These 2 photos will look familiar to anyone who has belonged to a gun club in the midwest. Probably 75% of Iowans have never been to one. A lot of misconceptions go with them. One of the most ludicrous I ran into years ago was that us redneck shooters took a 6-pack of beer out to the range for an afternoon of shootin’! Taking a swig before tossing the can into the air to shoot it 3 times before it hit the ground. Hardly. 99.9% of the time members of gun clubs are safety geeks. Alcohol and guns don’t mix.

Having been a member of several I have noted one glaring omission from all of them. When they lay out the firing range rules there’s never been a clear procedure for what to do when a cease fire is called and people are down range checking  targets. In the military all shooters step behind the red line, leaving their weapon ‘action open’ in front of the red line. That eliminates any and all possibility of an accidental discharge with someone downrange. You do not handle a weapon during ceasefire. At civilian ranges I’ve seen people handling weapons during ceasefire. That’s nuts.

On the other hand I’ve noticed a curiosity that State and County bureaucrats ignore about another recreational activity, yet they get all worked up about about the few public shooting ranges. People drown every year at their lakes. Most often there are no lifeguards. There is no procedure to verify you know how to swim before you are turned loose in the water. Any number of other safety precautions they don’t worry about. And people end up drowning at lakes and pools every year. Not to mention most Iowa lakes are toxic cesspools of farm runoff. No one talks about banning lakes and pools. Yet I’ve never heard of anyone getting shot at a shooting range. I’d say our track record is a lot better than swimming!

There are some odd ducks you run into at ranges. A lot of it you see when they aren’t even there. You see the aftereffects, even if you don’t see them. I don’t know if shooters are more quirky than non-shooters, but it seems like it sometimes. One of the most bizarre is “the gate”. Those who don’t have a key fob motor operated gate, still have a combination padlock attached to a chain welded to a gate. You drive up to the gate, spin the code, open the gate, drive through, get back out, close the gate and reattach the chain. A time consuming process that you are glad to eliminate when you have a partner to get out and do it for you.

You can tell a lot about the people at the club just from this process. There are the “lazies”. They spin the 4 numbers of the padlock in a number of different ways. Some rotate just 1 of the 4 numbers. Others rotate all 4 numbers just one turn. Others spin all 4 in a random fashion. Some grab just the last link of the chain so you have maximum slack to orient the lock for easiest viewing. There is one strange class of member that removes all slack from the chain and links it as tight as possible! What this does other than make it hard to view  the padlock dial is beyond me. But in their mind the gate is more secure if they cinch it up tight on the 4th link.

One thing I don’t understand is why the club officers don’t do anything about the rule breakers? There must be 10 cameras at my current club. Recording the goings on throughout the day. Most people at a range understand you “leave it like you found it” (or leave it better than you found it). Not so everyone! They will leave tables turned every which way. Bench rests all piled on 1 table. Brooms and dust pans (you use them to sweep up the shell cases) not returned to their hooks. And the worst absolute slob behavior, not picking up your brass.

And depending on the shooter, that can be a lot. At this club I’ve “identified” 3 absolute morons, even if I don’t know their names. The .223 guy, the 9mm aluminum guy and the shotgun guy. The .223 guy has a pistol chambered in it. I don’t think he’s ever picked up one brass. Its very easy once you’ve been shooting awhile to see what everybody shoots, its on the ground. The 9mm aluminum guy buys the cheapest ammo you can find. It kind of goes with the slob mentality of the guy who evidently thinks his mother is going to pick up after him. The “shotgun guy” instead of patterning his gun using a cardboard box he brings, blasts holes in the backing of the target stands at the pistol range that says “pistols only”. The next guy using the target stand doesn’t have useable cardboard on which to place his target, because there’s a big hole blown through the back! Even though the signs say “no rifles or shotguns at this range”.

The cameras capture all these transgressions. I can tell just in my short time most of these idiots come out on Friday and Saturday nights. It would be child’s play to review the tape and find out who. Makes me wonder, do the cameras reveal people are drinking there? Alcohol is supposed to be prohibited. I imagine the officers don’t handout ultimatums to these nimrods because they don’t want to lose the membership dues. But on the other hand, not enforcing the rules also costs them. I’m pretty sure this one guy was holding a shooting class that he charged for on Sunday mornings (a time of low traffic).

He’d pull up and 4 people would pile out of this little car. Only he had a gun or any familiarity with the range. It just seemed odd. But by not enforcing the rules, the club was missing 3 yearly dues. Miscreants make up a really small portion of the general population. My way of thinking is who needs them? Kick out the rule breakers. People who are slobs in one way, tend to be slobs in other ways. Not obeying the safety rules, driving other dues paying members away. Any number of things.

I don’t know, it just seems strange that in a sport where safety demands everyone color between the lines, that they wouldn’t demand everyone follow the rules? Slobs who take shortcuts get people killed. It also lets other people know you’re serious. If a slacker gets kicked out from time to time, it sends a message. And since I’m sure most clubs are like this one, the officers haven’t changed in decades. People get comfortable, people get in a rut. I imagine its simply a matter of a club needs 600 – 700 paying members to continue operations, and they don’t want to lose any. Not thinking they might actually get more members, if they ran things right.