MCFG Has an RO?

[Fishersjohn48]

This was brought up in another thread and I didn't want to hijack that one. Has MCFG appointed an RO? The last two times I have been to the club the same gentleman has been there and has been ruling with a VERY heavy hand. In a two hour range trip recently almost 25% of it was spent with issues regarding the RO. By his own admission we were being very safe but he felt it best to intervene. If we have an official RO, I'll go into the scenario further as this really needs to be addressed. If this individual is acting on his own, then we need to put a stop to it.

 

[Que]

John, there are several volunteer ROs at MCFG and I happen to be one of them. With the large number of new members, we began experiencing a number of safety violations, including members shooting .223, 7.62x39 and other calibers not on the approved list.

I'm not sure what happened, but we are only volunteering in order to free of incidents that could jeopardize the range from continuing to remain open.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

John, there are several volunteer ROs at MCFG and I happen to be one of them. With the large number of new members, we began experiencing a number of safety violations, including members shooting .223, 7.62x39 and other calibers not on the approved list.

I'm not sure what happened, but we are only volunteering in order to free of incidents that could jeopardize the range from continuing to remain open.

PM inbound

 

[singlesix]

come to the board meeting if you have concerns or questions. first Tuesday of the month.

 

[churchmouse]

We have had the same experience with an RO there. He actually came up behind me and grabbed me. Not freaking cool at all. He got his tail reamed pretty good by 2 others as he scared on mans wife (not sure why) and did the grab number on another.
I was clearing my 1911 on a cold range call and had not yet put up my hands to acknowledge the call and he jumped me for handling my pistol on a cold range. WTF. we know and follow the rules. We packed and left short of popping him one.
I understand the need for safety beyond most folks but Eagle creek runs smoother than this. We have yet to go back and are considering not re-up on the membership.

Hard to get there for the board meetings as my work is overwhelming right now. I am not the only person who feels this way. Get something organized and be consistent. Do not sneak up on someone with a hand gun, loaded or not.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

come to the board meeting if you have concerns or questions. first Tuesday of the month.

Gladly! In this case this particular individual is causing greater safety concerns than having no RO.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

We have had the same experience with an RO there. He actually came up behind me and grabbed me. Not freaking cool at all. He got his tail reamed pretty good by 2 others as he scared on mans wife (not sure why) and did the grab number on another.
I was clearing my 1911 on a cold range call and had not yet put up my hands to acknowledge the call and he jumped me for handling my pistol on a cold range. WTF. we know and follow the rules. We packed and left short of popping him one.
I understand the need for safety beyond most folks but Eagle creek runs smoother than this. We have yet to go back and are considering not re-up on the membership.

This is the same type of happy horse sh@# I'm talking about and I have not been back and won't be until this is changed. The incident I saw nearly came to blows. Not by me but by another member.

 

[churchmouse]

This is the same type of happy horse sh@# I'm talking about and I have not been back and won't be until this is changed.

Has to be the same guy. You can speak to me and discuss most anything. Get into my personal space and I get a bit miffy about that. Grab me and I will level you. I let this guy alone but he is not good for the club. Safety 1st last and always but Hitler I do not need. we may not return.

 

[lovemachine]

I haven't seen any RO's there, but it has been a little while since I've been to that range....

What else is this RO doing? I don't like to be grabbed by anyone other than my wife....

 

[rimfire_crazed]

I haven't been over at MCFG since the last round of dirt work began, but I've got a pretty good idea who you are talking about. He's a frustrating individual for sure. I honestly do not have a problem with staffing the range with voluntary RO's during peak times, but that should be WELL COMMUNICATED to the membership and the extent of their authority should be clearly documented.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

For those interested.

Monthly Members Meeting (Range and Bays CLOSED)WhenTue, December 4, 7:30pm – 9:00pm

 

[DemolitionMan]

I thought it was just me.

I had an issue with (probably) the same individual. He started to grab at one of my sons while he was trying to clear a jam with his 22 pistol. I stopped him and asked what he thought he was doing and he said something about my son being unsafe. I informed he needed to back off and then went on to help my son.

When I was done with that I went looking for the idiot but he was gone. He never stated he was an RO, and I have to admit I would have told him he was full of it if he had because I've never seen any announcement that such a thing was going on.

If MCF&G is going to start having RO's they need to be properly trained and they need to wear some form of identification. That may not be enough though. One of the best things about that range is that there haven't been the sort of self-important two-cent dictators running around that you find at other ranges. If this kind of nonsense continues, I'll be dropping my membership, and encouraging people I know to drop as well.

 

[churchmouse]

He is not tackling anyone but he did grab my arm as described and I dropped my Springfield Trophy match to the ground. That is an awfully expensive gun to be dropped. My son and son in law intervened rapidly and got me gathered up before I did something silly. I was more than up-set. They do not wish to return and I am having the same thoughts. I really like the club. Have been a member for 2 years and have sent a few folks that way to join up. They are not pleased with this character either.
Please know we are always with in the safety guidelines. I take my family there or did.

 

[long coat]

How is it a good/safe idea to make someone DROP A GUN????

