Range failure.

[briandg]

http://fox2now.com/2017/02/17/accidental-shooting-reported-at-neosho-gun-range/

Not really any information available that gives a clear picture. The public range has only got 25 yard stations. Because of this, people who want to shoot shorter range must move up in front of the line, and count on those at the line to engage in safe practices.

Short version, a 72 year old man shot another guy in the back who was standing at 15 yards.

His excuse was that he was working on his "unloaded" gun that had failed to fire, and had reassembled it. The round supposedly fired as the slide dropped.

There are plenty of things wrong with this, but I believe that from the very beginning, the maker and owner of the range bears responsibility for having created a badly designed range. Standard ranges have a fifty foot mark.. someone who wants to work at fifty feet must do so in an unsafe manner. Any suit filed will be against the range owners, since the place was not designed with a safe way to engage in shorter range activities. Another reason is that the state is an easy target and a 72 year old man isn't.

 

[1-DAB]

lot of things wrong with this.

handling of a gun with someone in front of you. pointing a gun at someone. more than one allowed firing point with multiple shooters present.

blame lies with the shooter who shot the other shooter.

you are responsible for safe gun handling.

 

[shootniron]

lot of things wrong with this.

handling of a gun with someone in front of you. pointing a gun at someone. more than one allowed firing point with multiple shooters present.

blame lies with the shooter who shot the other shooter.

you are responsible for safe gun handling.

Bingo!

Here we go trying to shift things away from personal responsibility, again.

 

[Targa]

Ridiculous lay out. Also why I am uncomfortable shooting at the range around people I do not know, I do not trust them any further than I can throw them.

 

[WyMark]

blame lies with the shooter who shot the other shooter.

Most of it does, but depending who was there first the "victim" may bear some or most responsibility as well. Getting in front of someone who is shooting is just plain stupid, no matter the reason. And the range should probably post clear rules about the firing line: it should be at the closest distance someone is shooting from.

If you show up and someone is shooting at the 7 yard line, then that's the firing line, doesn't matter if you wanted to shoot 25. Likewise if someone is shooting 25 you can't just decide you're going up to 7. That's idiotic. And cold range rules are in effect any time someone is in front of the line. Put the gun down and don't fiddle with it. Period.

 

[Model12Win]

Oh. My. GOD.

If I ever walked into a range with a setup like that, I would promptly walk right back out!! This was an accident waiting to happen!!

 

[shafter]

So many fails here.

Always watch your back when someone is behind you with a gun. You can't count on them knowing and following safety rules. Don't stick around if you find yourself in an unsafe place. Fail for the guy who got shot.

If the old guy stayed on the shooting line this wouldn't have happened. If the old guy didn't point his gun at something he didn't intend to shoot this wouldn't have happened. Nevertheless even if he disobeyed these rules the other guy still would not have been shot if there had been trigger discipline.

Fail for the owners of the poorly set up range.

Lots of blame to go around but ultimately, the 72y/o shooter is responsible for this.

 

[briandg]

Of course the fellow holding the weapon bears responsibility for his weapon and anyone in front of it.

The guy who was shot allowed a dangerous condition to form behind him.

The range, set up by the dept of conservation, wasn't set up in a manner that was useful for the majority of handgun shooters.

I see the shooter as being entirely responsible for his poor handling.

The guy uprange was like the guy who hunts deer without an orange vest.

Most of us seem to agree that it was a circ l e jerk. No matter what a nice old g u y he is, don't walk down range and leave him messing with his gun behind you.

The range is nicer than the one that I go to, but mine is private and has very little traffic.

 

[Lohman446]

One of the issues in situations like this is the need to find one decision as faulty. Incidents like this require a tremendous amount of poor decisions to culminate. There are several factors that, had but a single one been changed, would have resulted in an entirely different outcome.

 

[tony pasley]

A whole lot of stupid going on but bottom line is you are responsible for any bullet that comes out of your gun until it stops.

 

[Onward Allusion]

Heh, the club I belong to has this set up. The shortest uncovered pistol bay is 50 ft. A lot of folks shoot shorter distances. Even if the shooter brings their own targets, they arent allowed to bring the target closer. The shooters are required to move the firing line UP. The mentality is that folks can shoot over the 30ft high berm if they miss the closer target.

Personally, if you shoot over a 30 feet high berm from 50 feet because your target is 21' from you, there are bigger problems.

So, if you're stuck in a 25 yard bay because all the rest are taken and want to shoot shorter distances, you need to "move" the firing line - all the while the benches and tables are BEHIND you. Sure, the rules state that there can be no firearm handling behind the firing line but come-on. Someone comes to the range and sees a bunch of tables and benches to put their stuff on . . .

This particular club's board and directors need to get their crap together before someone gets shot in the back.

 

[Lohman446]

Story time. I went to an indoor range with my daughter and her new Henry rifle and made the mistake of not firmly seating the loading tube (or whatever the piece goes in is called). On shouldering the rifle the spring in it forced it from the rifle and it landed about five feet down the range.

Its a weekday night and we are the only people on the range. Dual doors with the outer controlled from the counter by the staff. I go out and talk to a gentleman and tell him "its just us in there I can go grab it" or something to that effect.

