Public Shooting Ranges

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Those who have private areas to shoot are indeed lucky.....I have seen a lot of unsafe practices on public ranges over the years. There are range officers available, but they can't watch everyone at the same time. I think that most of us tend to think of other shooters as being as savy as we are when it comes to firearms/firearms safety. The fact of the matter is that this just isn't so; there are a LOT of idiots out there. Either they discovered firearms later in life and didn't have their dads/uncles there to bop 'em over the head and take away their guns when they did something stupid, or they just don't have a clue.
Two instances come to mind...one was at a public trap range. We were set up when I looked to my right and saw the barrel of a shotgun pointing at us from about 3 stations down. I yelled and told the guy that he needed to point the barrel 'out there' and pointed to the open field. A few minutes later I looked down and saw the same S.O.B. pointing at me again! So I yelled down and told him if I had to look down that barrel again, he was getting a 12 gauge enima! (and I meant it!). A little while after that I turned and looked again....this time the gun was pointing at the ground and he was having trouble opening it (pump action), when all the sudden BLAM!!.....he blows a 12" hole in the ground at his feet! Started towards him and his buddy when they literally through their stuff in the back of his car and took off like a bat out of hell!

The second instance is the only one I truly felt sorry for....he was an old man in his 80s, supposedly a former Marine, and was busy telling everyone what they were doing wrong.....without taking into account that he was doing everything wrong himself (sweeping the line with a loaded gun, playing with gun/ammo during cease fire, ect). The range officer finally asked him to leave.