Range Safety Officer benefits

[Gil Martin]

I have been working part-time for over a year as a Range Safety Officer at a large gun club (with 5,000 members). You get to meet a lot of folks, see a lot of things and get to shoot almost every week. It is amazing how many folks cannot sight in a rifle or fear the recoil of a firearm they just bought. Some people show up to sight in a rifle without any sandbags or rests. Others have ammo that is not suitable for the firearm they want to shoot. I help out where I can and offer advice and assistance. Folks seem to appreciate that level of attention. I also get to shot a whole lot of different guns and get paid for it. What a deal! All the best...
Gil

[Dan Morris]

RSO's at my club are unpaid.,,,plus we have a 900 member cap, with waiting list.
Dan
:cool:

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

Range Safety Officers fulfill a need. How many RSOs are on duty at your club and how many benches does each RSO supervise?

Adam

[Dan Morris]

The way we are set up,unless there is an event, we RSO each other! May sound strange....but it has worked for years.
Dan

[Gil Martin]

Our Range Safety Officers pull four-hour shifts. They supervise ten pistol ranges (eight pistol ranges are reserved for large handgun events) so two pistol ranges are active and four rifle ranges. We verify membership cards and guest passes and ensure safety and range rules are being followed. So on an average day, there may be up to ten shooters on the line at one time. There are a total of eight pistol benches and sixteen rifle benches. That means that RSOs are usually on the move going up and down the line. The vast majority of our members are safe and tend to follow our range rules. We tried to use volunteers and have members police each other. That rarely works so we went to paid Range Safety Officers. At this time we have about a dozen Range Safety Officers and at least one is on duty when the ranges are open daily from 8:30 A.M. to sunset. We do staff up on weekends and prior to the opening of big game seasons when more members are on site. All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

When I was the Firearms Coordinator for the agency, our regulations mandated one range safety officer for every six agents on the firing line. That did not include the coordinator; thus I ran 10 to 12 agents on the firing line and had two safety officers watching the agents.

Adam

[Gil Martin]

All of our Range Safety Officers have achieved their NRA Range Safety Officer Certificates. We simply could not afford to have multiple officers on the range at one time when only a few members are on the line. All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

I understand NOT staffing RSOs when NO ONE was on the firing line. My question was: HOW many RSOs are on the line for what NUMBER of shooters, per range? You mentioned multiple ranges so let us try again with a basic question. What is the Ratio of RSOs per Shooters per Range? Be well.

Adam

[Gil Martin]

Adam,
One RSO is scheduled per four-hour shift to cover the rifle and pistol ranges for most of the year. As I stated in my posts, we staff up a bit prior to the big game hunting seasons as needed. Perhaps a bureaucrat could determine the ratio of RSOs per number of benches. Remember, we are not a big budget federal agency and our members usually police each other. All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

Are you having a bad day? My question was: How many shooters does a RSO supervise? Your club has, as you said, 5,000 members, that is a brigade, or half a division. I would not call that size club small.

I have been a certified instructor long enough to know that no RSO can possibly supervise multiple ranges. I apologize, I misunderstood you to say you were a Range Safety Officer. If my prior post confused you, I am staying off your range. Meanwhile, please contact NRA for RSO guidelines, if there is a need. A $2.00 CVS calculator will assist you with determining ratios, the instructions come with the calculator.

Be well.

Adam

[Gil Martin]

Of course, all 5,000 club members do not and would not show up at the range at the same time. Do all members show up at the same time at your club? On an average day at this time of year the average number of shooters varies from 10 to 20 per four-hour shift. We have no problem providing effective oversight of our range operations. Your questions do not have any basis in what we are capable of handling. Are you an NRA certified Range Safety Officer? All the best?
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

You say you provide, "effective range oversight." Well, maybe yes or no. I am an NRA RSO, which is possible for any person to easily obtain, even you. Since you have NEVER been a law enforcement officer as I am retired from, you were NEVER able to attend and benefit from the Advanced Firearms Instructor training I had at the FBI School at Camp Smith for two weeks and the Secret Service ADVANCED training for another two weeks. Both the FBI and Secret Service training involved firing MANY full automatic arms above the revolvers, rifles and shotguns civilians employ.

The FBI, Secret Service and the Inspection Service has Range Supervision requirements you may never had understood. My point is, there is a Standard you and your club should aspire to despite your lesser level of ability.

I say again, NO RSO can possibly supervise multiple ranges. I have been trained and you still have a need. I will comment no more to you as I understand where you are coming from. I say again, I will stay off your multiple "SUPERVISED" Ranges.

Be well.

Adam

[Dan Morris]

Suggestion, calm down an little....right now, we all need to pull together for
our forum to survive.....JMO
Dan

[Adam Helmer]

Dan,

10-4. Sorry to have bothered you.

Adam

[Dan Morris]

Adam, you have never bothered me......just my thoughts on what we, this forum, needs to do. Hey, we all have bad days.
Dan

[Gil Martin]

Moderators should be held top a higher standard. If this is allowed to be the norm, you two guys will be the only folks talking on this site.

Adam, you owe this site an apology! All the best...
Gil