It is people like that who give gun-owners everywhere a bad name.

[cysoto]

Have you ever encountered someone which is so irresponsible around guns that you have told yourself:'
It is people like that who give gun-owners everywhere a bad name.

If so, have you had the opportunity to correct their actions? Did it make a difference?

[StagLefty]

I had a neighbor who was the perfect example of gun irresponsibility. He knew I was into firearms and brought a rifle over and asked me to look at it. Always kept his finger on the trigger, muzzle sweeping constantly , and of course there was a round in the chamber. He wouldn't listen to anything I told him about safety so I finally told him to leave and never bring a gun to my house again. Oh did I mention he was half in the bag also ?

[BPTactical]

I had a neighbor who was the perfect example of gun irresponsibility. He knew I was into firearms and brought a rifle over and asked me to look at it. Always kept his finger on the trigger, muzzle sweeping constantly , and of course there was a round in the chamber. He wouldn't listen to anything I told him about safety so I finally told him to leave and never bring a gun to my house again. Oh did I mention he was half in the bag also ?


What Stan fails to mention is he was looking in the mirror........[Coffee]





Having worked in a retail firearms shop we saw this buffoonery constantly. I always liked it when some dumbass would look straight down the muzzle and then I would tell them that was a really bad habit.
Some got it and turned white as a sheet when they realized just what they had done.
Most didn't though and would give you a dumb look and ask: "What do you mean?"
Never mind....






Love ya Stan

[cysoto]

I always liked it when some dumbass would look straight down the muzzle...
If it were not because I have witnessed this behavior from countless people, I would say that you were jesting. [russian roulette]

[rbeau30]

I had a couple friends out with me shooting at a place on some state land. This person had come with us several times so I felt somewhat comfy with his safety and experience with firearms.


He decided to bring his younger sisters with him one day. As I was attending to a firearm with my buddy at the firing line, somehow the hairs on the back of my neck started standing up.

I look behind me to see that somehow the three of them had apparently scooted back a full 30 feet or more behind the firing line over that last 15 minutes or so. The worst feeling in my life. The established firing line was now well in front of them!


Blaze orange spray paint is now ALWAYS with me to mark the firing line.

That and being VERY selective on who is with me at the range. I don't shoot with many people anymore.

[ZERO THEORY]

Any time I went into my local gunshop during peak weekend hours. Rule 1 violations everywhere.

I was camping over the summer and my friend's younger brother asked to check out my XD before we were about to go shooting. I withdrew the magazine, locked back the breech, and did a visual and physical inspection, then handed it to him with the muzzle down. He proceeded to start waving it around, flagging me in the process. I took my weapon back and told him why. He proceeded to tell me he thought I was 'taking safety too seriously; it's unloaded'. He didn't touch my weapons again.

[rbeau30]

he thought I was 'taking safety too seriously

I can never take my life too seriously.

I think that the lack of firearm safety in youth, and the practice of firearm safety while supervised by competent parents/guardians, etc is a big issue.


I was shooting competition at age 11 with structured rules and ranges. Safety was ENGRAINED in me. There was no there was no other way to handle a firearm without observing core values that the rules of the ranges and my grandfather taught me.

[bryjcom]

I get that feeling every time I drive out to Pawnee and see all the garbage left, (Shotgunners are the worst) and all the blasted road signs.

No reason you can't pick up your shit and no reason you need to be destroying taxpayer property...

[ZERO THEORY]

I can never take my life too seriously.


Exactly. We exchanged a short volley of deliberate words, although the conversation stopped at the non-verbal cue that I put forth which was essentially that if/when he did it again, he would get punched. It's not a joke or a passe matter to me, nor should it be to anyone else. Potentially wounding or killing someone in the process of an 'I told you so' moment isn't something you can just pass over.

[osok-308]

I can never take my life too seriously.

I think that the lack of firearm safety in youth, and the practice of firearm safety while supervised by competent parents/guardians, etc is a big issue.


I was shooting competition at age 11 with structured rules and ranges. Safety was ENGRAINED in me. There was no there was no other way to handle a firearm without observing core values that the rules of the ranges and my grandfather taught me.

^^^ This. There is also a side note here. I actually have won people, who were terrified of guns, over through my safe handling of firearms. I explain every rule all the time. My father-in-law asked me if I could check out an old rifle of his. While doing so, his daughter got very uneasy she explained to me that she knew a kid who shot himself with his dad's "unloaded" gun. I began to explain to her one of the four cardinal rules to guns: Treat every gun as in it were loaded. She began to see that the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction, that my finger was off the trigger. I took the bolt out even. After a few minutes of seeing me handle the rifle, she began to relax and even ask me a little bit about guns.

Any time I go to a gun store I feel like I see people breaking the firearm rules, it's not funny, it's upsetting. I'm surprised I don't see more places where the firearm safety rules are plastered on the wall somewhere.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

Not first hand, but per my dad. My dad is the middle brother of three. The younger one ("Uncle M") is quite responsible, he and my cousin have been shooting for a while. The older one ("Uncle J") is just a little more quirky. My dad and younger uncle (M) were explaining to the older why you'd want to use hollow points, "Uncle J" had only ever used FMJs. After some explanation, it all made sense except to actually go out and purchase some JHPs.

No, "Uncle J" suggested he'd just go take a file to the bullet nose and …...

I guess this provoked a double face-palm from the other two. I have no idea what ever became of it. I haven't seen either of my uncles in years. I'd like to shoot with the younger one or my cousin, but they live several states away.

[hatidua]

Have you ever encountered someone which is so irresponsible around guns that you have told yourself:'
It is people like that who give gun-owners everywhere a bad name.
-both times I went shooting in Lefthand Canyon.


If so, have you had the opportunity to correct their actions? Did it make a difference?

