A little perspective on range danger.

[bubbapug1]

I have two major hobbies the past ten years - scuba & free diving and guns.

While the recent death is tragic, it's also an anomaly. While the current fashion is to magnify guns dangers, an incident like last weeks event became major news here on our board. How many accidents at ranges in SoCal have resulted in fatalities in the past ten years?? I can remember one - last Saturday

Now think about scuba diving. Seems somewhat safe. It isn't. I'm recent years there have been at least ten fatalities, and there are a heck of a lot LESS people scuba diving than shooting at ranges.

Some of the cruelest ways to die are diving. How about being left at bird rock by the dive boat captain only to be swept away to never be seen again? Happened in 2015 to a mom with three kids.

Or would you prefer to get stuck in a cave and run out of air? Or strangled by an anchor chain? Maybe you prefer death by shark? Or by heart attack struggling to reach shore in big surf!!!

Shallow water blackout is pretty painless too. Kinda like dying in your sleep.

All of these have occurred in local waters (except the shark attack) within the past five or so years.

If you get life insurance no one is going to ask you about guns, but they'll ask you about scuba diving.

So let's remember guns can be dangerous, but certainly not as dangerous as many many other sports. My heart goes out to our fellow gunner. Mine also goes out to the mom I used to dive with on occasion abandoned at sea to suffer a death nightmares are made of. Her body was never found....

Anyone for shooting guns while scuba diving?

[robledo]

Why was she abandoned?

[artb]

Why was she abandoned?

Most likely they did not have an adequate, complete roll call after the dive and thought all divers were aboard.
Next step is to pull anchor and move to the next dive spot -- possibly a few miles distant.

When I was hosting boat dives, the possibility of that type of catastrophe kept me awake at night.

[RandyD]

I agree shooting is a relatively safe activity. You could even expand the parameters of your argument to the entire nation over the last century.

I have remained quiet regarding the recent accident because I want to review the investigation before taking a stance. Once the cause has been identified, then all of us can take proactive measures to insure it never happens again.

[hermosabeach]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6lG-snJZIV8

[hermosabeach]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-1yM2wOGNE8

[chrisw]

Yep. Been in the water in norcal for abalone when someone has died. can't say I've ever been at a range when that happened

[HardwoodRods]

The sad reality is, when it's your turn it's your turn. Living leads to death, medical fact.

[CessnaDriver]

"El riesgo siempre vive."

Can't avoid all risk if you want to live a life worth living.

Dramatic fatal events of course put a magnifying glass by the media on
many activities.

[ElvenSoul]

Getting out of bed is not safe.

Unfortunately staying in bed will kill you as well.

[deckhandmike]

Diving is much more dangerous. I almost died a few years back stuck in a cave. We lose 5-10 every year abalone diving, and very few partake. Shooting is actually very safe. I've never had anyone RO over me while diving. I'd be getting yelled at constantly.

[bubbapug1]

Why was she abandoned?

They forgot her.....second diver they forgot. The first was at the oil rigs off huntington, the guy floated for hours out to sea.......found by accident.

[hermosabeach]

Sky crew reported

[mshill]

I used to dive a lot. Always were hearing about the latest local fatality. With ranges it seems like a suicide once in a while with an accident here or there (maybe once a year or less) nationwide.

[billped]

Perspective is a concept our media ignores frequently.

John Stossel (I think) did a great piece comparing causes of death to our nation's spending. It was whacky. Money was being spent to save hundreds, but not being spent when tens of thousands of lives were impacted.

Let's not be part of the problem with this one. Try to get better? Of course. But let's avoid falling into the media trap.