Shooter with disability?

[tobydog]

At our local club Bianchi match today, we shot the Los Alamitos course. This was a local match only, not yet sanctioned by the NRA. One of our shooters has a disability on his left hand, cannot fire pistol weak hand. He has use of both hands, but due to finger issues, unable to safely manipulate trigger with his left hand. USPSA has the rule allowing different hand or position with up to minus 20% of available points at RM's discretion (10.2.10). I cannot find any rule specific to our shooter. The only rule I can find states to use the next hardest position (13.1 or 13.2). Not much more than weak hand available. I let him shoot it strong hand only, but told him I would look into possible penalties, or not. He was OK with this. Scores have not been posted yet so I can review this. Any suggestions, or does someone have a specific rule to use I haven't located? Thanks for the help.

[Alan550]

You've pretty much handled it as we do at our club. We also have the exact situation (left hand pretty much non-functional) and allow the shooter to use right-hand only on the Practical weak-hand string. Since your matches aren't NRA sanctioned, I wouldn't worry about it at all! If you were sending the scores in for classification, chances are the shooter in question won't be shooting a High Master score, so it won't matter much if at all. So long as the shooter is having a good time and returns for later matches, "keep on keeping on!"

Alan~^~

[Poppa Bear]

Does it affect his freestyle grip? If it does I would be inclined to assess no penalties being as the disability negates any overall advantage. He has an advantage shooting strong hand only on weak hand only strings but is at a disadvantage when shooting freestyle strings.

[gm iprod]

I am with Alan on this.

Is he having fun?

Yes? Job done.

If he turns up at the Cup or a World Shoot the match referee will know the rule. I can't think of it and I can't be bothered moving the wine glass off the rule book (finally made the damn thing useful) to check.

[gm iprod]

RAN OUT OF WINE!

Rule 13.1

[tobydog]

Running out of wine is not a good thing!

Anyway, I had reviewed 13.1, not specific to our situation. His disability does not have a large affect on his free-style. I went with 1 procedural for not following stage description. Shooter had expected more, so he was fine with this. The stage allows plenty of time to shoot with either hand. No one went over the allowed time for the string, even our newest shooters. I just felt there should be some type of penalty, but wasn't looking to hammer him on it. Thanks for all the replies.

[Powder Finger]

USPSA

10.2.10.1 Exception – In a weak hand/strong hand stage, a competitor who

has physical use of only one hand may use the same hand for

both weak and strong without penalty.

10.2.10.2 If the request is approved by the Range Master, a minimum of

one procedural penalty, up to a maximum penalty of 20% of the

competitor’s points “as shot” (rounded up to the nearest whole

number), will be deducted from the competitor’s score. For

example, if 100 points are available in the course of fire and the

competitor actually scores 90 points, the special penalty is a

deduction of 18 points. The Range Master may waive any or all

procedural penalties in respect of a competitor who has a significant

physical disability prior to the competitor making his

attempt at the course of fire.

These rules were written years ago for a friend of mine who can't safely shoot left(weak handed).

It looks like they have changed some over the years (used to be able to shoot freestyle if the 20% penalty is added, I think).

Anyway they were written to be fair to disabled competitors.

As stated even at nationals get the clarification from the Director up front.

[Alan550]

Perhaps we could get the NRA Rules Committee to address this situation. You might want to contact them in that regard before the committee meets in Sept. I realize the OP concerned matches that aren't NRA Approved, so it's really up to the RO or Match Director to decide this one.

The quoted USPSA rule sounds reasonable with the exception of the way the penalty is assessed. Might not work that way for Action Pistol, but maybe.

Alan~^~

[Action Pistolero]

The NRA does have a provision for this. We had 2 shooters at Bianchi in wheel chairs. Did they fit in the box on the barricades or mover? No. It normally takes a doctors excuse but we let common sense come into play.

We also have an older gentleman that cannot support the gun in his strong hand. He can work the trigger freestyle with his right hand but uses the weah hand to hold the gun up. There are very few strings of fire that require strong hand only but when we have one he shoots weak handed with no penalty.

[gm iprod]

I still think it is all covered in Rule 13.1

[NRAActionPistol]

NRA Action Pistol Rule 13.1 covers clearly covers this, it also clearly covers the procedure to get approved by the NRA.

If you are not running these matches through the NRA, the Match Director can make the call.

NRA Pistol Dept.