Our gun club has 5,000 members and we seem to be having trouble making people take care of their firearms on the club ranges. Two recent issues have come to light. One fellow was alone on the rifle ranges (we have 50, 100, 200 and 300 yard ranges) and left his rifle at the bench and then walked 300 yards to check his target. When he got back to the bench his rifle was gone. He called the police, but it is doubtful it will ever be found. He could have slung his rifle and walked to the target and he would still have his rifle. On the other hand, he could have invested in a spotting scope and still have his rifle.

The second fellow gets the Darwin award. He was busy shooting at the 100 yard range. No one else was using any of the ranges. When he finished shooting, he packed up and drove home. That evening when he unloaded his vehicle, he realized his rifle was missing. He also contacted the police and he may never see his gun again. When asked my opinion on these cases, I said both folks should have left $100.00 in cash with their guns as a tax for being stupid. Take care...
Joe

I think this says more about the quality and honesty of your membership than the "stupidity" of the first guy.
Our range has 2000 members, the range rules during a cease fire is unload, rack the firearm and when all are checked clear move forward to check targets. There may or may not be people left waiting at the firing line with those firearms, and guess what in over 40yrs of operation like this no firearms have been stolen.
There have been stories from another local range of the cops trying to take firearms in an attempt to charge people with not securing the firearm in accordence with the legislation, while the owners were out checking targets, but thats yet to be confirmed.
Scum are scum and will try it on at anytime.

We all have to be responsible for our firearms all of the time. It may or may not be club members stealing firearms from the range. Many of our gun clubs are in rural areas. Anyone could be waiting in the bushes for an opportunity. All the best...
Gil

I agree that gun thieves are scum and should do a lot of hard time for their crimes. At this point, no one knows who did the gun stealing at our gun club and it could be anyone. My point is that we should not make it easy for someone to steal our firearms. Take care...
Joe

the one time a gun is "stolen" from my club, it is used 30 minutes later to murder someone.
The club nearly lost its license.

We had a preacher killed at a range close to my area about 4yrs ago,two soldiers awol from NY shot and stoled his guns and money.They did catch and Imprison both.I also had a real close call at a very out of the way range,4 men got out on me and want to shot my guns , said better not and one decided he would anyway.Well from there things got real nasty.Not to proud of my actions but they left and i went home safe,so all ended well.I told some of the guys I worked with and discribed the van they were in.Two week s later that van was being looked for by wv police as someone of interest for a killing .Praise the Lord it wasn't me and I didn't have to shoot the two that tried to take my guns,it was bad for a few minutes.Ranges can be very unsafe

I belong to the same Gun Club as dhc4ever and what he says is correct...and a testament to the level of respect and honesty of our members. In addition to that, when a cease fire is called, and shooters can go forward to check their targets, we have a Range Officer who stays on the shooting line. He is not there for security of firearms, but for security of the shooters forward, but having said that he will not allow any firearm to be touched while shooters are "forward". There is also an overall Range Officer who monitors all three ranges.

There are scumbags everywhere, but I like to think that amongst the shooters, certainly at our Club, that they respect property belonging to others.

Cheers, Vince

man they may be the scum of the earth but they have got balls
I could think of many ways/places that would be safer to pinch a rifle from. you would have to think that a sting wouldnt be too hard to set up if this has happened twice.
My nephew had his rifles pinched recently the drug dealing scum did his house over . they are plurry lucky he hasnt caught up with them (yet) god help them ifn he ever does.

At the range I go to, we all leave our guns at the tables/racks when we go up range. Even the RO's do it when they need to drive around to check (we don't have full time RO's on all ranges). Not one gun has been stolen.

I'd say your membership needs to be trimmed a bit if your having that kind of problem.

Dimitri

Our range is the only place I go where I don't lock my car.

At the range I go to there's a lot of trust. But we don't walk up to the targets. We find it's easier to leave people at the targets marking them while we shoot (F Class and Target Rifle).

But one of our members is a cop (worse then that, he's the local firearms officer) and has reminded us that we need to keep our firearms in the cars locked when we aren't near them

The range I use is a pubic range and most of the time if one person needs to go up range we all go up range. I have never had a gun stolen or heard of a gun being stolen from the range. I guess that's just western Oklahoma for you.

I am guessing that your range is being targeted by a thief or thieves. A hidden surveillance camera or two might not be a bad idea. The sting idea would also be a way to catch the b'tards. With 5000 members shouldn't be hard to pay for either solution.

Vince wrote:

I belong to the same Gun Club as dhc4ever and what he says is correct...and a testament to the level of respect and honesty of our members. In addition to that, when a cease fire is called, and shooters can go forward to check their targets, we have a Range Officer who stays on the shooting line. He is not there for security of firearms, but for security of the shooters forward, but having said that he will not allow any firearm to be touched while shooters are "forward". There is also an overall Range Officer who monitors all three ranges. Cheers, Vince

Same here. Make a move for a shooting bench and everyone knows of it over the loudspeaker. Still, stuff get's snatched now and then. So I only go during the week and never take my eye's off my guns for long. RO's know me too and I buddy up with the shooters next to me so we can watch each others back. Guns are like gold- anything that you can liquidate as fast as them for cash money is going to get nicked in a jif.