In the immortal words of Forrest Gump’s mother, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
The truth of that axiom was on full display this week in a viral security cam video from an indoor public gun range in Houston.
“You can see where I got mad,” the range officer says while filming the security system screen. “Watch his neck. Watch my left hand.”
The 31-second video shows a man approach a shooting bay with his phone. He picks up the handgun lying on the table and without checking to determine if it’s loaded, points it across his chest towards the neighboring bay. He holds up his phone for a #sickselfie, and then gets a better idea…
He decides to point the maybe-loaded firearm at his buddy’s head and is about to take that #sickselfie when the range officer pins the man’s shooting hand to the table. The RSO checks the firearm’s status and escorts both men away from the firing line.
An unloaded firearm wouldn’t have made the man’s actions any more acceptable, of course. The first rule of safe gun handling – treat every firearm as if it’s loaded – prohibits idiotic selfies, and the range officer acted accordingly.
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Perth Now reportedly spoke to the creator of the video, Andrew Register, who praised the officer for his quick action. Register, a former US Army infantryman and a current firearms instructor himself, said the incident took place at the Top Gun Shooting Range in Houston, Texas.
“I want to give a special shout to Scott at Top Gun shooting range. How he handled this situation was amazing,” he said. “I didn’t post this video to bash the two individuals, this was to praise the range officer who saved the day. We salute you.”
Commenters were equally quick to praise the range officer.
“Damn good job on the RSO’s part! Good eyes!” said Facebook user Dan Osborn.
Another Facebook user, Bruce Solomon, Jr., put words to what most responsible gun owners likely felt while watching the video: “When he put the gun to his buddies head, my heart stopped for a second until to instructor intervened. I thought this was going to go south in a hurry. Thank god for the range instructor.”
GunsAmerica reached out to Top Gun Shooting Range for comment on this story, but we have yet to receive a response.
Update (10/10/2018): Top Gun Shooting Range has confirmed that this incident took place at their facility. Their range officer declined an interview, though a representative told GunsAmerica how they dealt with the two patrons in the video: “They were given a recap of the rules they violated, and we banned them for life.”