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Old August 10, 2009, 08:33 AM   #1
ZeSpectre
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Rant - Firearms vandalism

I freely admit that this is a rant but I need to blow off some steam.
Went out to my favorite public range on Saturday and discovered that someone (or several persons) had decided that it'd be a good idea to blow a bunch of holes in the corrugated steel roof over the shooting benches. Well there were already a few holes from previous vandalism and/or negligent discharges so although it's annoying I wasn't about to get riled up over that.

However

Some dipstick, blockheaded, $*^&%%!!! had also decided that it'd be cool to shoot the support posts, the trash cans, the benches, the pit toilet house (missed the toilet itself thank the maker), saw down a couple of small trees with gunfire, AND shot up every single sign in the immediate area. (I suppose the large "beeramid" of 16oz cans I found might also indicate a contributing factor to the situation )

So not only did they destroy a bunch of shared property but in order to do a few of the other things (saw down the trees and shoot the bath-house) they had to have been firing BACK ALONG THE ENTRANCE ROAD!

Cripes! A small group of us have been working hard to keep this place picked up and OPEN and some jackasses have to pull this crap! It made me mad then and I've been getting more angry the longer I think about it. I have a certain reluctance about getting the rangers involved because I'm concerned that someone will say "well, I guess we have to just shut it all down" but I can't let it be when these idiots are quite literally shooting back down the access road!

I'm so angry I could chew wire and spit nails today. Thanks for letting me vent.
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Old August 10, 2009, 08:41 AM   #2
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Same thing was happening out at our private range that a select few people had keys to: ie., a couple friends, the city police had one key they would sign out, the sheriff's department had a key they would sign out and the local highway patrols had a key but apparently they didn't keep a record of who signed it out or anything. So we ended up buying some game cameras and hiding them around the range. Turned out to be two highway patrols .....needless to say we took their range privileges away from them. Haven't had any problems since.
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Old August 10, 2009, 08:50 AM   #3
Mike Irwin
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Yep, amazing, isn't it?

Years ago at the range I belonged to we had one member, a well-respected member of the community, decide to pattern his shotgun...

On the side of the jiffy john.

Fortunately another member saw him do it. Second member was a police officer of equal standing in the community.

Short of it was that said member was expelled from the club for life and word got around to the other clubs and associations in the area, and he wasn't allowed membership at any of them, either. He had to pay for the jiffy john, too, and those things are NOT cheap.

At the one I belonged to in my hometown the clubhouse sat between the 100yard rifle and the handgun ranges. Every once in awhile some jackass would put a round or two through the clubhouse.
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Old August 10, 2009, 08:54 AM   #4
treefarmernc
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I hear ya brother. I sucks having to deal with the few that royally screws it up for every body else. One things that really gets my blood boiling is people that can’t pull there head out of their @&& and try to give some consideration and respect for others. It would had made me mad enough just to see their trash left laying behind but then add in the destruction of public property meant for the enjoyment of others including myself while endangering others. $@%$$&*&*#
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Old August 10, 2009, 08:56 AM   #5
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Used to live in Carson City where the gun range is a city-owned public park with no personnel. Facilities was always out there replacing the roof shingles and the 6x6 posts that held up the trusses. Some morons would also shoot the concrete blocks that the benches were made from. The boy scouts used to come out once a month and try to clean up the trash that folks would bring and shoot up because they didn't want to pay for the dump (over the mountain on the other side).......

Those few types always give all good gun owners a bad name
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Old August 10, 2009, 09:05 AM   #6
johnwilliamson062
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Someone is continually shooting up the posts at my range. Will be helping put some new ones in this Wednesday if I can get off work for it.
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Old August 10, 2009, 06:54 PM   #7
PT111
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I am not sure whether the actual stories like this make me sicker or the people that when you catch some teens doing it say things like "They didn't hurt anyone" or "they were just being boys".

It really is amazing to me the attitude that some people take toward vandalism. Some people have absolutely no respect for other people's property and sadly it is usually their parents who instill that attitude into them. Several years ago in the subdivision next to ours all the new homes being built seem to keep getting their window panes broken out. They finally caught the teenager that was doing it by tracing the logoed golf balls he used to his father's business.

Last week in that same neighborhood someone went through and broke out all the windows in all the houses under construction by the frames. Not just the glass but the frames. The culprit was the younger brother of the original window breaker. His father said don't worry I will pay for the damages.
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Old August 10, 2009, 08:12 PM   #8
alloy
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I remember seeing a few holes thru the bathroom door at the range where some safety or cleanup sign was posted.

