Only At The Public Shooting Range........

[Lawdwaz]

So tonight I went to a local indoor shooting range (Wolcott Guns) to put some rounds down range in a couple guns.  I really don't enjoy shooting at an indoor range with guys & gals shooting handguns, rifles and shotguns just feet from me.  The "pounding, concussion and noise" really take some of the enjoyment out of it but that's what you get at a public range.  Other than that things went good; the guns shot good and I hit close to where I wanted.

I shot for about 40 minutes then was packing up when I noticed a younger (younger than me anyway) gal standing near my lane.  I paid little attention to her as this isn't the place to strike up conversation and I don't need any new friends, especially female.

So I packed up, went out to the men's room and washed my hands (before & after) taking a wiz then went to the counter to pay for my time.  After I finished up the counter guys sees this gal (referenced above) as asks if she had a question.  she says "can you show me how to use this gun?" He says "aaahh sure".  She says "hang on, I'll go get it"  He says "NO, I'll come into the range as it's MUCH safer".  I couldn't imagine if she would have come out with a loaded gun (turned out to be a .22 semi automatic) into the showroom of the joint. 

So I mooched around a bit and left without any other drama, thankfully. 

It's a very nice place with a fair gun inventory, plenty of ammo and other accessories.  They rent all manner of long guns and handguns and do some classes too.  Actually that's where I bought the Ruger Single Six a month or so ago at a good price......

https://wolcottgunsinc.com/

 

[Nomad]

Looks like I’ll be hanging around indoor ranges .

[Lawdwaz]

10 minutes ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

Looks like I’ll be hanging around indoor ranges .

She was a nice looking short black girl and dressed decent.  The place gets some very very shady looking in folks shooting on the range.  She wasn't one of them........

[Nomad]

Ha .

I happen to be going to an indoor range by my house this Sunday, with the youngest daughter. She wants to take me shooting on my birthday .

[Lawdwaz]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

(on Sunday)

[Marion]

Ha .
I happen to be going to an indoor range by my house this Sunday, with the youngest daughter. She wants to take me shooting on my birthday .

Isn't that the one that scoped herself a year or two ago?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[nyslowhand]

You also can get a lot of shooters with varied backgrounds and experience at gun clubs. Never shot at a public range, but assuming you get a more safety conscious & diverse background of shooters at a gun club's range, even w/o being monitored other than mere entrance to the range...!?! Gun club I frequent requires a one-on-one range safety orientation prior to issuing an entrance key card. Don't know so asking the obvious dumb question - Do public ranges do this?

Not meant to be a lecture or any criticism, but we all started out shooting as a newbie. At least for me, back then I needed some interpretation or reinforcement of the Rules Of The Range. Pretty sure most newbies would accept constructive criticism, reinforcement of safety rules or polite instructions as being helpful.

Not to get into the gun laws controversy, but JMO -  ALL NYS counties need to have a 1st timers handgun training/safety class before buying a 1st handgun or initial permit issuance. Some do, some don't! Not a 1-2hr cursory class and definitely not an on-line course either!!

Edited March 20, 2019 by nyslowhand

[Rattler]

1 hour ago, nyslowhand said:

Not to get into the gun laws controversy, but JMO -  ALL NYS counties need to have a 1st timers handgun training/safety class before buying a 1st handgun or initial permit issuance. Some do, some don't! Not a 1-2hr cursory class and definitely not an on-line course either!!

IMHO this would be a very bad thing.  I know it seems like a good idea, but look at the bad side.  Not all 1st time handgun buyers are clueless.  A woman may need it right now to protect herself from a threat.  The state could use this to prevent people from getting handguns by offering very few, and very infrequent classes.  It could cost lots of money for the class.  It goes a long way in making the right to own a firearm into a government granted privilege.  I could go on.

What this country needs is more personal responsibility and far less avoidance of firearm safety among the general public.  Years ago, anyone could learn about firearms and safe handling of firearms, just about anywhere.  The firearm safety problems we see among the public today,  have been caused by the government's interference in the firearm culture in America.  I see the absence of firearm safety training among the populace as a major negligence in their upbringing.  However, the last thing I'd want to see is the government controlling it.  

[ny hunter]

I used to shoot with  friend who turned to me something with a gun in his hand ... This happened 2 times... I no longer shoot with him.. People just don’t realize how quickly things can go bad.....