Oh no. Case rifle and remove it from the range. Remove all shooters (both my daughter and I) from the range. He goes in and then locks the door from inside (overrides the remote counter control). He then puts up a "range closed for maintenance" tape across the door. Walks down the range and retrieves the piece before resetting the range to operational. I apologize profusely and he tells me its no big deal they do it a couple times a day for various reasons.

Yes the shooter is always responsible for his or her bullets. A range can make a big difference in regards to the safety of all involved.

 

[FireForged]

A shooting range allowed shooters to stand down range to shoot at closer distances??????????????? Surely not! Did I read that wrong?

 

[A J]

There's nothing wrong with the range. The only thing "wrong" was the human beings who were not safely handling their weapons.

 

[ShootistPRS]

The range that I belong to has seven separate pistol bays. It is an outdoor range and people are allowed to set target stands anywhere in the center portion of any of the bays. We also allow people to move the firing line forward as long as they are no closer to the fixed stands than 7 yards. Each bay can handle multiple shooters and typically only one shooter is firing at a time. The shooter can move forward to shoot and as long as all the shooters are shooting from the same"firing line" it is ok. If a person wants to shoot farther back then he waits until the firing line is moved or he can move to a different bay. There are bullet stops between the bays so adjoining bays can be used at different distances at the same time.
The pistol bays are the only shooting lanes that allow this kind of shooting. All the other shooting areas have a permanent and well defined firing line.

Safe gun handling is the responsibility of each shooter. The same thing applies to someone moving forward to shoot. We would not allow a person to shoot if there was another shooter in front. The firing line is at the point of the current shooter.

Was this the old man's fault, the ranges fault or the guy shooting in front of an established firing line? There is enough responsibility to go around anda general lack of common sense as well. I would not have touched my gunwith someone out front. I would also not have been forward while others were shooting. The club which allowed the action should have had separation walls between the firing positions if they wanted to allow some shooters forward of the established line. Since the club allowed the actions then they hold the bulk of the responsibility for the accident. IMHO

 

[briandg]

A lot of thoughts on responsibility. Very interesting thoughts and stories.

I genuinely believe that a guy who had a loaded round in the chamber and was messing around with the pistol as it was aimed dead center at another range visitor cannot be excused.

One of the unasked thoughts is whether a seventy year old duffer should be allowed to shoot?

FOR THE MOMENT LET'S SUSPEND ALL ARGUMENTS OF GUN RIGHTS, OKAY?

This same fellow in some jurisdictions must take driver's exams at his age and will be suspended if he fails eyesight, written, or driving tests. LEAVING ASIDE ALL ARGUMENTS ABOUT GUN RIGHTS, does anyone here believe that he maybe shouldn't have firearms?

A few months ago, I was talking to the range owner. Old fella stopped and talked. Then he took out his rifle to show to me, and dropped that muzzle directly towards Jeff's torso. I quietly reached over and carefully lifted it upwards. The look on Jeff's face wasn't happy.

Four years ago, my mother in law ran my daughter through a red light without noticing, through 45 mph cross traffic, five lanes of it. I was screaming to have her license revoked, but every member of the family stopped me. She eventually stopped driving because of her cataracts, but began again after the surgery, on occasion.

Decades ago an old man caught a couple kids standing in his fishing boat and emptied his .357 magnum at them, most of those rounds went flying a block away, crossed main street, and went into buildings on the east side. Made me want to vomit, thinking about how crazy that was. He missed the kids in the boat.

 

[ShootistPRS]

You can't use his age. I have a friend who is approaching 80 years old. He is a good shooter and a safe shooter. Age has little to do with training and competence. I have been body swept by guys a lot younger than I and have had to continuously remind them to keep their guns pointed down range. You cannot know how tired I get of hearing - "it's not loaded"...

Some people need to be trained, over and over before they get it.

 

[briandg]

You know nothing of the man or his training level, nor of his mental competence, his history, nothing, so why do you feel justified in dismissing age as a factor?

If he is used, you know that it will come up and his competence will be questioned. If my mother in law had hurt someone or hurt my daughter, she would have lost everything, and never driven again.

Even if ninety percent of older people are fine, ten percent remain unable to be safe, and it has to be explored.

If it had been a kid, just like yourself, my first thought would have been "young and stupid."

 

[ShootistPRS]

The only valid discussion is ability and competence. You can't take the guns away from a person who reaches 70 years of age. I am too close to that to accept age as a limit.

 

[briandg]

At what time did I suggest taking guns from all seventy year old men just because of age? I stated that this man is old, and he shot another man in the back while doing something wrong.

People who reach that age are frequently no longer competent to drive, or shoot. Really simple facts that may not be pertinent to you. Many, many people don't need to be old to be incompetent. People who are dangerously incompetent need to be assessed, just like habitual dangerous drivers.

After brain surgery I quit driving, and now, I cover a few hundred miles a year. Since shooting safely doesn't rely on reflexes, I have no worries about shooting.

You must not make the mistake of putting yourself into situations like this and generalizing to one size fits all.

Tell me, if that seventy year old man shot you, or my mother in law had killed your grandchild, would you ignore age as a possible factor? Would you argue that their age didn't matter?


I don't guess that I have anything more to say