Someone in the their mid-40's (me) can't tell someone who is 18-20 (them) anything and be taken seriously.

[StagLefty]

This thread reminds me what my Training Counselor told the class about 20 years ago " when it comes to safety you don't have the right to remain silent ".




Back at ya Bert !!!

[MED]

Three weeks ago, I had to go and explain the reason for not shooting while people were down range. (shooting area by Buffalo Creek). Anybody who goes to the public shooting areas sees plenty of stupid; there is no shortage of stupid people. A few weeks ago, I had a guy decide to make a hard left turn from a stop on the right shoulder of 285 while I was going past him (probably the most idiotic thing I have ever seen driving). Avoiding the guy was difficult; but fortunately, I was able to correct. I just assume that people don't know what they are doing.

[Fromk]

I nominate a whole group for this thread. The "bad boyfriend" training instructors. I'm sure anyone who works at a range has there own experience with these guys. They're the ones who bring there girlfriends on a date to the range and guarantee they'll never be back. The get their ladies shooting guns they can't handle (little revolvers to large calibers), don't pay attention when both of their thumbs are behind a moving slide (bandaids always at the ready), and spend more time proving how macho they are than to take the time to be of any help. Sometimes you can spot these things and help out and sometimes you're just too late.


Luckily the worst ones never make it to the range. My favorite story ended at the counter. It's a little long but some of the details are important. Where I worked if somebody wanted to rent a gun (especially if they didn't bring their own) we performed a very simple skill test at the counter.


Pick a gun they're familiar with.
Have them load 3 snap caps in a magazine.
We take it, chamber a snap cap, put it back on the counter.
Explain that these are not real rounds but we're going to pretend that they are.
Ask them to SAFELY unload it.
Take a big, deliberate step out of the way to try and give them a hint.
We didn't try to trick anyone. All of this was explained before and during the test. It takes someone who know what they're doing a few seconds.


The guy is at the counter with his lady to his left. He picks up the gun, in one motion like someone checking their watch. He wasn't deliberately pointing it around. Just examining it. He sweeps me (FAIL), the other guy I'm working with, and rests on her. All in one motion that took less than a second. Suddenly we all hear this "click." She gave him this wide, hateful stare, the gun was returned, and they left. Not a lot of words after that.


As a side note that was only the second worst failure of that test I ever saw.

[Ronin13]

I see them all the time at the range- sadly. Many are these BluCore Groupon customers who got a really good deal on a rental and range time, show up with their thuggy-two-fresh buddy, rent a gun that they saw in a Bruce Willis movie, and then proceed to shoot like they're trying out for "Who wants to be a gangsta." I've said something to some of these idiots before, even offered to give them a quick lesson in proper handgun handling, and of course, they act like I'm the asshole... Usually I just say a word to the staff about this and hope they correct the issue. These kinds of people are the reason I'm on guard at the range. All it takes is one stray to totally mess your week up.

[cysoto]

..." when it comes to safety you don't have the right to remain silent ".

I like that!! [Beer]

[flogger]

I had an Uncle that had been hit with a shotgun when he was a kid, he said leather boots hanging around his neck and covering his chest saved his life. He loved showing us kids the BB that was still under the skin in one of his eyeballs. That was 50 yrs ago, I'm sure his message stuck with a lot of kids, it did me.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

I see them all the time at the range- sadly. Many are these BluCore Groupon customers who got a really good deal on a rental and range time, show up with their thuggy-two-fresh buddy, rent a gun that they saw in a Bruce Willis movie, and then proceed to shoot like they're trying out for "Who wants to be a gangsta." I've said something to some of these idiots before, even offered to give them a quick lesson in proper handgun handling, and of course, they act like I'm the asshole... Usually I just say a word to the staff about this and hope they correct the issue. These kinds of people are the reason I'm on guard at the range. All it takes is one stray to totally mess your week up.

Part of me really wishes that would end, the other part of me sees a lot of females their taking responsibility for themselves and learning.
But I have seen a ton of what you describe since I'm there often enough.

[Ronin13]

Part of me really wishes that would end, the other part of me sees a lot of females their taking responsibility for themselves and learning.
But I have seen a ton of what you describe since I'm there often enough.
Double edged sword. Oh, and obligatory rib- FUDDs give gun owners a bad name... "I'm okay with reasonable gun control, just don't touch my shotgun/hunting rifle." Otherwise known as "very liberal gun owners." [facepalm]

[osok-308]

Double edged sword. Oh, and obligatory rib- FUDDs give gun owners a bad name... "I'm okay with reasonable gun control, just don't touch my shotgun/hunting rifle." Otherwise known as "very liberal gun owners." [facepalm]

This. Often times the people I hear say things like this are the people who are breaking every gun safety rule there is.

[ZERO THEORY]

I see them all the time at the range- sadly. Many are these BluCore Groupon customers who got a really good deal on a rental and range time, show up with their thuggy-two-fresh buddy, rent a gun that they saw in a Bruce Willis movie, and then proceed to shoot like they're trying out for "Who wants to be a gangsta." I've said something to some of these idiots before, even offered to give them a quick lesson in proper handgun handling, and of course, they act like I'm the asshole... Usually I just say a word to the staff about this and hope they correct the issue. These kinds of people are the reason I'm on guard at the range. All it takes is one stray to totally mess your week up.

Gems from Silver Bullet:

-A three-man group of wannabe Gs shooting a semi-auto Tec 9. One was pushing it to the side of his body with his arm outstretch completely, flinching, then turning his head away and closing his eyes while firing. I left shortly thereafter.
-A Japanese kid on a student visa who wanted to see what it was all about. Proceeding to rent a P226, then place his support hand on the dust cover as if it were a rifle's forend.