Man shot in the head at Roanoke gun range

Repeater · Sep 5, 2014

Anyone know about this gun range?

Man shot in the head at Roanoke gun range

Capt. Monti Lee said the man, who was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital with at least one gunshot wound to the head, was in the shooting range at Roanoke Range and Training, formerly known as PSS, when the incident occurred about 11:15 a.m. The range is on Shenandoah Valley Avenue.

Witnesses who were in other lanes of the range at the time told officers that they looked over to see the man injured, Lee said. Police are working to determine how the man came to be shot.

It seems a shame that we have another 'gun range' incident so soon after the terrible Arizona incident.

Grapeshot · Sep 5, 2014

Negligence or intentional? Waiting.

Apparently they have video cams which may shed some light on this.

MAC702 · Sep 5, 2014

Rumor is there are many suicides at gun ranges. Many of the local ranges here will not rent handguns for the range if you are by yourself and don't already have handguns with you.

Could be we are just finally going to start seeing them on the news more often.

rightwinglibertarian · Sep 5, 2014

MAC702 said:
Rumor is there are many suicides at gun ranges. Many of the local ranges here will not rent handguns for the range if you are by yourself and don't already have handguns with you.

Could be we are just finally going to start seeing them on the news more often.

of course the left-wing media will do anything to put gun owners in a bad light :banghead:

This begs the question, what if I want to try out a few guns before I buy them? I don't have one yet, and can't afford one but I would certainly like to go to a range and fire off a few to see what I like best. Would I pretty much have to take someone with me?

MAC702 · Sep 5, 2014

rightwinglibertarian said:
of course the left-wing media will do anything to put gun owners in a bad light :banghead:

This begs the question, what if I want to try out a few guns before I buy them? I don't have one yet, and can't afford one but I would certainly like to go to a range and fire off a few to see what I like best. Would I pretty much have to take someone with me?

I only use private outdoor ranges, so I'm not familiar with all the many, many indoor ranges in town, most of which have rentals available. I might GUESS that those with this policy might waive it after determining that you are a serious customer.

skidmark · Sep 6, 2014

rightwinglibertarian said:
of course the left-wing media will do anything to put gun owners in a bad light :banghead:

This begs the question, what if I want to try out a few guns before I buy them? I don't have one yet, and can't afford one but I would certainly like to go to a range and fire off a few to see what I like best. Would I pretty much have to take someone with me?

MAC702 said:
I only use private outdoor ranges, so I'm not familiar with all the many, many indoor ranges in town, most of which have rentals available. I might GUESS that those with this policy might waive it after determining that you are a serious customer.

One of the reasons some ranges demand that new customers - especially those coming in to rent guns - be accompanied is because a significant number of suicides come in, rent a gun (or try a few) and them blow their heads off. It's a PITA for the serious new shooter, but looking at how many days a range may be closed down as a crime scene and how some customers, knowing they will have to step where some fool's brains used to be, may be turned off of returning.

Call ahead to find out the policy. Put up with it. It probably will only be for a small number of visits.

stay safe.

papa bear · Sep 6, 2014

two this year. is still extremely rare. there probably been more killed in a car shop, or even a doughnut shop.

the only thing we have to worry about is the over exaggeration of the media

The Truth · Sep 7, 2014

Roanoke PD says it was a suicide

http://www.roanoke.com/news/virgini...cle_2569e895-4f8b-57c0-8b92-f3c858ddbc6e.html

Brian D. · Sep 7, 2014

The indoor range that's been around these parts longest has had this occur several times by now. In the one I'm most familiar with, the guy walked four or five miles from his job to get there, toting his handgun in a case of some kind. Along the way he traveled over at least two bridges above busy railroad lines, heck the road he walked alongside is lousy with truck traffic moving at a good clip. For that matter he could have done himself in behind his place of employment. It's almost as though he wanted to spare his coworkers the mess, or wanted a safe backstop in case the bullet exited his head. (Which it did.)

Overall point being, he'd made up his mind to die and with that sort of determination wouldn't have even needed a firearm to do it with. The Lewinsky Media loves to ignore that.

Grapeshot · Sep 7, 2014

The Truth said:
http://www.roanoke.com/news/virgini...cle_2569e895-4f8b-57c0-8b92-f3c858ddbc6e.html

Suspicion confirmed.

marshaul · Sep 7, 2014

Brian D. said:
The indoor range that's been around these parts longest has had this occur several times by now. In the one I'm most familiar with, the guy walked four or five miles from his job to get there, toting his handgun in a case of some kind. Along the way he traveled over at least two bridges above busy railroad lines, heck the road he walked alongside is lousy with truck traffic moving at a good clip. For that matter he could have done himself in behind his place of employment. It's almost as though he wanted to spare his coworkers the mess, or wanted a safe backstop in case the bullet exited his head. (Which it did.)

He's still an ass for making it somebody else's problem.

I can understand the fact that if you don't even want your own life, the gun rights of those who live on probably seem completely irrelevant, but still... At that point you're being selfish, so **** you.

