No, it was at Dade City....

9mm Carbine's story is one of the reasons that I became a Range Officer at my local range.  
Now, I'm a range officer, as well as a certified High-Power rifle competitor...life is better now!

Yes, shooting My Serbu draws the looks and interest. But let Me bring out the State Arms Knob Creek 2K (Picture 61"@41 1/2lbs.) and the Real eyeball popin' starts!
[img]http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/Tall_Shadow/Knob%20Creek%202000%20p1.jpg [/img]

Tall Shadow

I get eyeballed all the time at the range.  Gotta stop wearing a pink liatard with tassles...[:I]

Hey... Ya'll go to San Gabriel Valley Also? I love that place! People are real friendly and pretty helpful, considering i've only started shooting two years ago. And yea, I've seen a lot of stuff there, despite the fact that its Kaliban. Fal's,Aks, Ar's and the what nots. Some people offer to let me shoot theyre "evil black weapons" which basically makes my day. My only complaint? "NO RAPID FIRING" LOL, that oldddd range officer is pretty anal about that, but no blame i guess. He's a pretty nice guy to talk to. And then i shot skeet for the first time at SGVGC, and met some old timers who taught me the ins and outs. It's real weird, like a whole nother world when you go to the shooting ranges in Kaliban, you meet the few decent folk left in the state.
Ahh... You lucky bastards, I had no clue about that assault weapon deadline back in 2000, and now I'm empty handed. Wish they would give another grace period so i can squeeze some in. What i'd really like is a CETME, minus the pistol grip or with a fixed magazine. It'll give me something to play around with. I just can't bring myself to like the mini's, and as for the Springfield M1s, way beyond my price.

Don't bother with the Springfield Inc. M1's, go for the CMP Springfield National Armory M1's.  520 bucks buys you an real honest to God USGI M1 rifle with forged receiver and properly made parts.  It may look a little rough around the edges, but there is nothing like shooting a real M1.

I've brought my Bushmaster to several ranges around here -- Iron Sights, On Target, San Gabriel Valley to name a few -- and have had few negative experiences such as described. The eyeballing that I and it get is [b]usually[/b] more of a "Hey, that's cool," thing. And I've never turned down anyone interested in giving it a try. Usually, that gets me a reciprocal offer to try whatever it is that they have. I've gotten to shoot some really cool things that way. In general, I think gun folk are the good people that way.

That's not to say that I haven't had a few "hairy eyeballs" thrown my way. But early on in my AR ownership, I may have been more paranoid about it and projecting my interpretations on the looks I was getting.

I think the theory that because we are so oppressed as a group in the PRK, we tend to be better at sticking together has some merit to it.

Where are you located in Florida, and what range do you work at?  Would love to know of another place to shoot around here...