Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, and when I say “we” I’m talking about gun dealers that instead of doing their jobs, turn against the 2nd Amendment.
SHOOT Straight, Florida’s largest independent gun-shop chain, has stopped renting guns to prevent its eight Florida ranges from becoming suicide parlours.
Khaled Akkawi, founder of the Apopka-based chain, made the decision last month after the latest suicides at one his gun ranges.
“We’ve had enough,” Akkawi said Friday. “They’ve been increasing real fast and the one common denominator – everyone is done with a rental gun.”
Source: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-gun-dealer-bans-rentals-after-suicides/story-fnihsg6t-1226799645032
Give me a break, Khaled, do car dealers stop selling cars to people that may want to drive of a cliff? Do pharmacists stop issuing pills to those who abuse them? You’re hurting the 2nd Amendment! Not everyone can afford to buy a gun, and some people want to learn to shoot before they buy one. You’re killing your business over a few crazies that didn’t even have the decency to kill themselves elsewhere.
Shoot Straight joins a growing number of gun ranges across Central Florida that have restricted or prohibited gun rentals to stem the deaths.
While no agency tracks gun-range suicides, there have been at least 11 of them in greater Orlando since 2009, according to Orlando Sentinel reporting on the deaths. All were committed with rental guns.
Wow, 11 since 2009, I wish car accidents were that rare. Bunch of pussies, instead of defending their livelihoods, they cater to the gun banners.
Oak Ridge Gun Range, the scene of the latest suicide last week in Orange County, changed its policy after a previous death more than a year ago. Oak Ridge is now attempting to identify customers who would be a suicide risk.
“We don’t rent to any white male Florida resident who comes in alone,” said owner John Harvey. “In the past 30 years, we’ve never had a suicide that wasn’t a white male Florida resident who came in alone. They don’t want to mess up their families’ homes, so they do it here.”
Wow! Can you imagine the outcry if he had said “we don’t rent to blacks that come alone?” This is outrageous! I’m a white guy, I always shoot by myself. Is it a crime if you’re not a people person with a bunch of friends? I hate to ask favors from the federal government, but maybe Eric Holder needs to look into this, clearly the Civil Rights of white people are being violated. If you want to send them a letter in protest, you can do it here:
Oakridge Gun Range
(407) 857-5663
6160 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32809
Yet he’s not the only one:
The first major Central Florida gun range to ban rentals was Gander Mountain Academy, which adopted the policy along with range safety officers on the gun range at all times when it opened in 2011 in Lake Mary. All of the outdoor sporting goods company’s six gun ranges across the nation prohibit rentals.
“We have a perfect record of safety and plan to continue to do that,” Gander Mountain Academy’s national director Chris Juelich said in a written statement this week.
What good is a perfect safety record if customers boycott you?
Local gun range owners said they have no way to check customers’ mental health records, and state law does not permit criminal background checks on rental customers to weed out convicted felons.
So what? Even if a felon goes to a gun range, he’s not going there to shoot people, he’s just practicing his skills. Who the hell is gonna visit a gun range if you have to undergo a background check before shooting? This is ridiculous, gun ranges are one of the most safe environments you’ll ever find.
In addition to the tragedy of each death and distress for gun range employees and customers present when they happen, Harvey said each suicide costs about $US5,000 ($A5,639.20) in lost business and expenses required to reopen.
OK, let’s do the math. If one person spend $50 renting a gun, plus ammo, plus targets, plus eye googles and ear muffs (yes, some ranges charge for that), and he does that once a month, that’s $600 a year. Multiply that by 10, we’re talking $6,000. Let’s say the range gets 100 rentals a month, that’s $5000 a month, or $60,000 a year. So you’re gonna tell me you can’t afford the occasional suicide? Just buy an insurance policy! Make people sign a disclaimer that if they commit suicide, you’ll get $5,000 of their Estate. I don’t know, I’m no lawyer but clearly shutting down gun rentals is not the solutions.
