How do you politely mention to the guy next to you at the rifle range that his rifle

[J-cat]

I'm gonna put a BB on my RAW.

[HumanBeingExpert]

This is definitely MYOB, or you start to become one of them...

[wutzu]

I won't harp on it. I'll say my piece once, in a polite way and that's that. I'll say "that's a badass rifle you've got there. The laws in CA are a pain in the *** and my interpretation of them is that you could be in for trouble if you run into the wrong cop with that rifle." If the guy doesn't listen, then so be it.

I met a guy at a range maybe 3 or 4 years ago with a folding stock, pistol-gripped Mini-14. WAY COOL! He was convinced that it was legal since the ban had expired. I don't think he understood that the CA ban will never "expire".

[slo5oh]

Damn, not what I expected. I'd say it's about 70% MYOB and 30% help a friendly shooter out.

I sparked up a conversation with him and he seemed happy as a school kid with his rifle, so after a few compliments I did attempt to tell him his rifle "might" be a tad beyond the gray area of the law, but I did NOT want to push the subject since there were a few other shooters standing around. The range was full with nearly all benches having multiple shooters.

Noted for next time I got to the range: multiple copies of the flow chart printed out.

BTW, I found myself on the receiving end of just such "gun range" legal advice. Without going into to details on my own blunder, lets just say that I purchased a rifle in a configuration that made it "illegal" in cali, yet it seemed neither the original FFL nor the one that did the transfer for me noticed the mistake. I've since fixed the problem, so no big deal now, but had a very nice range officer not asked me a couple questions I might have found myself in hot water.

[alex00]

I try not to pay attention to the legality of other shooters rifles. If I see a cool rifle, I may try and figure out a way to get one, but that's about it. The closest I've ever come to questioning the legality of a rifle was when a guy approached me with questions about my AR pistol. He asked how it was legal, and I explained the BB. He said he knew all about BBs, but refused to run them on the three ARs he was shooting next to me. I cautioned that he should at least transport them with the uppers removed, as the charge was slightly more severe.

[five.five-six]

I don't care if the guy had a bazooka, as long as he wasn't endangering anyone, I'd mind my own business.

can your get a BB for one of those?

[Stockton]

MYODB! If someone asks you then give them what you know.

[Stonewalker]

I'm a bit surprised by how many people wouldn't be interested in possibly helping a fellow shooter stay out of a felony. Perhaps it is a RAW but you don't know that. One sentence could save that guy his guns.

[greg36f]

Whatever happened to a sense of "Brotherhood" or a "Common cause" or "Covering each others butt's"......Don't be a jerk about it, but you can say "Hi, that's a cool gun. My friend had one a while back, but he got into trouble because he had the (fill in the blank about what you think makes it illegal). If he gives you a dirty look, fine, you tried; but you may save a felow shooter some grief or make a friend.

I believe that we here have a common bond that does deserve some respect......That often means reaching out with a helping hand.

Oh, and introduce him to calguns of course.....

Sermon over,,,Thank you and goodnight.....

[AVS]

Act as though you genuinely think it's cool he or she is skirting the law.
"Nice gun. Glad to see someone telling those BoF guys to go F themselves."

This will either get you and wink or a, "Huh? What?".

If you get a wink, MYOB. If the guy looks confused, point out to him what makes his gun illegal, then add, "Unless of course you had it previously registered. I'm sorry I'll mind my own business; I just really liked your rifle."

Edit: And credit Calguns with teaching you all of this stuff. "Teach a man to fish" and all.

[M. D. Van Norman]

[thedrickel]

If the gun looks like an AW and the guy looks under 25, I might discreetly ask about it, usually starting off with "how long have u had that?" I won't jump down anybody's throat but I will politely inform.

[obeygiant]

Ehh, as gun owners, We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately


just be nice about it, they guy may not even know, last week I watched a guy droping mags with a highpoint carbine... I mentioned what a cool rifle he had, and pointed him to our AW flow chart, he had no idea and was thankfull

I couldn't agree more. I'm really surprised at the responses in this thread considering that one time or another each one of us was that guy. With great knowledge comes great responsibility. It is the responsibility of the older, or wiser as the case may be, men and women to train up the younger. We pride ourselves on our knowledge of the law and regularly respond to these very same people as they discover our community and desire to learn from the wealth of knowledge that exists here. How sad it would be, if that knowledge started and stopped with our keyboards.

[GOEX FFF]

Agreed with MYOB.

I can just see a post here "A**hole at range says my legal RAW is illegal"
Then a big rant about how people should mind their own business rather than trying to play big brother and potentially call attention to someone who may be doing nothing wrong.
That's a crappy thing to do to someone just because you "Think" it's fishy. To me, you're there to relax and shoot, not to police people.

Unless you ARE BOF, it's not your deal calling someone out if you're not sure what a fella next to you has or not or even who he is. MYOB!

[Merle]

MYOB. There are enough laws and wanna-be-nannies in CA that there are few places a guy can go and not be harassed.

The public/county ranges (Bay Area) I know of already stop holster draw, rapid fire, head shots, shooting at graphic targets, etc.