Range Safety Issue

[CSEMARTIN]

Please take a look at the picture below which I pulled off of facebook and edited to protect the identities of the innocent.

This is a club that I have been to in the past and have brought up safety concerns with the Match Director, numerous staff members and the club President and Vice-President. This picture was taken at their last scheduled match.

My question is this.....what is the plywood for?

Some background information: Beyond the plywood is a path which allows competitors to get to the bays at the back of the range. Is this plywood there as a vision barrier? and why? I have been to matches at this facility, and the limits of the 180 are pushed. I would think an AD at the wrong time would be a reasonable concern. There are other issues that have come up in the past with this particular club. This is just a concrete example.

If you feel compelled to stake 4X4's in the ground and hang plywood, maybe it is time to get a tractor out there and move some dirt? Am I missing something?

I would rather not say who the offending party is, so please don't ask me in a PM. Thank you.

[Ronnie j]

Well I don't know if your an a-hole or not , can't tell from that picture As far as it being safe you don't sound like you feel safe there. There is a lot that picture doesn't show, hard to form and opinion about safe angles and whatnot.

[lumpygravy]

I presume that from the position of the shooter and RO that downrange is directly in front of them parallel to the plywood "partition".

Questions:

1] Are people permitted to walk behind that plywood while the range is hot? Even if permitted, I wouldn't because it may put me in front of the shooter. It's hard to tell for sure from a snapshot.

2] Are targets ever setup in front of the plywood? Totally unsafe.

It appears that a berm begins at the forward edge of the plywood. If this is the case, I agree that extending the berm the length of the plywood would simply be the right thing to do to make this particular area of this range as safe as possible.

You've alerted the range staff of your concerns and hopefully you've been provided with explanations about why the range uses the plywood as a partition. From the snapshot, it appears you may have valid concerns, but if the range staff don't/won't change this particular aspect of their setup perhaps it would be better not to shoot there if you feel that it is unsafe.

I really don't have an answer if it really is unsafe and they won't make it safe.

[Steve J]

No, you are not an a-hole. There should always be a safe backstop on the shooter's 180. I've seen clubs cant stages in the bay so that the parking lot is on the shooter's 180. Horribly unsafe. To put up a vision barrier so you can't see the people who are at risk is unconscionable.

Never compromise on safety. This stuff is basic.

[CSEMARTIN]

For the life of me, I can't figure out how someone can set up a match and put a 100+ shooters in harms way.

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm wrong about this. It would be a lot easier for me to say "my bad, I was wrong....sorry about that" and bow out of the debate. I wish I was wrong, and I wish someone could talk me through it so I could understand where I derailed. I would gladly offer my apologies, publicly, to everyone involved.

Numerous people have expressed their concerns about this range, and several competitors refuse to shoot there.

I just don't get it. What's it going to take? After my dialogue with the club President, it became perfectly clear that I was just being viewed as a fear mongerer. I was told I had a "doom and gloom attitude". And I was also told that since thousands of rounds were fired that day without incident, that was proof that the match was run safely.

I let it go, and aside from a few discussions about it with two close friends, I haven't spoken of the incident that happened at this range last spring. Then today, this photo surfaced and it pissed me off once again.

[Flexmoney]

It is a valid concern.

I am going to close the thread, as it seems like this one could get specific pretty easy and we try to keep the issues here discussed in a generic manner. (PM away)