For nearly my whole adult life, when I've gone out to shoot, I've almost always been alone. These days, when I do end up shooting with someone else, it's because I met up with one of my 2 shooting buddies who were already out there. Even then, if one of us is still shooting for that day, it's a very solitary affair. We each have our own preferred way of setting up targets, and none of us use the same way. Safety is still the first priority, and each of us are quick to call the other for any infraction. My Marine buddy has to have pistols handed to him with the mag. removed and action open. He looks into the breech, and STILL has to stick his pinky in there.
I prefer to go with a good buddy, but a great majority of the time, I'm alone, or there's a few strangers around. I don't bother to shoot at ranges where I can't go out to the targets at will, tho.
lets see-trap or clays-always with others. steel practice-usually by myself, I have one of those delayed action timers rifle shooting-usually with my son. he spots for me, I spot for him practicing draws from concealment-usually by myself at the local range during off hours. I am one of the few they allow to do that there so I don't do it when newbies are around
I used to be a lot more "sociable". I was a RSO at a range in Utah for awhile, and it was mostly good fun. What really ruined it for me was a particular kind of newbie. The kind who would come out and show me his Jennings or equivalent little mess, and say to me: "Dude! Show me how to cap a dude!" I would show him the gate, and then call Highway Patrol. My old collection of shooting buddies in Utah were a comical bunch. One of them had been common pals with another until the day came when friend #1 blew the rear window out of friend #2's SUV. He was never forgiven. Friend #2 would shoot 25 yd. free standing with me, but it was always a grudge, because I wasn't supposed to outshoot his $1,200 Colts with my (then) $300 Ruger Super Black. We must have fired 10,000 rounds each "against" each other, but not one in anger.
This brings up another issue. Back in the Western American frontier, everyone was basically on their own. And carrying a gun was commonplace. People typically travelled in groups for their own protection. There were robbers everywhere that would steal your money and your horse and leave you stranded. You didn't always know who you could trust. In all honesty, it was not always practically possible for one man to protect himself. Think about. You are alone out in the middle of nowhere and someone approaches you. Could be the sheriff, for all you know. You both have guns in your holsters. What's going to happen if one of you puts his hand on his gun? If you had any reason at all to be suspicious, it would basically be a "shoot them before they can shoot you" type of situation. But in a group, this is less of a problem. Any individual knows if they shoot their gun, they're likely going to get shot back at. Being in a group served another important purpose as well: witnesses. Out in the middle of nowhere, criminals (or even rogue law enforcement) could get away with things. It would be your word against theirs. "convicted felon" includes people who were convicted of tax evasion, people who sawed off their shotgun without proper registration, people who accidentally or carelessly violated a weapons law, a husband who read his wife's email without her permission, a child who's accidentally left his knife in his backpack and brings it to school. How ridiculous. They are just trying to take rights away from as many people as possible.
so what? your mom couldn't LEGALLY kiss that boy in high school, either, if she had grown up in illinois. you can't LEGALLY have oral sex with your spouse, in at least one state in the US. Legally doesn't mean jack squat, really. Many here have illegally, some feloniously, carried a gun at times/places, probably including YOU. I, like millions of other gunowners, refuse to frequent ranges that ask for ID, write down car plate numbers and similar Nazi bs. I am not too cheap to pay some farmer/rancher for a place to shoot in peace.
His reported offense was construction and possession of a sound suppressor. A violation of the National Firearms Act of nineteen thirty four. - - - Updated - - - Then you are freely admitting to committing another felony.
