explaining to him that what he was doing was wrong would have been the better approach. If he had been unreasonable about it THEN tattling on him to the club president would have been good.

Your belligerent attitude, though understandable, could have easily caused the guy to go on the defensive.

An example. I had a guy like you approach me at a range once. He was mad because I had picked up my pistol to show another shooter while the range was cold. I had never been on a controlled range before and didn't know any range rules. I didn't know any because the range we where on didn't have any. He had just declared himself supreme range officer and had made it a controlled range before I had arrived. This created confusion though his intentions where good. However, he lost his cool when he came over to teach me the errors of my ways. Red faced and screaming obscenities, I learned nothing from him and I honestly though at the time that he was going to make me shoot him. He was that furious.

There are always going to be young shooters who make mistakes. Correct them. Calmly. You were new to guns once too and someone had to teach you how to do it right. Stay calm. Focus. And solve the issue at hand. Puffing up, being angry, cussing, and getting in peoples faces might make you feel manly and cool but it isn't going to help anyone in the end.
 
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