Some folks have NO respect.

Have seen the ND holes, hopefully I get to see the others soon, pistol or rifle area?
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Old August 10, 2009, 08:34 PM   #9
oneounceload
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Quote:
His father said don't worry I will pay for the damages.
If that had been my kid, HE would be paying for the damage. His attitude teaches his kid absolutely nothing about respect and illegal activities.....
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Old August 10, 2009, 10:44 PM   #10
Regolith
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Quote:
If that had been my kid, HE would be paying for the damage. His attitude teaches his kid absolutely nothing about respect and illegal activities.....
More likely, the kid is in jail/jeuvy. Depending on the number of windows busted, it could be felony vandalism, and which is usually punishable by jail time AND restitution.
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Old August 10, 2009, 10:48 PM   #11
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My buddys old Tacoma has 2 .45 caliber holes in the fender from him drinking and going to a public range. "I said TOYOTA'S reputation was bulletproof, Idiot!" It's a nice conversation starter though.
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Old August 10, 2009, 10:54 PM   #12
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If you think range vandalism is bad, try finding that your ancestral graveyard dating back to the 1880s has become the favorite spot to test out deer rifles and shotguns.
Nothing puts a guy in a better mood than finding pieces of a family member's tombstone riddled with bullets and broken beer bottles.
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Old August 11, 2009, 12:24 AM   #13
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Yep...

My family started clearing the road, and brush for a camping/parking/shooting area in the desert here. (Utah, BLM land.) I'll admit we didn't have permission to set up a range, but some BLM usage loop-holes allowed us to do things in small amounts without actually breaking the usage and access rules.

Long story short, we created a nice, secluded, quiet little range spot. (Just a clearing in the juniper trees, at the bottom of a gully... with natural backstops all around; and sight lines from 10 to 450 yards.) Within a matter of months, it was discovered by the locals. They turned it into a dump site. Now, to prevent the area from being closed; we have to haul pickup truck loads of trash out every time we make a trip out there.

Until a few months ago, we didn't know that our father was a main contributor to the dumping. He had been taking old junk to the range and throwing it in the bottom of the gully when he was done shooting. Damn ignorant ***** got some not so kind words from us, when we found out.
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Old August 11, 2009, 01:02 AM   #14
troy_mclure
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its not just guns, we had a "walk thru" archery range with some brightly painted observation booths (for tournaments?) every few days we would pull arrows from the wood around the Plexiglas windows, the windows were heavily scarred too.
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Old August 11, 2009, 05:27 AM   #15
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Man, I can relate to this thread. Someone started small fires on the tables at our local open range. Looked like they intentionally shot the support posts holding the targets, and they must haul the trash in! No one can be that messy in one range session. I finally gave up. Last time I was there, I was looking around, figuring someone had to have posted a sign that said: "Idiots, Please shoot here and ruin the only free range facility you have for 25 miles."

When I was a youngster I broke almost all the windows out of the Church Parish House. (My dad was the preacher and he was busy in the church and I was bored.) One of the neighbors saw me doing it and called dad. Dad did not say "it's OK" or "I'll pay for the damage."
I worked all summer long to pay for those windows and if memory serves me right, did not sit down for a week. When the rest of my buddies got to go swimming, I got to go to work. Movies? Nope, I was too tired from working and had no money, I had to pay the church back for those windows. I remember the final payment I made to the church. The church secretary handed me back something like .25 cents and said I had finally paid for the windows.
Nowadays: My father would be charged with neglect (for allowing me to wander around aimlessly while he was working) and abuse (for both the whupping, which I deserved, and the fact that he made me pay for those windows). I would get free counseling (Because it is obvious that if he made me pay for those windows, I was an unloved child) and be able to get SSI payments (because I would be scarred for life by that traumatic incident) and I would have a bunch of people telling me "It's OK, you do not have to take personal responsibility for anything."
To this day I cringed at the sound of broken glass and think immediately think of those windows. I called my dad awhile back and told him that my brothers and sisters were going to have to sue him. Laughing, he asked why, I told him it was because we figured him and Mom had taught us personal responsibility and it just did not seem right in today's society when nothing is anyone's responsibility.
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Old August 11, 2009, 10:26 PM   #16
tranks
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i went to my local range for the second time this year, last week. i noticed a few changes. i don't know the exact reason but i can assume people were being irresponsible and not paying attention to the backstops.

