Greenhead_Slayer wrote:It was a much better environment than the 10 years ago I shot there, but it still has some serious red flags. A few of the biggest no-no's I saw were:
1) No alocohol was on the line, however I did notice a few (probably 4-5) guys sipping on their beers and then getting called to go shoot and without second thought pick up their guns and go to the line. They by no means appeared drunk, but I still think it is insane to allow them to drink and go shoot. Once the beer can is open that shooter needs to be told they are done for the night. Better yet a no-alcohol allowed policy should be placed but based on previous experiences trying to get this mindset through to the directors I doubt that will happen.
2) Overall an extremely dangerous atmoshpere with lack of safety with. No ear protection, no eye protection, in some cases both coming from the same shooter. You'd think the person pulling the birds would be told don't pull a bird until everyone has eyes and ears.
3) I've never seen the "always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction" so blatantly broken. The biggest thing that made me cringe was people with over/unders or break action single shots carrying their gun broken over their shoulder with their muzzle over the shoulder pointing at everyone behind them. Yes, the actions were open and they were empty, I still think that is reckless and not responsible at all. I was impressed to see how many youth were there participating, but not impressed at the example for safety that was set for them.
4.) I guess they are sending their former President and Treasurer of the gun club to prison for embezzling $35,000 from the club. They had raised funds throughout the year to cover teams costs to shoot at state tournament and the Grand National. We had a similar thing happen when I was shooting the scholastic clay trap program. We raised $20,000 solely for the national tournament and ended up still paying for everything. There are some crooked people out there IMO.
As much fun as it was to shoot trap again, I think I'll continue to go to HAFB or Brigham for the future. A combination of alcohol, no eye or ear protection required, breaking the #1 rule for gun safety, and unethical directors creates an environment I'd rather not participate in or fund with my dollars.
The law says 0.08% just as it is with driving, so when they commit a crime or when they harm someone, I will be the first to step up. I do not believe that *I* can mix the two, but that's me. These guys appear to just be following the law.
Ultimately eyes and ears are up to the individual shooter. They are harming themselves, nobody else.
Breaking the firearms rules with regards to safety... that's a big no-no for me. Sounds like they need a real RSO.
