Scary experience at gun shop

[Emdawg]

Here is one! I was not there, but my uncle and mother were and they gave a pretty good story.

Anyways they were up at the Happy Canyon range in the National Forest mountains above the city of Santa Ynez. Interestingly, this is just a polluted bog, so no one there to watch or regulate the shooters.

My mom and uncle were shooting with her new Kimber. The only other people there was a young couple in which the boy was teaching his girl to shoot. Everything was fine until trouble arrived.

A group of Mexicans (they were all speaking Spanish) arrived with a woman and about six men. The men were mostly in camo, so the have been hunting (at least I hope). They were drinking as they had open containers visible and they were armed with deer rifles and one pistol.

Instead of walking the 15 feet from the road and parking to the shooting area and over the small mound that seperated the road from the range, they opened fire from their vehicle. The woman was given the pistol (which she did not seem to know how to use, from what my uncle said) and she fired wildly. Some of the rounds hit the road less than 5 ft in front of them!!!

The men also were firing with no care or safety, with rounds flying all over the range, and they were using some high-powered stuff. My uncle told me that he believed that at least two of their guns were 300 magnums.

As for everyone else: the young couple panicked and fled and my mom and uncle retreated back to their truck (behind the fire, thankfully). As they contemplated calling the forest service a white truck rolls up with a white man driving. He gets out and begins to converse with the Mexicans in Spanish. He points at certain spots in the range and he soon leaves. The Mexicans then proceed to fire at the designated "spot".

My mom and uncle left and none of my family has been back. We called the Sheriffs and they assured us that they and Forest Service will be on the look out for such activity, but I will avoid the location just from that horror tale.

[Freagan]

The only incident that outright scared the crap out of me/pissed me off beyond belief, was at an indoor range. I had probably been there for half an hour and still had a couple hundred rounds left. I had just switched out my target and was throwing the old one away. Returning to my station is when I caught a guy off the line holding the pistol down and sideways, pointed right at me looking at it. That is right when I realized he was loading a magazine and immediately dropped the slide...pointed right at me. He looked like he was having difficulty loading the magazine and brought it out more into the light to see what he was doing. I didn't say a thing grabbed all of my stuff and immediately left, paid my tab (all the while the clerk was looking at me confused, as I still had a couple hundred rounds I hadn't shot) and just left utterly shocked. It took me two years before I finally used a public range again, I still don't like using public ranges.

[viet4lifeOC]

+1 on the situational awareness. Worst thing that happened to me was at the Firing Line in HB a couple of years back that a guy checked on his buddy's target on the neighboring range. He still had his own pistol in hand, casually pointing around with it roughly downrange while his attention was on the other side of the divider.

The RSO handled this situation rather swiftly. He was on it almost immediately.

One of the reasons why I'm always cautious when I'm shooting on a public range.

Just renewed my year membership last week with firing line. I've read calgunners bash the staff there, but it's situations like this that makes me appreciate them for having to be pricks to some.

[onegtalon]

TM... Nuff said.

I go to Reeds after work but I've heard some folks have bad experiences there... I have not... Yet... Except for the gal who put .45's in the ceiling twice within 30 seconds next to me... I was like WTF?? (when I mean ceiling it was within the 7 yard mark)

Weekdays are better than weekends. Less crowded and less hectic...




Sent from my iPhone...

[alfred1222]

Well I guess I have more tolerance of bad gun stores because if it wasn't for their range I would be more likely to shop there than Sportsman Supply.

I'm more worried about getting shot than waiting a long time to fill out a DROS.

Some people worry about people shooting and drinking at the same time. I would feel far more comfortable shooting with my friends even if they are totally wasted than shooting with the idiots that show up at Targetmasters.

But in my opinion, I would rather have five bad gun stores in town instead of no gun stores at all and I'll support bad shops just to have them there.

What I won't do is intentionally patronize a place that I feel is unsafe.

And this is the kicker. any range where you feel unsafe is not a range that should be supported, regardless. i would rather drive an extra 30-50 miles to support a good gun shop instead of going to a local shop that isnt up to snuff. Hence why i go to BAGV instead of sportsmans supply.

I was standing in the back office of a LGS, talking to the manager, when what sounded like a .22 shot rang out. Sphincters suddenly slammed shut, and employee hands started moving towards holsters. After a pregnant pause the manager and I walk out of the back office to where we can see the whole sales counter.