the range master had posted several posters on every bench. one was a satellite picture showing what was beyond the shooting range backstop (which is dug into a steep hill w/trees), a developing housing development.

another poster was about the target stands. several of them had been shot at and the poster said anyone caught shooting them would be banned for life.

he also reposted the rules. which did need to be done, some of the old ones were weather worn/faded.

thankfully, i have not seen any damage to the benches, shelters or buildings. i think the damage to the target stands is most likely accidental. if you don't clear the stands from behind the one your using, you could hit them.
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Old August 12, 2009, 01:06 AM   #17
B. Lahey
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I saw an older lady blast a target-frame in half at the range a few weeks ago. She was shooting a very large revolver and must have flinched or jerked or something. Wood splinters flew quite a distance, and the frame fell over, one leg completely severed.

The range officer was very understanding and fixed the frame for her during the next ceasefire. They keep some pre-cut stand legs handy for that sort of thing, apparently.
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Old August 12, 2009, 04:39 AM   #18
imthegrumpyone
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It's a shame you can't outlaw "Stupid". There's probably not a day goes by I don't look at TFL or GlockTalk, it amazes me that some after reading some post, that some people are aloud to own guns not a lone to "carry". You also have this mindset of establishments not wanting to take the time to arrest and prosecute. What a world we made for are selves.
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Old August 12, 2009, 02:48 PM   #19
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this is a bit off topic but your opinion please...

I belong to a small private club, it's a nice facility and only $50 bucks a year to be a member. One of the members bought a 50 BMG and has been punching holes in the gongs. The club asked him to either stop shooting the fifty at the gongs or pay to replace them out of his own pocket. It seemed pretty reasonable to me but it has caused a bit of a divide at the club with some members supporting the fifty shooter and some the club. What do you think
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Old August 12, 2009, 03:29 PM   #20
ZeSpectre
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Sounds like a good question to start a thread.
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Old August 12, 2009, 09:56 PM   #21
tranks
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Quote:
deadcoyote
this is a bit off topic but your opinion please...
I belong to a small private club, it's a nice facility and only $50 bucks a year to be a member. One of the members bought a 50 BMG and has been punching holes in the gongs. The club asked him to either stop shooting the fifty at the gongs or pay to replace them out of his own pocket. It seemed pretty reasonable to me but it has caused a bit of a divide at the club with some members supporting the fifty shooter and some the club. What do you think
sounds like he is destroying club property to me. i'd make him pay for them or ban him.

he needs to switch to ammo that will not punch holes threw the gongs. i don't know if you can buy ammo like that or not.
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Last edited by tranks; August 13, 2009 at 07:42 AM.
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Old August 13, 2009, 10:45 PM   #22
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I live in Nash. Tn. Cheatham Co. is the next county to the west and has a wildlife management area with a public range. There are three berms at 25, 50, and 100 yds. I think cousins of the idiots that like to shoot up ranges must live around here because the place has been shot up pretty bad. This was maybe two years ago but the photos are still up with warning of range closing if it EVER happens again. They will bulldoze the berms and remove the shed.

I wish the ranger had caught them. Let them fix their mess and damage then promise to shoot them if ever seen on the range again.

Those guys shot the concrete block shooting benches to pieces! CRAZY!

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Old August 26, 2009, 02:07 PM   #23
HiBC
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I saw the results of a similar shootup in Northern Colorado some years back.They even shot up an old pickup there to haul steel downrange.

This range is on leased land,members only,llocked gates.What message does that send to the man who owns the land?

Something to take to heart,and pass on as you reach folks shooting

Every stupidly placed bullethole serves the antigunners as a billboard saying"See,shooters are irresponsible morons"

And,as someone who has strung a certain amount of barbed wire,that includes clipping strands by shooting through fences.Messing up fence is not a way to make your landowner
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We can practice our own good behavior,and also drop dime and bust every person you know of that does such things.Its not being a rat,it is protecting the 2nd Ammendment
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Old August 26, 2009, 04:49 PM   #24
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The range I shoot at is not the best range in the world. The Firing line is not finished. There are a few things that need to be taken care of but it is a safe place to shoot. Every time I go out there more of my yard markers are shot all to hell. This place cost $100 a year to belong to. I pay my $100 a year and I also spend well over 200 hours a year working on the property and taking care of it. It just chaps my azz when people do this.
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