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Lead Astray Guns sports are safe
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Lead Astray
Guns sports are safe-so long as you know the rules.
Recently, several employees at George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic in San Rafael, Calif., were standing outside on a coffee break talking about those things Jedi-makers do. Suddenly one of the men felt a sharp pain in his arm, then another on his head. Checking his body, he found bruises and welts with no immediate visible cause.
Sounds like the start of a great special-effects movie - invisible attackers; call out the Jedi warriors, something like that. As it turns out, in this case the cause of the man's pains were quite real. They had been inflicted by stray bullets from a shooting range near San Quentin prison, about a mile away.
Neither bullet pierced the skin, but on inspecting the area, San Rafael police found 12 to 15 spent lead slugs on the ground, all from the 9mm semiautomatic pistol which is standard gear for most law-enforcement officers.
Range administrators told the Marin Independent Journal that eight U.S. Park Police officers and three instructors had been training at one range at the time. Lt. David Johnson of the San Rafael Police Department said this was the first time in at least ten years that any incident involving stray bullets from the range had been reported. Let's hope it's the last.
One of the San Quentin ranges is visible from the road. The targets are lined up against a hill that must rise 100 feet above the line of fire. On the other side of that hill there are a few buildings and then a marshy section of San Francisco Bay, which ultimately becomes dry land again at a complex of buildings beginning with a Home Depot store. The current Industrial Light and Magic complex of Lucasfilm Ltd. is located about a hundred yards further along.
From the top of the ridge by the San Quentin range, it seems like a long way to ILM's parking lot, but consider the following statistics on the maximum range of ammunition provided by the California Rifle and Pistol Association.
Zone of Danger for Common Firearms
Rifles
.22 long rifle - 4,870 feet
.30-.30 Winchester - 11,600 feet
.30-.06 - 17,000 feet
Pistols
.38 special - 5,000 feet
.9mm Luger - 5,700 feet
.357 magnum - 7,100 feet
Common Shotguns, 12 gauge
No. 8 shot - 720 feet
No. 4 shot - 910 feet
00 buck - 1,830 feet
slug - 2,450 feet
Anyone who has a hunting license should know about the zone of danger for his or her firearms.
In all 50 states, people have to take a class in hunter education to get a license; that class contains specific material on the maximum distances bullets can travel. The law-enforcement officers at the range also should know such distances. Presumably, this incident resulted from ricochets, and steps will be taken to insure that it won't happen again.
The stray bullets bring to mind a larger issue. Since last fall thousands of Americans have purchased firearms for the first time. In some cases, taking a class and passing a test was necessary for purchase. In other cases all buyers needed was to pass background checks. Especially among those folks, some of the weapons may never even have been fired. That is worrisome, because people easily may form their beliefs about guns based on movies and television - which often miss the mark on firearms handling and safety.
If you own a gun and haven't shot it, go to a range and get some instruction from a qualified teacher. The NRA has an extensive network of trained instructors who can teach skills, reducing fears of the gun. This will make you a more responsible gun owner, as well as giving you the confidence to competently handle a potentially deadly weapon.
If you don't know where to go, the National Shooting Sports Foundation has a list of ranges on its website. Actor Robert Stack has said, "You meet the nicest people at shooting sports events." I've never found that statement to be false.
Even with the best instruction, when someone says that a gun can travel such-and-such a distance, it's not easy to judge just how far that may be. The best way I know to understand the maximum zone of danger of a gun is to get in your car, mark the place and odometer reading, and start driving. When you've traveled as far as the bullets from your gun can carry, stop and look back. Fix that distance in your mind, and carry it around as a reminder whenever you consider shooting.
Statistically, shooting sports are the safest of all popular recreational events, but thanks to the media they're also the easiest to demonize. Always be sure of what lies beyond your target, and don't ever shoot up into the air, even in celebrations of the Fourth of July or New Year's Eve.
There's just one exception to this rule. If al Qaeda or Taliban terrorists want to continue their tradition of firing their guns into the air in celebration, as long as they shoot straight up, more power to them. It will save our troops some bullets.
- Mr. Swan is the "Media Watch" columnist for North American Hunter magazine
http://www.nationalreview.com/swan/swan041102.asp
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Guns sports are safe-so long as you know the rules.
