Bullet went between me and neighbor!

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You did the appropriate thing.

Stopped it before somebody got hurt.
I'd sure try and talk to them about a solution.

Can't believe some of the lynch mob responses.
 
Are you kidding me, the guys wife or either of you could be dead now. You need to get it on file immediatlly. This will happen again, you didn't fix anything. The guy probablly will go on doing exactlly what he was doing, figuring "i just need to shoot a little lower, or put another piece of wood on the backstop. You can't let this go, imagine if a kid or someone walking by gets hit or killed. You have to live with that.
The police will take care of the prosecutorial end, so if that's what's stopping you don't worry about it.
 
I am really slow to use the "think of the kids" argument.

Along the same lines of that argument we need to not shoot in the woods because a kid may walk by. Or worse! A kid with a dog and three little kittens!

Again. I am not condoning doing nothing. All I am saying is flies ... Honey. Besides we do not KNOW this will happen again. Franky, gym ... Your reply sounds rather hysterical in tone.
Let's not kneejerk this one ... Let's engage ze grey little cells as Poirot would say.
 
There is a reason why in most places, you are not allowed to discharge firearms. Bullets are equal opportunity and do not discriminate between unintended victims and paper targets.
 
There was a case about ten years back where another neighbor’s adult son was shooting his AR into a lake. I was out on my deck a good 150 yards away and could hear some of the bullets rattling off the trees behind the lake as they skipped off the water. Even though this man’s father owned the lake and several acres of woods beyond it, there was a public road and several new houses behind that. I walked over and told the guy what was happening. We sort of knew each other from the gym so it was not confrontational but I spoke in a serious tone. He acted like he did not believe me at first because he could not hear the ricochets with ear muffs on. I finally convinced the guy that you can skip a bullet off water just like you can skip a stone. His response was “We have always shot into the lake.” My reply was “But there have not always been houses back there. It is not all woods anymore” I said: “Look, you can do anything you like on your own property, but some of your bullets are flying off your property and every single one carries a potential manslaughter charge with it and you are responsible for each and every one. I shoot as home too, but I have a small dirt berm that catches every single bullet and none of them ever leave my property.” I think he got the point as he quit shooting into the lake and we remained on friendly terms at the gym.
 
Posted by gym: Are you kidding me, the guys wife or either of you could be dead now.
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Yep.

You need to get it on file immediatlly.
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On file? I'm not sure what you think that will accomplish. Probably absolutely nothing, depending upon the jurisdiction.

This will happen again, you didn't fix anything.
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Likely so. No one is suggesting that course of action.

The guy probablly will go on doing exactlly what he was doing, figuring "i just need to shoot a little lower, or put another piece of wood on the backstop.
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Could be, but whether calling the police would yield a different result will depend upon the laws in the jurisdiction, and more.

You can't let this go, imagine if a kid or someone walking by gets hit or killed. You have to live with that.
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Good thinking!

The police will take care of the prosecutorial end, so if that's what's stopping you don't worry about it.
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One more time, if one is in a jurisdiction in which discharging a firearm is unlawful, calling the police is certainly the appropriate thing to do. The OP has pointed out that that is not the case here.

If the shooter was not discharging the firearm unlawfully, I 'm not at all sure just what it is that people who would call the police think that that would do that they could not accomplish more effectively by themselves.

Let's look at two courses of action:

Scenario One: One calls the police:

  1. The caller explains the situation to the police dispatcher;
  2. the dispatcher takes the call and assigns a priority;
  3. a unit is dispatched to the scene when one becomes available;
  4. the unit makes its way to the neighbor's property and makes contact with the neighbor;
  5. the officer tells the neighbor about the complaint and advises the neighbor to make sure that his bullets do not endanger anyone again.

Scenario Two: One contacts the neighbor:

  1. The caller explains the situation to the neighbor;
  2. the caller makes the neighbor aware that he cannot accept further risk.

Does anyone not see that the second approach will address the problem far more quickly?

Is it not likely that if the caller were to go the extra mile and offer assistance in changing the set-up, the resultant "fix" would most likely yield more effective risk reduction?

Does anyone really objectively believe that calling the police is the better alternative?

If so, why?

Posted by Nushif: Owen Sparks just demonstrated perfectly how civility and a good talk can solve a lot of things.
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Most assuredly.
 
