First time in 10 years I've seen Harry patrol the firing line. I made the mistake of using a Pelican case to carry two rifles. To get them to fit in the case, I have them facing opposite directions. Both rifles have no mag, empty chamber showing, bolt locked back, and are clearly on safe. As soon as I open the case, he yells at me for not having both rifles pointing downrange. I apologize, but he sent me packing and kicked me out of the range. Meanwhile people are entering and leaving the range with guns slung over their shoulders with the barrels clearly not facing downrange.
I ended up having to remove the stock and buffer tube from an AR to comply since he refused to let me just close the case and leave.
I get it; his range, his rules. But am I wrong in thinking this is ridiculous? I felt bad for my friends who were also made to leave.

At the renewal session for TCGC this morning they told us that yes someone at Banner Rd got shot, although not sure if the wounded has passed.

If I recall the story correctly, some guy had one in the chamber of a gun, but had the mag out and "mistakenly" (there is no such thing) thought it was empty and fired it. It hit a bystander in the hip and then ricocheted into their femoral artery and they started to bleed out. Luckily there was an off duty EMS at the range who helped.

Folks, you gotta be anal retentive about gun safety habits. Check and recheck, use chamber flags, and obey the 4 rules. Every incident of a gun owner screwing up DOES make the group as a whole look bad. We don't need to give the antis any more ammunition to use against us.

Sounds like a big overreaction.
If I'm leaving he can pound sand. If he was to try and keep me from leaving I'm calling the cops.

I guess the guy survived because there wasn't any big fuss about it afterwards.  As for situation at the range, that sounds like a major overreaction.  I've only been there once and the guy was super nice but I've heard a lot of similar stories to yours.  I can see where he would want to keep a closer eye on the range after what happened but a friendly but positive safety reminder works way better than a gruff GTFO.  Did you get your money back?

I don't think there was a fatality, but careless handling of firearms has been going on there for years. Not to mention no range control. The LAST time I was there, the firing line was hot, people were shooting and out of the corner of my eye I see two guys about three lanes to my left walking down range with targets and staplers in hand. Several people started hollering "CEASE FIRE" and they kept walking right on down range like nothing was going on at all. When they got back to the firing line I packed up my stuff and left. Haven't been back since.

If I am being asked to leave for something like that I would be telling that assholebto fuck off!

I will carry my gunsoutbhow ever I want.  I love having my own farm, no way I could put-up with ranges and the range nazis.

Nope. It was bad enough that we just got there, but he didn't refund my friends either. Probably the easiest money he's ever made. Glad to know I'm not alone in thinking that was a ridiculous overreaction. I think I'm never going back.

And it looks like the guy who got shot nearly died. Found his GoFundMe page.

TriCity is very strict on gun safety. OKC GC has the rules but no one enforces them like they should.
You are preaching to the choir about safety. I've seen competitors, police, and leisure shooters on ranges they should be kicked off of for their sloppy handling.
They know the rules but are too damn lazy to comply.

Sounds like any thoughts of going there to see what all the fuss is about has been shot down. Ill add it to the list of ranges I wont go back to/never visit.

if you let your decisions be influenced by other people's experiences, and not your own, you are doomed to what you have right now.

 


if you went by my experiences you'd never own a boat, a dune buggy,a Harley , or a Dodge.




try it (whatever IT is) then decide.




the exception that proves the rule is Gun World, of course.




 

I've heard of other incidents at Banner Rd and I still went. What I saw lets me know the unsupervised general public are dangerous at a public range.
I'm not going back.
I've seen people waving handguns in indoor ranges, pointing them at people on other sides of the stalls.
I don't go there either.
An instructor at a local indoor range shot one of his students not too long ago.
I go to TriCity more often than OKC GC because I know it is safer than OKCGC. Much safer IMO.
You make your choices and you live with them. I don't choose to get shot on accident by some numb nuts with a firearm.