Recently, several employees at George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic in San Rafael, Calif., were standing outside on a coffee break talking about those things Jedi-makers do. Suddenly one of the men felt a sharp pain in his arm, then another on his head. Checking his body, he found bruises and welts with no immediate visible cause.
Sounds like the start of a great special-effects movie - invisible attackers; call out the Jedi warriors, something like that. As it turns out, in this case the cause of the man's pains were quite real. They had been inflicted by stray bullets from a shooting range near San Quentin prison, about a mile away.
Neither bullet pierced the skin, but on inspecting the area, San Rafael police found 12 to 15 spent lead slugs on the ground, all from the 9mm semiautomatic pistol which is standard gear for most law-enforcement officers.
Range administrators told the Marin Independent Journal that eight U.S. Park Police officers and three instructors had been training at one range at the time. Lt. David Johnson of the San Rafael Police Department said this was the first time in at least ten years that any incident involving stray bullets from the range had been reported. Let's hope it's the last.
One of the San Quentin ranges is visible from the road. The targets are lined up against a hill that must rise 100 feet above the line of fire. On the other side of that hill there are a few buildings and then a marshy section of San Francisco Bay, which ultimately becomes dry land again at a complex of buildings beginning with a Home Depot store. The current Industrial Light and Magic complex of Lucasfilm Ltd. is located about a hundred yards further along.
From the top of the ridge by the San Quentin range, it seems like a long way to ILM's parking lot, but consider the following statistics on the maximum range of ammunition provided by the California Rifle and Pistol Association.
Zone of Danger for Common Firearms
Rifles
.22 long rifle - 4,870 feet
.30-.30 Winchester - 11,600 feet
.30-.06 - 17,000 feet
Pistols
.38 special - 5,000 feet
.9mm Luger - 5,700 feet
.357 magnum - 7,100 feet
Common Shotguns, 12 gauge
No. 8 shot - 720 feet
No. 4 shot - 910 feet
00 buck - 1,830 feet
slug - 2,450 feet
Anyone who has a hunting license should know about the zone of danger for his or her firearms.
In all 50 states, people have to take a class in hunter education to get a license; that class contains specific material on the maximum distances bullets can travel. The law-enforcement officers at the range also should know such distances. Presumably, this incident resulted from ricochets, and steps will be taken to insure that it won't happen again.
The stray bullets bring to mind a larger issue. Since last fall thousands of Americans have purchased firearms for the first time. In some cases, taking a class and passing a test was necessary for purchase. In other cases all buyers needed was to pass background checks. Especially among those folks, some of the weapons may never even have been fired. That is worrisome, because people easily may form their beliefs about guns based on movies and television - which often miss the mark on firearms handling and safety.
If you own a gun and haven't shot it, go to a range and get some instruction from a qualified teacher. The NRA has an extensive network of trained instructors who can teach skills, reducing fears of the gun. This will make you a more responsible gun owner, as well as giving you the confidence to competently handle a potentially deadly weapon.
If you don't know where to go, the National Shooting Sports Foundation has a list of ranges on its website. Actor Robert Stack has said, "You meet the nicest people at shooting sports events." I've never found that statement to be false.
Even with the best instruction, when someone says that a gun can travel such-and-such a distance, it's not easy to judge just how far that may be. The best way I know to understand the maximum zone of danger of a gun is to get in your car, mark the place and odometer reading, and start driving. When you've traveled as far as the bullets from your gun can carry, stop and look back. Fix that distance in your mind, and carry it around as a reminder whenever you consider shooting.
Statistically, shooting sports are the safest of all popular recreational events, but thanks to the media they're also the easiest to demonize. Always be sure of what lies beyond your target, and don't ever shoot up into the air, even in celebrations of the Fourth of July or New Year's Eve.
There's just one exception to this rule. If al Qaeda or Taliban terrorists want to continue their tradition of firing their guns into the air in celebration, as long as they shoot straight up, more power to them. It will save our troops some bullets.
- Mr. Swan is the "Media Watch" columnist for North American Hunter magazine
http://www.nationalreview.com/swan/swan041102.asp
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878