 

[VUPDblue]

Guys, our RO program is in its infancy. please, please help us either make it better or make other decisions as to its future. I invite you to come to the next meeting on 12/3 to talk about it. we are always trying to improve the range and we need feedback from members in order to assess said progress. complaining on INGO and threatening to discontinue your membership is not beneficial to anyone. please help us make the club the best it can be.

 

[churchmouse]

Guys, our RO program is in its infancy. please, please help us either make it better or make other decisions as to its future. I invite you to come to the next meeting on 12/3 to talk about it. we are always trying to improve the range and we need feedback from members in order to assess said progress. complaining on INGO and threatening to discontinue your membership is not beneficial to anyone. please help us make the club the best it can be.

To think all of you who truly care about the club are un-aware of this guy's activity's is a bit of a push in the reality of this. My friends and fellow shooters have all said something about this guy and none of it has been positive. I have met you out there along with Que and feel you guy's have the best interests of the club at heart. The 2 guy's that were up-set with this prince of a character the day I was frightened into dropping my gun swore they were making phone calls that evening to those who know. This is something I would think to have been dealt with by now without a big Pow-Wow. This guy is well established and entrenched in the politics of the club so you guy's need to take care of this. I do not wish to pass on re-upping my membership but long and short of it is this was a while back and I continue to hear about him. The OP is a genuine nice guy so I am sure he did not make this up. Take that guy out of the RO pool please.
Thanks for listening to my tiny insignificant rant.

 

[chizzle]

Safety Officer Feedback

Fishersjohn48,
Thank you for the constructive criticism; we're doing our best to make our range better, but I can see that we need to improve in this area. I welcome your help at our next Board Meeting, so that we can discuss this and make sure we have a plan that we can all live with. I know that our Safety Officers are trying hard, but I want to make sure our members are happy with the plan that we've got. In the meantime, I sent out the email below to our Safety Officers, in an effort to minimize any issues between now and our next Board meeting.

Please keep in mind that I'm not on INGO very often, so if you need to get in touch with me the best bet would be to email me directly via MCFG - Indy Range Official Website - Shotgun, Pistol, Shooting Range or to attend the Board meeting in December.
Sincerely,
Chuck



"MCFG Board and Safety Officers,
As some of you already know, we've received several complaints lately about our Safety Officers on INGunOwners.com and in person. While I understand how difficult it can be to take criticism like this, I respectfully request that we take some time to internalize this feedback and talk about it at the next Board meeting. In the meantime, I'm requesting that you:
1) Don't strike back in anger. If you must respond (and I'd prefer you didn't), please make sure it is short, factual, and professional.
2) Use this feedback to make us better. While some of this feedback may hurt, or may even be personal, I'm asking the members of our team to be "above the fray" so that we set a good example for other members in our club.
3) Take some time to think about how this feedback could help each of us improve.

Here are the links to several threads about this issue:

https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/marion_county_fish_and_game/248159-rule_question.html
https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/general_firearms_discussion/248168-mcfg_has_an_ro.html

Please keep in mind that several of these posts are likely written in the heat of the moment, and that people are less likely to be this forceful if they were confronting this issue in person. The general trend that I see from these posts is:

1) We need to get our rule books printed and available to the membership, so there is no confusion.
2) Safety Officers need to be wearing either their hat or their vest if they're going to talk with members.
3) Safety Officers need to respect other peoples' time and personal space at the range (no touching or grabbing somebody).
4) Safety Officers need to only enforce the rules in the rule book; no "special rules" or "that's the way I do it". If there are any questions, please run them by Chris Pope to make sure we're all interpreting the rules the same way.

Different people go to the shooting range for different reasons. I know many people who are retired that go to the range to hang out with their friends, and who talk much more than they shoot. I also know many competitors that go to the range for condensed practice, and are just looking to do some shooting without being interrupted. All I'm asking for here is that we understand that other people may be looking to chat, or they may want to be left alone. Please respect their time and personal space (don't coach them / give them advice unless they ask). If we aren't more in-tune with our member's needs moving forward, we could end up losing a bunch of existing members and their dues which we need to continue to improve the club.
Sincerely,
Chuck"

 

[churchmouse]

Thank you Chuck. It is obvious from your post that this is an ongoing issue. This has to be dealt with by those in charge. No more whistle blowing or finger pointing.
I trust you all to know what is best.
I truly hope you are not the individual that caused me to damage my Trophy.

Be Well,

CM

 

[VUPDblue]

trust me, he's not.....;-)

 

[chizzle]

Thank you Chuck. It is obvious from your post that this is an ongoing issue. This has to be dealt with by those in charge. No more whistle blowing or finger pointing.
I trust you all to know what is best.
I truly hope you are not the individual that caused me to damage my Trophy.

Be Well,

CM

Don't worry, I'm not the guy. That being said, it's important that whenever you have an issue like this (whether at the range or anywhere in life) that you make sure that your frustration is communicated:

1) To the right person (when in doubt, copy several people)
2) As constructively as possible (sometimes this is tough)
3) Just the facts
4) Understands that the person who is wrong may have been trying to do the right thing, but just failed at it.

In this case, today is the first day I've actually heard anything about this, so it's my first opportunity to do anything about it. As a range, we really pride ourselves on having a good shooting experience for our members (this is why I got involved in the first place), so we want to make this right. Any help folks can give us to make this better for everybody, would be much appreciated.
See you at the December Board Meeting,
Chuck