[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Drinking while shooting? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 4/22/2004 12:19:18 PM EDT
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Is alcohol generally a no-no at shoots or would you say there's nothing wrong with knocking back a few brews while on the firing line? Am I a prude or is drinking alcohol while shooting kinda dumb? |
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I think it is a horrible idea. Sure I can shoot fine after a couple beers, but that doesn't mean it's a good/safe practice. Besides people have different tolerances and different perceptions of 'drunk'. I wouldn't want to shoot around people who were drinking, just one more thing to worry about. There are enough SOBER shooters that are hazards on the range. BUT I have to admit I've shot after a beer or two (but no more than that). |
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I see it as a safety RULE that is good to always follow, even if it may not be necessary for everyone in every situation. It's like the rule in scuba diving - "when you have your first drink of the day, you've had your last dive of the day" I have no doubt that I personally could safely shoot a rifle and dive after a single glass of cold beer - but I still think it's a rule that should always be followed, because the POTENTIAL for trouble if it's not is just too great. |
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At a range or other public shooting event, I would not be comfortable with strangers drinking while shooting. Therefore, I grant the same courtesy and safety considerations. On my own property while kicking back on a summer afternoong with a .22? Why not? Gotta' come up with some targets somehow. |
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at a range with a bunch of who knows who? no, i think it's a bad idea. up at my farm shooting with the guys it's fun. relax, have a good time. throw one clay bird at a time and sip a beer or a single malt. Punching holes in cans with the .22s i have no problem and enjoy it myself. but then we have been known to drink and drive and have an open container in the car. it's just horrible to the ninnies in the city but in the country no one tries to do stupid things like drive at 70mph 50' from the car in front of you and 5' to the car on either side. you got 4 simple rules and you can follow them even when drunk. |
The problem is some people don't know how to define "a few". |
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one of my old roomates once told me that the "drink and shoot" was a weekly event in his rural nebraska town. he seemed pretty normal and said he had never heard of anyone getting hurt. i think the key is moderation and prior good habits. operating a gun is no more complicated than a car, yet im sure many people that do that after a beer or two. |
Most folks are not in total control of their faculties when sober. But if you follow the rules you will stay safe. The key is to drink in moderation not until you are blind stinking drunk |
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I regularly carry a weapon. I have had alcohol while carrying (never more than two), but have given it up (the alcohol). If I ever need to use my weapon, I don't want the jury to hear this: Prosecutor: Mr Waiter, did you serve alcohol to trachnload. Waiter: Yes, I did. Prosecutor: How much did you serve? Waiter: I don't remember. Maybe two or three drinks. ....... Prosecutor: Dr. Expert, how many drinks cause measureable impariment? Dr. Expert: Even one alcoholic drink can affect judgement and motor skills. ....... Prosecutor: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard sworn testimony that trachnload was DRINKING at the time of the shooting, and that alcohol impairs judgement and skill. Does this sound like responsible behavior? Oh, yes. I also don't drink because I stand in support of a gun-owning friend who can't drink without drinking too much. I like Sambuca Romana (white or black). I miss it, a little. |
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IMHO, as long as done safely I see no problem with it. This does not include getting wasted but rather one or two beers maybe while the grill is doing its thing. The key, just like in the rest of life, is responsibility. Don't get stupid and everything should be fine. Oh, public ranges would be a definite no-no, private areas are what I am referring to. |
| pffft...like no one has ever been with a buddy or two on family land in the woods and used up every round of ammunition that you had on you, unloading on any and everything with every gun you had while hammered. sure. right. if you haven't, you're missing out, or so i''m told. personally, i would only partake in such activity with experienced firearm users and semi-to-professional drinkers whom i trusted. |
I had a friend that hooked up with a crew that would "have a couple" in between hunting. I went once, caught on that they had "hit pine ridge" and said thanks, hopped in my truck and left. My buddy gave me shit about it. They never got ripped or anything, they would just stop and have one or two when they came in from a drive and before going back out. Later that year he admitted that one of them had put a 12 gauge sabot into a tree about 5 feet from him, but it was because "the guy had worked nights the night before and was tired." Hey I know guys who have one or two and plink at shit, no thanks. |
This is the answer to several threads from the past. |
. Mmmmm the smell of intoxicating hoppies, and beers.
Early morning drinking is appropriate only when fishing or screwing. Beer or whisky in the first instance, mimosas or bloody maries in the second. It is not appropriate when shooting is in the offing. |
| I won't go on a range when there's alcohol present. And I won't go into a bar CCW. Alcohol and firearms are mutually exclusive -- not only for safety reasons, but for legal and liability reasons as well. And i don't consider myself a prude -- I consider cold beer (or some good single malt) as one of the basic food groups |
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What's the point to shooting and drinking??? I mean, have cold soda or water while shooting? If you can't wait a few hours than you are probably dependant on the booze and that is obviously not good. Can you imagine how the anti's would eat up a story that headlined something like this, "Man is Killed By Friend While Target Shooting". It would go on to mention that they were both drinking and how most red necked hillbilly gun owners are all alcoholics and are a danger to society. |
It's not "kinda dumb". It's damned stupid. Good for you for being another prude. Don't get me wrong. I can knock a few back with the best of them, but only after the guns are put up. |
A few years back we had a woman who tried to remove a wart on one of her toes -- with a 12 guage. She said she had to drink a quart of vodka first to work up the courage and numb the pain. Operation was a success--- she now walks on a prothetic foot with the help of a cane. |
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Yea, shooting and drinking are stupid and not my preferance nor something I condone. I'm not a hypocrit though and will admit I have lit up my head and the night a many a time. Was always disturbing the next morning to run up and see if I shot my neighbors cow. Tj |
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In another life, years ago, in a free, non PC country far, far away, before everything was microanalyzed, when fun was still legal, smoking was ok in public and in doors. When kids I can recall toking one while squirrel hunting with a 10/22, or on the way during the morning deer hunt drive. I can recall beer on the hunt or a flask at the range. Nobody was ever real fucked up, just a little buzz. Everyone was very sensible (before sensibility was replaced with litigation), everyone knew each other and what each other would do next. Ah yes, another world.....Another time. Hindsight? Smartest thing in the world? probably not, but, we let Darwin take care of the dumb ones. Now we have zero tolerance for "deviant behavior", no room for And our gene pool is utterly trashed. More idiots with no common sense per capita than any other time in history. Boy we sure saved ourselves. Besides, nobody gets out alive anyway. [shrug] |
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It's a pretty far stretch to say that sipping a beer on the picnic bench on the farm while plinking some targets in the backyard is any more dangerous than simply shooting the gun itsself. The idea that having a cold beer on a hot July afternoon immediately jumps you to drunk or impaired status is as ridiculous as the idea that the gun is autonomous and could spontaneously jump up and start firing itself indiscriminately. I cannot believe the level of skirt wearing in this thread. |
i'm with you on this one Ben i'd say having a beer or two on a hot summer day, out on the farm or wherever, is a far cry from "drinking and shooting". regardless of what most would say, unless your a 10 year old girl who hasn't eaten in a week and never consumed alcohol before, a beer or two will not do anything to your judgement or motor abilities (IMO and as noted from my own experience with myself and friends). that said, i would never drink at a public range, or a private range where i don't know EVERYONE very well. i don't always trust others around firearms and i want to see them being as carefull as possible. i figure it's my duty to extend to them the same courtesy. i also don't drink if i'm carrying for the same reasons as noted before. if someone spilled a beer on you and you were carrying i'd bet some lawyer somewhere would try to spin it. |
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