0133 – A Different Take on Safety
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Last night I went to the range to do a bit of training. Â This time instead of witnessing a safety violation, I was the safety violation, at least in the minds of the insurance company and the attorneys. Â I don’t know why I was surprised, but I was asked (very nicely) to refrain from drawing from my holster. Â This is an incredibly common rule at ranges, and it bugs me.
The rule is in place because:
- ranges don’t want to get sued
- people of all different skill levels come to ranges
- having people shoot themselves or others at your range is bad for business
This bugs me because:
- it keeps me from training as realistically as possible
- when we trust people with a tool of lethal force it is tough to draw lines
- the most critical portion of dealing with a violent encounter with a handgun is getting the gun into action
Solutions:
- find a different range
- take courses
- compete
- dry training
This is a rediculous rule. The outdoor range where I used to be a member had a rule against “rapid fire.” Once I was shooting a 9mm AR15 off the bench at 50 yds and was pulling the trigger about once a second drilling the bullseye. I was warned about my rapid fire. Another time I was doing the Mozambique Drill on the pistol range on paper sillouettes at about 8 yards and got the same warning. While they didn’t have a rule about drawing from the holster, you had to shoot from behind the firing line tables which were belly high, effectively restricting a shooter from using a holster. I’m no longer a member of that range.
I agree wholeheartedly with your suggested solutions.
Donald
I’m lucky Donald in that my outdoor range gives me the freedom to do everything I could possibly want to do. Sometimes I find it hard to not push the limits in my training every time I train. The rules at the range should be pretty simple in my opinion. Make sure your bullets hit the backstop without passing through anything you shouldn’t be shooting and have a good day, should just about cover it.
Thanks for the comment and the compliment.
Have a great day!