There stood some idiot looking shame faced and holding a high end air rifle. He had dry-fired the rifle into a ceiling tile, damaging it. The manager politely took the rifle back from the guy and escorted him to the door. I was astonished that it was an air rifle. I would have sworn it was a .22lr by the sound it made.

Jeez, its a wonder the guy didnt get a few handguns pointed at him!!!

[Supertac916]

I worked in the store and as a RO for a few years and there are a lot of stupid people out there. Here are a few that I'll never forget.

- A guy and his buddy are sighting in their hunting rifles, which are bolt action 30-06'. One of the guys bolts wouldn't open and I see the guy take his rifle off the bench and his buddy looking down the barrel. IDIOTS!!!

- Another older guy brings his son out to the rifle range and after setting up tells his son to run down to the hundred yard targets to change them out. Kid took it literally and started running down range during a firing session. I caught him before he could get 5 yards down the range and the Dad obviously was pretty concerned as well. The scary thing is I had a young Marine do the same thing as the kid.

- This chick and her boyfriend come down and rent a Glock 19. She's dressed up like she's going out to the club with a low cut shirt. I tell her what not to do if hot brass goes down her shirt. You can guess what happened and even though I was standing next to her she was able to still point the loaded Glock at me with her finger on the trigger dancing around. Fortunately, I was able to gain control before she let a round off down the firing line. What pissed me off the most was that she was laughing about it. I kicked her and her retarded boyfriend off the range and told them not to come back.

- Spent two days giving this little 70 year old lessons on how to shoot a .38 revolver. After training her she wanted something bigger, which I thought was interesting. I told her a .357 mag is probably as big as I'd go. She tells me that she needs a gun she could fit in her purse and it would guarantee it would kill someone if shot into someone's head at point blank range. Turns out she was planning to kill her son inlaw because her daughter was in drug rehab and he got full custody of her grandson. Too say the least I didn't sell her the gun, but she was pretty set on killing her son inlaw. Saw her a week later at another gun shop after she purchased a .357 mag. I went up to the store manager and talked to him because I knew him. He decided to tell her that her background check didn't go through. Personally, I couldn't live with the fact that I taught this woman how to use the gun and knew that she would use the gun to kill someone in cold blood.

- My most memorable experience was when a guy rented a Beretta 92fs and bought a single box of ammo. It was a slow Thursday late afternoon and he was the only one on the range. I small talked with him and he seemed a little off for some reason. Quiet and would give yes or no answers mostly. One of the questions he asked was what was my favorite gun and caliber and I told him the .45 1911 style handguns. He also only loaded 3-5 rounds at a time and wasn't really trying to take pointers of hitting the target. I stood next to him the entire time and finally he had 3 rounds left and asked me if I was planning to stand next to him the entire time. I told him he was pretty much out of ammo and to just finish it off. He tells me that he wants to buy another box and takes the gun and trys to walk off with it. I stop him and tell him that he can't take the gun with him. He proceeds to ask me if I'm working on the weekend and I told him that I had the day off.

Well, the guy decided to rent the .45 1911 that Saturday when I was off. He bought two boxes and after the first box and the three range masters were pre-occupied with the full range decided to put a .45 round through his pallate. The round lodged in the ceiling of the range, where the hole still remains today. I don't use that position when I go to the range anymore. Thinking back I knew that this guy was a little off, but if he decided to turn the gun on me because I was in his way. I may have not be here today. Yes, I was armed, but I couldn't draw my firearm fast enough if he decided to turn on me before taking his own life. The only thing I could think of is why he asked me if I was working was that he didn't want to off himself in front of me or I would watch him like a hawk. The sad thing is that there were over 30 people on the range who witnessed the incident and one of them was a 10 year old little girl who was shooting next to her Dad. Another was one of my regulars who was a physician and tried to revive the young man, but it was too late. There was nothing he could do. The range took on a buddy policy after that for rental guns, but that was my scariest moment.

[kwansao]

I saw a customer muzzle flash an employee at target masters...

And an employee muzzle flashed me at PRK...

Lots of careless folks.

[erik_26]

lol... I was thinking Target Masters too when I read it.


