Learning the Hard Way
Around 35 years ago... so long ago I still had hair, I would shoot from time to time at an "open" range near Winter Haven Florida.
Now, I realize I had no excuse for doing that, but the private club I belonged to was about 15 minutes farther drive and I was lazy at tmes....
Bright and early one Sunday morning I met two State Troopers I knew and we went to the "open" range to shoot... we had some new toys and were having a pretty good time trying them out.
A guy drove up in an old Ford low rider of some sort, that looked as scruffy as the guy did... about three days of beard, blood shot eyes...I should have left then....BUT... youth and lack of experience prevailed. I did think to myself this is some sort of scumbag.
So happily popping .45 acp rounds out of my then new Gold Cup I blissfully faced my fate....
BANG! the guy next to me let go a round, as I was holding the Gold Cup ready to squeeze off a round... I felt a bump in the middle of the inside of my forearm and a burning feeling... looked down and saw I was bleeding....
looked to my left and there was Scumbag holding a chrome revolver still pointing at me and looking surprised... I swung my .45 to my left and alligned my sights...
At that point one of my State Trooper friends gently pointed my Gold Cup away from the Scumbag, whilst the other Trooper disarmed the shooter.
Turned out scumbag was VERY drunk, was on parole and did not own the car... why he stopped I'll never know... anyway deputies came and hauled him away.
Found out I had been hit with a .22 short in the arm... not a lot of damage done... in fact the emergency room did more damage removing the bullet than the bullet did going in... enlarged the size of the scar produced considerably but I guess you could say all's well that ends well.
I learned my lesson very well... I avoid drunks, morons, idiots, jerks and scumbags when shooting (well any time I can for that matter) since then... so a cheap lesson you could say.
FWIW
Chuck