[LET EM GROW]

22 hours ago, ny hunter said:

I used to shoot with  friend who turned to me something with a gun in his hand ... This happened 2 times... I no longer shoot with him.. People just don’t realize how quickly things can go bad.....

Same here, MY best friend .. as we were in our senior year of high school a bunch of us guys went out back and started slinging clays with the hand thrower.. Well as most know, if you  dont snap the thrower right it wont sling where you want it too, well my buddy was up to shoot and a clay didnt break out right and sailed basically backwards right over our heads, without skipping a beat he followed the clay with his bead and shot it right over our heads. From that day forward. I only shoot with a select few people. 

I recently bought a house in August, and the neighbor boy (18-19yrs) goes out and shoots his guns.. no big deal. I told him he could if we weren't out back, and that if the role gets reversed that its ok with them if I shoot occassionally as well. Deal..  But lately i see him waving his shotgun around completely careless, even with people standing right around him and they all seem oblivious that a barrel is pointed at their face. Monday night he had the gun over his shoulder barrel parrelel with the ground pointing straight backwards, where his gf was walking directly behind him not 10 ft away..   Im at the point a discussion will be had with his parents(whom i only met once so far, when i had to retrieve the 2 trail cams their son stole from me). Not sure how the convo will go but its going to be had soon... my families safety comes first..  

[ny hunter]

Maybe a friendly chat with him would be better... Seems he has no idea about fire arm safety....Or he was just never taught.

[nyslowhand]

If you've ever been lurking/drooling around the gun counters of places like Dick's, BassPro, F&S, etc - you've overheard some hair raising conversations between customers and the sales clerks. Obviously there are people who qualify for pistol permits, buy one with almost no knowledge about them, take them home a couple days later, go to the public range with probably NO instruction or safety rules explained. If I were a frequent user of a public range, I'd want to be assured the person next to me was at least semi-competent of handling a weapon safely and how to use it properly. Asking too much!??! 

So some do not want any govt agency involved in this type of weapon handling and safety training. At the local R&G there are several seminars or training sessions put on multiple times a year by 3rd party companies that specialize in this sort of thing. Make the consumer responsible ($$) for having this type of training before any initial handgun purchases. Maybe I'm living in some sort of alternate universe, JMO it just seems to be common sense. Don't hear anyone complaining about the decades old hunter safety course. Similar scenario...!?!

[Rattler]

4 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

If I were a frequent user of a public range, I'd want to be assured the person next to me was at least semi-competent of handling a weapon safely and how to use it properly. Asking too much!??! 

I hope you realize that would mean you would have to prove yourself semi-competent every time you wanted to shoot at a public range as well.

So some do not want any govt agency involved in this type of weapon handling and safety training. At the local R&G there are several seminars or training sessions put on multiple times a year by 3rd party companies that specialize in this sort of thing. Make the consumer responsible ($$) for having this type of training before any initial handgun purchases. Maybe I'm living in some sort of alternate universe, JMO it just seems to be common sense. Don't hear anyone complaining about the decades old hunter safety course. Similar scenario...!?!

MAKE them responsible.  Who's MAKING them?  Doesn't that give whomever is making them the authority to deny them as well?  How much would it cost and how do you prevent that cost from being prohibitive?  Have you checked to see what a handgun permit in NYC costs these days?  Abdicating freedom for safety is not common sense. 

The hunter safety course is a perfect example of how the government can restrict what it deems an undesirable activity.  It is a great idea and it works, but with the government controlling it, it has become hard to find a class to attend, so few of them are run they always fill out too fast, the times they run are not convenient for many to be able to attend, the costs keep rising and the curriculum keeps expanding.  Notice how the hunting license numbers are dropping?  How much is caused by prospective hunters deciding it's too much of a hassle? 

I became a certified NRA firearms instructor so I could improve this incompetent shooter situation.  I train people who need it for free, on my own time.  When I go to a public range and see someone there who seems incompetent,  I introduce myself, congratulate them on becoming a firearm owner, offer my training services for free and recommend they join the NRA as well.  I think that works better than any government controlled and mandated safety class that, IMHO is not offered because the government is your friend.  If more competent shooters took this approach, I think we would have fewer incompetent shooters to worry about and we could eliminate the belief the government is the solution to all of our problems.

 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Rattler