When ever you encounter a situation that can escalate, you document it, reason being that its the first thing you will be asked when you go to court, assuming the person who fired the weapon does so again. This is not hysterical it's practical. It's not the psysic hotline, you don't know what will happen only what did happen. I am with Owen a hundred percent, but there are those wo will say anything when confronted, go back in the house, and resent the interference and go about doing it again. Unless you feel that you are somehow equipped to decide who is rational and who is not, it's always best to document such things with local authorities, who will probablly just do the same as Owen mentioned. But I don't have to remind you about that saying when good men do nothing do I? If I knew for sure the guy was never going to do it again, I would do nothing, I don't know him. Practical and hysterical are two different things. Bulletts flying by my head is far from the normal day to day event. So far
 
Or your dead. It's not smart to confront someone shooting at you if you can avoid it. That's what the police get paid for.
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Quite a differenc ebetween someone shooting at you and someone shooting at an improper backstop not realizing you're even there
 
I don't see a big difference in negligently shooting a gun and drinking too much and then getting behind the wheel of a car.

If you are such an idiot that you don't know the the rounds from your rifle/shotgun/pistol can carry on and potentially injure or kill someone, stick to bb guns, and even then make sure whats behind the tin cans.

If I knew my neighbor, and rounds landed on my property/whizzed past, I would go talk to him/her and sort it out, without need to call police.

If I didn't know who was in the woods shooting negligently(or at me?) I would call out the sheriff and let them make contact.

Was the shooter a neighbor, or was he a local doper with a freshly stolen sks/ak/ar trying it out in the woods since going to a range would be hazardous to his freedom?

I would hardly call it a Lynch Mob Mentality to suggest that someone call the authorities... remember, lynch mobs would go stringing up people from trees for actual, suspected, or imagined slights against law and/or social conventions for that time and place... a bit different from calling the cops 'cause you don't want to catch a stray bullet in the head from some mouth-breathers rifle.
 
This was not an intentional act. A bullet probably clipped a limb and veered off at an angle. As far as having a "record" there are two witnesses (Me and the neighbor) and she also called her husband right after it happened. I live in nearby and don't want to make an official complaint about anyone shooting in the area unless I have to because whatever measures are taken will ultimately be applied to me. I moved out of the city to get away from all the rules and restrictions and don’t want a “No Shooting” ordinance imposed here and that is exactly what enough complaints will do.
 
i wouldn't have called the police either. could have very well been a ricochet. i would have just gone and talked to them. bullets can ricochet and do crazy things.
 
calling the police before talking to your neighbors would have more than likely made you an instant enemy with them.
about 10 years ago i had a neighbor who called the cops every time i shot and after the first couple of times it got real old for me and the cops.
 
Does anyone not see that the second approach will address the problem far more quickly?

Is it not likely that if the caller were to go the extra mile and offer assistance in changing the set-up, the resultant "fix" would most likely yield more effective risk reduction?

Does anyone really objectively believe that calling the police is the better alternative?

If so, why?
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I have shot informally outdoors in the country, on farms, peoples property etc.... we always ensure safety of range before firing a single shot. Anyone who does not is an idiot and I am sorry but deserves to be called out for their mistake. We do not lose our gun rights because people report these types of events we loose our gun rights because these types of things happen far too often and go uncorrected increasing the chances of a more tragic result.

I am not saying that I would call the police but you are making huge assumptions which IMHO you cannot back up. You are ASSUMING that the shooter will be a reasonable person who shares your concept of safe shooting. IMHO the individual has already demonstrated that he does not. Why are you now assuming he does? A reasonable person is not shooting a .223 round in the proximity of other peoples homes without a proper backstop. PERIOD!

I have seen people at public ranges doing things that endanger other shooters. I have seen people correct them or correct them myself and I have experienced positive and negative reactions to these necessary corrections. I personally have left both public and private ranges because some idiot refused to adhere to proper safety rules after correction.

I think you are applying a false sense of THR. Sorry but too many people in the world do not conduct themselves in a civil manner. In your strawman argument you are assuming you are dealing with a civil and reasonable individual. I think people act irresponsibly with guns should not be protected in the name of protecting gun rights. IMHO every single time we do this we do ourselves a disservice.

Again I am not saying I would call the police in this instance but if I got any push back from the individual I would have no issue calling the police. This person endangered the lives of others and is lucky it did not result in someones death. Why are so many people giving him a pass?
 
