(Washington State) Tacoma Rifle and Revolver Club *REQUIRING PISTOL TRAINING*

[swatspyder]

Tacoma Rifle and Revolver Club in University Place, WA has issued a letter to all club members, notifying them that there will be membership changes. One of the changes is a requirement for pistol training before you can shoot on the pistol range. This range competency check will be done ON SITE and is REQUIRED for EVERYONE. That includes law enforcement, security, military and civilians. You are also required to take an hour long training class.

Yea, yea, yea, training is good. It is also their right to require members to have training. But we are talking about law enforcement, military and security who have had years of training that are required to complete a competency check before you can shoot on a range.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[DMan]

I wonder what "qualifications" those doing the safety check will have. Are they tacking on a fee for the safety check? It might be just a ruse to bring in more dollars - especially if they are in a crunch.

[jualdeaux]

While I think this is dubious at best, not all LEOs, MIL and security people can shoot worth crap. it is better to make it for everyone than to single out certain groups.

[Rexster]

Seems to me that some bad handgunning has been causing damage, or some bad handling habits have been causing safety issues, perhaps?

[ccw9mm]

Consider there have been a number of fairly public range shootings over the past couple of years. Having an hour's overview of safety and procedures doesn't seem unreasonable to me, to ensure everyone is focusing on safety and not simply blowing off the "party line" as beneath them.

A large outdoor range, here in the Portland area, requires a one-day orientation at the pistol range in order to use the IPSC bays unrelated to a competition. It's a matter of keeping everyone facing in the same direction with respect to safety guidelines. No other "training" is required to use the various other ranges at the facility, given that none are anywhere near as risky as a free-form IPSC course in an open, outdoor bay with ~100 other people milling around.

If it's this sort of thing, then I would suggest that an hour's intro to the club's safety and procedures would be smart to do ... for everyone. At my local range, I've seen more than a few LEO/security types being fairly loose with the safety protocols, even when many other people were around and at risk from it.

[dukalmighty]

A lot of LEO's and a whole buncha military types are pretty scary when handling guns,not every Vet had an MOS where they carried a firearm on a daily basis or even during combat

[soonershoote]

Also, could be the owners insurance company got hot on him for something, or maybe he gets a break on his rates if he ensures that everyone is "qualified" at his range?

[LongRider]

Their club their rules. I really don't see where I am entitled to an opinion though after reading all the range horror stories I can't see it as a bad thing other than one more public record of my owning firearms.

One more reason to keep using my backyard range.

[CajunBass]

Their club their rules. I really don't see where I am entitled to an opinion though after reading all the range horror stories I can't see it as a bad thing other than one more public record of my owning firearms.

One more reason to keep using my backyard range.

See above. Their club. Their rules. If you don't like it, feel free to vote the board of directors, rules committee, or whoever out of office and get the rules changed, or move on down the road. Or obey the rule. Those are your real choices.

Not the same as the GOVERNMENT saying you have to get training at all. That I'm against. Private club though can do what they want AFAIC.

[LongRider]

Not the same as the GOVERNMENT saying you have to get training at all. That I'm against. Private club though can do what they want AFAIC.

EXACTLY! The sole objection I had as stated was that it does provide the government the chance to get one more piece of info about me that they are not entitled to IMO. Private businesses should be able to run their business on private property as they see fit. If it was the government making these demands it would be a whole different story.

[obxned]

This could be a wonderful opportunity to make new shooters feel welcome and comfortable at the range as well as being safe gun handlers with a solid understanding of the safety rules. It could also be a way for know-it-all jackasses to feed their egos while alienating many newcomers.

[nedrgr21]

+1 to LongRider and Dukalmighty.

Spend a Saturday volunteering to be an RSO at a range and just watch the foolishness that goes on.

[retsupt99]

I think that it's a great idea.