Next time OP, try a better shop with better clientele. Like Reeds Indoor Range in San Jose.

[Subotai]

I was at an outdoor range in AZ when a family showed up. The dad starts handing guns to the little kids who immediately sweep any and everyone who is near by. He is oblivious. I was close to being done so I just packed it up when the dad laughed off another shooter pointing that out.

Next time, just draw on them like cops do and order them to disarm, GET ON THE GROUND, etc. I watched a cop do it to some numbnut, funny as hell.

[mbaerg]

Next time, just draw on them like cops do and order them to disarm, GET ON THE GROUND, etc. I watched a cop do it to some numbnut, funny as hell.

Seriously? haha thats great... I'd love to see a cop draw on some one at a range being careless!

[FX-05 Xiuhcoatl]

worst incident for me was at an indoor range out of state. I was shooting when i heard a boom then everybody started to scream. I guess that some guy rented a gun and killed himself a few lanes over. I'll never go back to another indoor range or any range of that matter that rents any gun. The staff was fast acting to cover up his body. It kinda seemed like that happens alot or something.

wow that put chills on the back of my neck, I'm reading this stories and planing to go shooting after work.

[s2gots]

I would have no problem at all if ranges were allowed to discriminate people based on their attitude, clothing attire, or just looked like a bad seed!!!!
You look like a gang banger...get the F out....
Your wearing a low cut skirt and stilettos, get the F out...who the hell goes shooting in club attire??
You cant speak english, or understand what the RO is telling you, get the F out..
You keep violating rules, such as keep finger off trigger, or not handling the firearm correctly multiple times, get the F out..

If I was at a range and some dummy sets up next to me, is being unsafe, Id ask the RO to do something about it..If it persisted, then Id leave and expect my money back..

The scarriest thing Ive seen at an outdoor range was someone went to check their target right after the RO called the "cease fire, step away from your weapon"..Instead of just stepping away from their weapon, they started walking down range...

[mbaerg]

I would have no problem at all if ranges were allowed to discriminate people based on their attitude, clothing attire, or just looked like a bad seed!!!!
You look like a gang banger...get the F out....
Your wearing a low cut skirt and stilettos, get the F out...who the hell goes shooting in club attire??
You cant speak english, or understand what the RO is telling you, get the F out..
You keep violating rules, such as keep finger off trigger, or not handling the firearm correctly multiple times, get the F out..

If I was at a range and some dummy sets up next to me, is being unsafe, Id ask the RO to do something about it..If it persisted, then Id leave and expect my money back..

The scarriest thing Ive seen at an outdoor range was someone went to check their target right after the RO called the "cease fire, step away from your weapon"..Instead of just stepping away from their weapon, they started walking down range...

Yes

[xdeslitx]

LA Gun Club

Newby couple on the lane next to me and my friend pointed the gun at us right after shooting. Scared the crap out of us. Then i realized the slide was locked back but there was still no reason for anyone to point the gun back at someone. Pissed me off.

It made me appreciate my range even more. I am a member at Firing Line and they don't let you rent a gun unless you can demonstrate basic knowledge. It limits the instances of newbs pointing guns at you.

[xdeslitx]

I would have no problem at all if ranges were allowed to discriminate people based on their attitude, clothing attire, or just looked like a bad seed!!!!
You look like a gang banger...get the F out....
Your wearing a low cut skirt and stilettos, get the F out...who the hell goes shooting in club attire??
You cant speak english, or understand what the RO is telling you, get the F out..
You keep violating rules, such as keep finger off trigger, or not handling the firearm correctly multiple times, get the F out..

If I was at a range and some dummy sets up next to me, is being unsafe, Id ask the RO to do something about it..If it persisted, then Id leave and expect my money back..

The scarriest thing Ive seen at an outdoor range was someone went to check their target right after the RO called the "cease fire, step away from your weapon"..Instead of just stepping away from their weapon, they started walking down range...

I'm sorry but that's just pure discrimination and the range can get sued. I've been mistaken for a gangster because of the way I look but I am in no way affiliated with gangsters.

I am Filipino with a shaved head and tattoos. I think it would be pure ignorance to discriminate on looks. It's tough enough being discriminated on for my skin color on a regular basis. I would hate to have that happen at a range where I go to wind down after a long day's work.