Idiots at the range...

[Slade797]

On Friday, I was talking to a co-worker about getting his CCDW permit. He asked to see what I carry, and I agreed to show him. I unholstered my XD9SC, dropped the mag and stuck it in my pocket, locked the slide back and checked the chamber, then handed it over. Unfortunately hiw wife was also present, and she grabbed the weapon from him. "Is this a real gun?" she squawked, whipping it around and sweeping the whole room. Needless to say, I took it from her immédiatement! Yes, I explained what she did wrong, and why she should avoid such actions in future.

[shacobo]

After having a gun pointed at me by a German tourist because he wanted me to help him clear a double feed, I never renewed my membership and now shoot at a range on a Marine base. I have yet to see a moron shooting there.

[TheBigc1234]

I had a couple friends over and they wanted to see my gun, so I go grab it and I also grabbed my Blue gun XD SC. It was dark in my living room so they couldn't tell I gave them the Blue gun; first thing he does is aim it at my other friend squeeze the trigger and aim it around the house pointing at things. I grabbed it and explained you don't do that whether its real fake loaded or not. (He owns a .22 Rifle and has had plenty of gun experience just not safety.) This is exactly why i gave him the Blue gun first.

Also for range trips I guess I'm too into my shooting to notice about anyone elses idiocy.

[ryr8828]

I shoot in my back yard.

Going out there now to test out my xdm 9mm conversion barrel.

[Mad Pick]

Originally Posted by MROD

She hasnt been shooting since that day... I am going to take her again real soon. If I dont post anymore here you know what happened.

Yeah, get her back out there -- definitely.

She screwed up, sure. Most of us do, at some point. The big difference between her and many others is that she seems to have learned from the experience . . . so she should be "good to go"!

Some others mentioned stupid youthful experiences, and I've got one of those. I grew up on a farm, and always had a couple of guns around. My parents didn't use them, so I was pretty much self-taught.

One day I was sitting at the picnic table on the front lawn, resting my scoped .22 rifle on the table and aiming at a target. My little brother (maybe 2 or 3 years old) was out there with me, just playing. Well, I got all wrapped up in the shooting, and sort of forgot about him . . . until, just as I was squeezing the trigger for another shot, this big blond blur appeared in my scope. Yeah, the little bugger had walked around in FRONT of the picnic table and his head passed in front of the rifle just as I was about to shoot.

Fortunately, I was able to "pull back" on my trigger finger in time, and no harm was done. It scared the living crap out of me, though, and I learned a good lesson that day. I still get jittery when I see small children at a range, even if they are well-behaved and are being taught well.

[Toys4us]

Sadly, even well-trained/safety-minded individuals make terrible mistakes.

This story gave me the willies...
"(AP) -- A member of Salt Lake County's SWAT team left an M4 assault rifle in front of someone's home after leaving the scene of a standoff..."
ksl.com - SWAT team leaves assault rifle behind

When I told my Marine buddy the story, he said a similar thing happened to him. He was at the range and walked away leaving his rifle on a log. Luckily for him, he quickly realized his error and ran back and grabbed it.

Here's another one to make you say "doh!" (some guy with a CCP...non-secure holster...and one in the chamber)...
"a customer at Carl's Jr. accidentally shot and destroyed a toilet in the men's room. Workers and visitors will hold a funeral today for the now-famous commode."
ksl.com - Funeral services scheduled for murdered toilet

Scary...
"(AP) -- A man accidentally shot himself after dropping a gun at an ammunition business"
ksl.com - Man accidentally shoots self

...It's a scary enough world out there. Let's all be careful!

[Tard]

I was about 16 and had my S&W 6" .38 revolver on my hip at a friends farm, we were shooting targets. Two cute girls came up and one asked if she could see my gun (they were about 17). I almost handed it to her loaded, then unloaded it and handed it to her. She immediately started snapping the hammer while pointing it at everyone (unintentionally). I'd never seen anyone do anything as dumb as that before.

I told my dad (who taught all this safety crap to me) and he smiled a mile wide.

[Teufle]

I grew up shooting with my father on 50 acres of farmland in SC. I remember to this day seeing a 5-ish gallon plastic bucket flat out disappear after one 20ga. from about 10-15 yards. If that's not enough to teach one respect for what any firearm is capable of, I don't know what is. Being 12 and shooting snakes out of the water with .44mag shotshells is also a big eye opener. I just learned to respect them early on, and that carries into my safety practices today. Too bad not everyone had that sort of upbringing. Plenty of folks didn't have it, and are still 100% safe...it's just the ones that don't have a solid understanding of what they would do to a human, or what have you, that bother me.

[ThomasA]

Originally Posted by MROD

I never take shooting as an informal or fun outing, to me its dead serious. Some friends of mine dont think the same way so I just dont go shooting with them. My wife learned this the hard way... back when we were just boyfriend and girlfriend we went shooting out in the desert. I gave her to shoot a Ruger 10/22 with a hi-capacity magazine. I went through the safety drill and showed her how to hold the gun, how to aim, and how to load ammo and remove the magazine. She was shooting at targets and and I was behind her at the truck loading magazines. She turned around and said in an excited way, "ok, I am out of ammo" ... and I said "already", she told me that yea "I shot all the bullets" and then to my amazement, she started to aim and wave the gun pointing at me! I jumped behind the truck and she started laughing "come on, its unloaded! stop freaking out" ... I then chastised her telling her that you NEVER aim a gun at someone, its not something to joke about. She said "but the gun is empty!" and I took the rifle from her and aimed it at the targets and fired off 6 more rounds. I looked at her face and you could see all the color drain away... she just sat in the truck the rest of the time remorseful and scared that she almost shot me accidentally.

She hasnt been shooting since that day... I am going to take her again real soon. If I dont post anymore here you know what happened.

Sad that she hasn't shot since. But I'm sure when she does she'll be extra careful. It's sad that it takes a real scenario to make people realize. Most of us are the lucky people who grew up around these things so we could learn to use them safely and still enjoy them.
-Thomas

[GreenBayShooter]

Originally Posted by Teufle

I grew up shooting with my father on 50 acres of farmland in SC. I remember to this day seeing a 5-ish gallon plastic bucket flat out disappear after one 20ga. from about 10-15 yards. If that's not enough to teach one respect for what any firearm is capable of, I don't know what is. Being 12 and shooting snakes out of the water with .44mag shotshells is also a big eye opener. I just learned to respect them early on, and that carries into my safety practices today. Too bad not everyone had that sort of upbringing. Plenty of folks didn't have it, and are still 100% safe...it's just the ones that don't have a solid understanding of what they would do to a human, or what have you, that bother me.

Yep, my dad taught us well. First day of me and my brother shooting with him, we were about 8 and 11 years old. Here's a recipe for success: one 1 gallon jug of water, one 12ga 3" Buckshot Magnum shell at 10 yards. Nuff said. I have respected guns ever since...

Flash forward 8 years. I have 3 friends over. At this time, I'm 16 years old. I own a couple .22 rifles and pistols, and a BB gun. I had the BB gun sitting in the corner of my room. Friend grabs the gun and points it at me. I yelled at him "Don't do that - don't let it happen again!".

"It's just a BB gun" he says back to me.

I say "I don't give a F!".

Some time passed, then he did it again. Without saying a word to him, I walked over to him, yanked the gun out of his hand and cracked him in the side of the head [hard] with the stock and kicked him out of my house. End of friendship. I have no tolerance for that. Shoulda seen the look on his face!

The other two friends couldn't believe it. They left too after a couple minutes. I was pi$$ed.

Wasn't at the range (sorry off-topic), but same idiots.