Then again, suicide may be form of "lashing out", so damaging the perception of important human rights may be a "desirable" & intended benefit to someone in such a state of mind. This, perhaps, speaks to the desirability of preventing and treating mental illness before folks have an overwhelming desire to "lash out" and, possibly, do something even more heinous.

wimwag · Sep 7, 2014

marshaul said:
He's still an ass for making it somebody else's problem.
.

And would you walk up to a man and say this to his face? Another example of bravado.

marshaul · Sep 7, 2014

wimwag said:
And would you walk up to a man and say this to his face? Another example of bravado.

If he were alive, yes, I would tell him that I have infinite sympathy for (and even a degree of empathy with) his plight. I would tell him that, if he really sees no alternative and intends to hurt nobody, I even support his fundamental right to do with his life and body as he sees fit. But, I would tell him that my sympathy ends the moment he elects to (ab)use his right as a weapon, at which point he becomes an ass, if not an overt aggressor.

If he were armed and suicidal, I might prefer to speak to him from behind... cover.

wimwag · Sep 7, 2014

But you wouldn't call him an "ass" outright. Which is my point exactly.

marshaul · Sep 7, 2014

wimwag said:
But you wouldn't call him an "ass.". Which is my point exactly.

I very likely would tell others that I think he's ass in public company (IRL), which is the situation more analogous to this. I simply think it's an ass thing to do. I'm not at all heartless towards depression or suicide -- just like I'm not heartless towards, say, poverty and circumstance -- but I rapidly lose sympathy when people actively hurt others for such reasons.

I dunno, maybe that makes me an "ass", too. So be it. But then, I don't expect people to make life-altering decisions based on whether I regard them as an ass (I certainly wouldn't afford them the same honor).

wimwag · Sep 7, 2014

marshaul said:
I very likely would tell others that I think he's ass in public company (IRL), which is the situation more analogous to this. I simply think it's an ass thing to do. I'm not at all heartless towards depression or suicide -- just like I'm not heartless towards, say, poverty and circumstance -- but I rapidly lose sympathy when people actively hurt others for such reasons.

I dunno, maybe that makes me an "ass", too. So be it. But then, I don't expect people to make life-altering decisions based on whether I regard them as an ass (I certainly wouldn't afford them the same honor).

So you would talk about him but not to his face. Gotcha.

solus · Sep 7, 2014

marshaul said:
He's still an ass for making it somebody else's problem.

I can understand the fact that if you don't even want your own life, the gun rights of those who live on probably seem completely irrelevant, but still... At that point you're being selfish, so **** you.

Then again, suicide may be form of "lashing out", so damaging the perception of important human rights may be a "desirable" & intended benefit to someone in such a state of mind. This, perhaps, speaks to the desirability of preventing and treating mental illness before folks have an overwhelming desire to "lash out" and, possibly, do something even more heinous.

unfortunately, the treating is not the problem, but rather the lack of education of those around individuals to recognize the symptoms of who are in so much personal mental anguish that the individual feels taking their ending their lives is the only way to end it.

there were signs and actions which I am sure were ignored or pooh paw'd off as 'oh they do not mean it...'

I am glad you profess one thing and apparently not follow through in confronting the individual f/f.
ipse

marshaul · Sep 7, 2014

wimwag said:
So you would talk about him but not to his face. Gotcha.

Perhaps I am encumbered by an excess of sympathy. You see, I would feel inclined to put things "delicately" to an individual who was expressing suicidal thoughts, simply because I would hope to come across as sympathetic and maybe possibly bring him back from the precipice, or at the very least not push him towards it. This is simply because I value human life.

But at some point you have to draw the line at aggression. If someone commits suicide at a shooting range (basically anywhere in public), that person is being an ass. If you find yourself on that road, find somebody to talk you back before you become that ass. I suppose we can only hope the same for ourselves and those we know.

On that note, I've heard more than one person say that suicide-prevention hotlines have saved their life.

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

wimwag · Sep 7, 2014

marshaul said:
Perhaps I am encumbered by an excess of sympathy. You see, I would feel inclined to put things "delicately" to an individual who was expressing suicidal thoughts, simply because I would hope to come across as sympathetic and maybe possibly bring him back from the precipice, or at the very least not push him towards it. This is simply because I value human life.

But at some point you have to draw the line at aggression. If someone commits suicide at a shooting range (basically anywhere in public), that person is being an ass. If you find yourself on that road, find somebody to talk you back before you become that ass. I suppose we can only hope the same for ourselves and those we know.

On that note, I've heard more than one person say that suicide-prevention hotlines have saved their life.

And yet here you were calling him an ass in all your anonymous internet badassery.

MAC702 · Sep 7, 2014

wimwag said:
And yet here you were calling him an ass in all your anonymous internet badassery.

Wow, who hasn't called an ass an ass on the Internet? Don't want us to call you an ass? Don't be an ass.

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