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how do you know they were shooting without a proper backstop?
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Bullet went where it shouldn't have with enough velocity to wizzzz past the OP. Empirical evidence tells me he does not have a proper backstop.
 
even the op said he thought it was probably a ricochet, so maybe they weren't even firing in their direction. there's a lot of speculatiing going on and the only way to know for sure is go over and talk to them. calling the police is dumb. they either aren't going to do anything or they will possibly overreact to it. the easiest thing is to just talk to them and deal with it like adults. if they dont listen or act like jerks then they obviously dont care and the police should be called.
 
even the op said he thought it was probably a ricochet, so maybe they weren't even firing in their direction. there's a lot of speculatiing going on and the only way to know for sure is go over and talk to them. calling the police is dumb. they either aren't going to do anything or they will possibly overreact to it. the easiest thing is to just talk to them and deal with it like adults. if they dont listen or act like jerks then they obviously dont care and the police should be called
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Again if you are shooting .223 in proximity of peoples homes and a ricochet can go across someones driveway you do not have a proper backstop and or enough room.... PERIOD. You are 100% right S happens and if you are going to shoot in a residential area you as a responsible gun owner need to account for that. IMHO

So exactly what part of my post are you disagreeing with? :banghead:
 
Posted by rellascout: I am not saying that I would call the police...
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Good.

... but you are making huge assumptions which IMHO you cannot back up.
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I am making no assumptions.

You are ASSUMING that the shooter will be a reasonable person who shares your concept of safe shooting.
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No, I am not.

I think it would be reasonable, however, to assume that one's neighbor will be reasonable and will share one's objectives of safe shooting. I have no idea whether he will understand the concept of safe shooting if it has never been explaind to him. And I would be willing to do that, for my benefit and his.

Do you really think tat a policeman would take the time to explain what constitutes safe shooting and a safe backstop and what does not?

I don't. Not in the general case, not for a minute.

A reasonable person is not shooting a .223 round in the proximity of other peoples homes without a proper backstop. PERIOD!
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I think you are confusing two things. One can conduct oneself in a risky manner through ignorance and still be quite reasonable. Not everyone knows what a proper backstop is. That does not make anyone unreasonable. It just makes him or her ignorant.

For example, I've been shooting firearms for more than a half a century, and I did not know until last year that a bullet fired down into soft earth or sand might well come back out and endanger someone behind the backstop. But now I know that. Has to do with the angle of entry and the equation of the ogive.

Others may not know how much a twig can deflect a bullet--until they are told.

I have seen very reasonable but ignorant people firing in a manner that I thought was dangerous.

In your strawman argument you are assuming you are dealing with a civil and reasonable individual.
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I have not put forth a strawman argument at all; I have simply suggested the best way to deal with an issue involving a neighbor.

And I did contrast that way with calling the police.
 
What rellascout said.

No one knows for sure how many other bullets have landed in that area. The guy was negligent. If the bullet had hit someone he would have been criminally negligent.

If you do not own property that extends to the full range of the gun in question then a backstop becomes very, very important; especially when folks live, hunt and/or play in the area downrange. In a situation where folks live downrange a few scoops of dirt will not do the job.

In the US Army backstops don't count for anything when it comes to determining surface danger zones.

If the guy was any good he would have come to the location the bullet landed and apologized for his actions. The fact that he did not speaks volumes. Be prepared for more shenanigans from this guy.
 
Kleanbore re-read your post. You are ASSUMING that you are going to get a positive result from both of your approaches. You ASSUME that your neighbor is reasonable. Furthermore you assume that the shooter wants your help. As I pointed out I have seen people "offering" exactly the same type of help that you are suggesting at public ranges and they are told to go pound sand.

I have not put forth a strawman argument at all; I have simply suggested the best way to deal with an issue involving a neighbor.

And I did contrast that way with calling the police.
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You should look up the definition of a strawman because you clearly do not know what it means. Nevermind I will post it for you.

The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern:

Person A has position X.
Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
Person B attacks position Y.
Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person.

You have misrepresented the argument of the opposing view. You have reacted a either or scenario which does not fully reflect reality or the actual events in order to attempt to prove that your course of action is the correct one. Sorry but that is by definition a strawman. You have committed one whether you admit it or not. If you are going to attempt to prove your point using syllogism you should avoid classic logical fallacies. IMHO

I also find this statement IRONIC.

If the shooter was not discharging the firearm unlawfully, I 'm not at all sure just what it is that people who would call the police think that that would do that they could not accomplish more effectively by themselves.
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The OP stated it is not illegal to fire a gun in his county as long as the bullet does not leave the property. He stated the following:

It is not illegal to shoot in the county just so long as the bullets do not land on someone elses property.
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I ask you in this case has the bullet left his property? If you do then did he break the law and if so shouldn't he be reported for the same reasons someone discharging a firearm in a county where it is prohibited?

Either way this guy needs correction sooner vs later.
 
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I have only had one other close call like the one I made in the OP and it was at a sanctioned shooting match. I finished early and was walking back to the parking area with my buddy when a bullet whizzed over our heads and hit the trunk of a tree about 15feet high. Evidemtly it had glanced off a target stand. Rumor has it that a car had its windshield broken at the same range another time and the owner quit using that bay.
 
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