Gee where do I start? Supposedly the op was not kicked out for having his guns pointing the wrong way in his gun case. I wasn't there I don't know. It would be up to him to have a man to man with Harry and find out.
All ranges have different rules trying to accomplish the same thing. Lexington is basically a free for all. If you're scared of Banner you'd be terrified at Lexington. They have rules posted and if everyone follows them everyone is safe. Banner is basically an unsupervised range. There are rules posted all over the clubhouse and there is someone there to take your money and give you targets and a stapler. TCGC is a club that is full of safety nazis that almost take the fun out of shooting. OKCGC is a national class shooting range and there is no safer place to shoot during the matches. During unsupervised range times not so much.
What all of these places have in common is people wanting to shoot, talk and learn about guns and have fun. Everyone is the safest person in the world around guns, in their own eyes myself included. Even during the National Matches at OKCGC the Range Officers cannot see everything all the time and they rely on the individual shooters to speak up if they see anything unsafe. It is like this at all ranges. You just cannot go shooting and not pay attention to what everyone around you is doing, even indoor ranges require you to be on the "lookout".
Whatever range you go to, it is your responsibility to follow the rules. If you don't know something ask. If you see something unsafe tell someone. If you don't, you are as much the problem as the unsafe guy.

The very first post on a new registration!!!
I'd rather have range Nazis watching my back on the range than have non- experienced freshly appointed safety officers on the firing line during a match.
Just my opinion.

This. What an asshat.

I'll keep going to Banner Rd just because it's the best public range in the area and the only one with a 100 target. At least until something happens that makes me not want to shoot there.  I've seen some really scary gun handling at every range I've ever been to.  You're never safe at a public range or a private one so if you want to shoot you have to take your chances.  Unfortunately,  I don't have land and I don't have access to private property so I have no choice other than to risk the public ranges.

That's one hell of a first post..

Absolutely. There are no accidents just negligence. But jumping on him upon opening a gun case, give me a break.

This is very, very true.
I had it explained why. People don't learn it gun safety or range safety in public school and most have never been in the military and never shot on a formal range.
TriCity is one of the safest places to shoot because of the hardworking range Nazis. While I think some rules may be too much, they make sure EVERYBODY follows them.
That is better than I have seen on the OKC bench range.
Sit on the end so you don't have to watch both sides if there are several there.
Make sure there is an acting RSO on the range. This is where OKC falls short. The one longest there is the RSO and many of the old peckerwoods stretch out across several tables. The refuse to act as RSO unless you ask their name. You imply you will report them for failure to follow the rules.
They can be very dangerous in their arrogance, I have had more problems with "experienced" gun handlers than new shooters.

The one thing that really stands out to me is that this guy made him disassemble the rifles. haha. What a joke! Hmm. Let's say worse case scenario there was a round in the chamber and the OP was an unsafe 'Jim Bob'.. Which would be safer? Simply closing the hard case and immediately leaving or sticking around and picking up the rifle to F with it and disassemble it? I'd say the later would be the more dangerous of the two options and have more risk of an accidental discharge. Unless a midget jumped in the case when no one was looking and pulled the trigger.





It's up to each individual to do their part and be safe, but maybe part of their problem is the intelligence of their employees.





 

If it's exactly as the OP tells it, then that is pretty messed up.

 
 

 

 
 

The worst offense I've seen was at Happy Hollow when the old man was still around. This chick to my right was shooting a 45 Glock and was wearing a low cut shirt and was 'well endowed'. You can guess the rest. A hot shell casing went down her shirt and she turned to the left and swept me and held it there for a while. Finger on the trigger I would assume. While I was affixed on the boobs I didn't even notice what she was doing until the person that was riding with me ran off and said they would wait in the truck. The old man got on the PA and told her if she points that thing at him he's shooting back. She didn't get kicked out, but probably should have.

I had a similar instance at H&H.  There was a mom there teaching her young son how to shoot.  Mom appeared to have some experience with guns but wasn't paying nearly enough attention to the boy.  She loaded up a .22 rifle for him to shoot, had him pointing downrange, finger off the trigger, everything looked good so I went back to shooting.  I heard the kid pop off one shot and then whirled around sweeping everyone on my side with his finger on the trigger.  He's standing there with the muzzle pointing at an angle upwards with his finger on the trigger wanting to ask his mom  a question but she was busy doing something with her purse.  Finally he gets her attention and she gets him turned around, muzzle downrange and shooting again.  Couple more shots it's the same thing all over and I'm about to bug out because I'm not hanging around to get shot by even a .22.  I guess mom realized she just too busy to pay attention to him (plus all the other shooters were about to "educate" her) and they left.  Kudos for taking him to the range but it's not a frickin' child care center, you HAVE to be 100% committed to safety.

I've seen even younger kids at the range with attentive parents who were as safety minded as any adult so it's not the age of the child.