I think I’ve scared people off the range twice out of my last three weekends of shooting.

On the first outing, of which I didn’t seem to scare anbody off, I had a metric crapload of guns and ammo with me. I had some buddies with me there, a couple of my pistols came out, a lever-action .22LR, a lever-action .357, and eventually I pulled out the 9mm Kel-Tec Sub 2000. Everything, save for the last gun, was pretty much something any old timer would have been quite familiar with.

This was unique because we had some very classic guns out there as well as some very modern ones. The older gents actually took an interest in us because it was obvious that we weren’t punks — but guys that REALLY liked their guns and REALLY knew about them.

I, and my shooting buddies, even whipped out extra hearing protection for the grandpa and his grandson that showed up just to shoot some .22LR. They didn’t bring good enough protection.

We even got one of the older guys to shoot the Kel Tec Sub 2000. He seemed to get a kick out of it. Nifty little gun, that’s for sure.

On my next trip I brought an AR-15 and AK-47 and went by myself. There was, again, an older guy and his son shooting a couple of .22LR rifles — one of which was a really nice tricked out Ruger 10/22. The guy chatted me up, we had a good time, he let his kid shoot his 1911, and everything’s fine. Turns out he’s actually built an AK out of a parts kit. Sweet!

Near the end of my shooting another guy shows up with his son and a .410 shotgun and a .22LR rifle. Crappy hearing protection too. They packed up without saying a word after shooting 10 rounds of .410 and not even finishing a 50 round box of .22LR. Total time: 10 minutes.

Odd.

The next weekend I show up with my brother in tow and I pulled out the AK-47 first. The older guy there, again shooting .22LR, pretty much stopped upon sight of the thing and packed up within a few moments of us getting there.

I don’t get it. I presume that older guys think I’m some punk kid when I pull out some of the modern military-ish stuff that I own. I usually dress in slacks, a button down shirt, am quite friendly, and I have never had anybody call me on safety practices. When the range goes “cold” (no shooting) I do not touch any gun. I do not touch any ammunition. I do not touch any magazine. These are NOT the range’s rules. Their only rule is to not touch a gun. They are my rules.

While not shooting my actions are always open. With an AK that cannot lock the action back I shove a soft object into the action to make sure that it’s fairly obvious that it is not going to fire.

Muzzle control is so engrained in my handling of guns that it carries over to staple guns and household cleaners with a trigger on them.

I really think it’s a prejudice against some firearms and my fairly young age. I’m a little young to be a responsible “gun nut” I suppose. We aren’t in the majority at ranges around here. Of course, you find a guy that actually shoots AR’s and AK’s and they’re all geeked when I pull one out.

Then again, maybe it’s the noise factor. I don’t know why on earth you’d show up to a gun range with a rimfire rifle and expect NOT to be sharing a range with a centerfire rifle but I’m starting to think that people actually do that.

Am I out of line for presuming that people that go to gun ranges should be prepared with proper hearing protection?

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