Some of the only research on gun-range suicides has been conducted at Harvard School for Public Health by Catherine Barber, director of the Injury Control Research Center, who found only 51 gun range suicides out of about 30,000 shooting suicides reported by 16 states from 2005 through 2010.
“It’s a very rare occurrence,” Barber said of the gun range deaths.
Florida was not among the 16 states that are part of her research.
Restricting or banning rentals has a significant economic effect on gun ranges, where the majority of renters don’t own firearms. And about 20 per cent of the renters are gun owners who want to “test drive” new models before deciding which to buy, according to range owners.
Let’s see, out of 30,000 suicides with a gun, only 0.17% did it at the gun range. Wow, what a killing spree, what a tragedy. Here’s an idea, gun dealers, instead of worrying about 51 losers insulting God with self-murder, worry about the ATF and having your paperwork in order, worry about surprise inspections, worry about the price of ammo because when I go to the gun range, I don’t do shout BANG when I pull the trigger. Because at the end of the day, a few gun suicides won’t kill your business, but the ATF will.
Gregory,
Do all of us Pro2A folks a favor; take a breath…and slow way down.
First of all, put yourself in the position of actually owning a gun range. IF you think that even one suicide on your premises is unacceptable, then you’ll likely put policies in place to prevent even a single suicide from happening. If you believe that it’s white males who come in alone and rent guns to blow their own brains out, your policy will be to not rent to them. (As a business owner, it should be your right to conduct business as you see fit.)
Second, as far as boycotting, I’d much rather go to a range that has policies in place that seek to deter suicides. A perfect safety record will lure me in.
Third, one should never consider putting a dollar amount upon, or making a business decision, that could somehow justify a suicide. That’s just plain nuts.
With all of your venom, I believe that your writing might make good fuel for the very gun control crazies we’re all worried about.
By the way, I’m white and not offended in the policy in the least.
I also think that the citizens should have more and better weaponry than the government.
Molon Labe
You can read my response in the link. I’m very disappointed with your views, would you be OK with a gun range that says “No Blacks, No Jews, No Orientals”? This isn’t about race, it’s about justice. I’m a white man, I shoot alone, and I can’t stand the idea that someone would discriminate against me because of that. See the link if you’re interested in my views.
http://sellingthesecondamendment.com/why-boycotting-gun-ranges-that-wont-rent-to-whites-is-a-good-idea/
I have actually shot at each of the ranges mentioned in the article. Oakridge Gun Range has had multiple suicides over the past couple of years. Frankly, it’s about time they tried to curb them. I shoot at Orlando Gun Club, and they won’t rent to anyone coming in by themselves who doesn’t already have a firearm. So. If you have your own firearm, you can rent whatever you want. If you come in with a group, you can rent whatever you want, because you’re most likely not going to shoot themselves with friends present. It’s common sense, and a chain like Shoot Straight does not need bad publicity. They do not need the overwhelming number of GUN OWNERS afraid to be at the range the day someone blows their brains out. The reason why I shoot at Orlando Gun Club and not Oakridge is PRECISELY because of the common sense restrictions that OGC puts in place that Oakridge does not.
I like going to shoot without worrying that some jack ass is going to off himself next to me, my wife and kids.
Bill (Orlando)
Bill, no offense, but you’re thinking like the gun banners, going crazy about isolated incidents. The suicide rate in SEVERAL years is 0.17%, a freaking joke. You’re in far more danger when you’re driving on I-95, yet because car accidents are common, nobody freaks out about them.
Besides, ANYONE can commit suicide anywhere with a gun rental, with a gun they own, it doesn’t matter.
Orlando Gun Club is no friend of freedom. What about those of us who don’t have friends? Should we be deprived of RKBA? OGC is doing the work of Bloomberg and Brady, this is the 21st century, a lot of people are alone, we should be recruiting gun owners, not turning them away.
Read more about my views here
http://sellingthesecondamendment.com/why-boycotting-gun-ranges-that-wont-rent-to-whites-is-a-good-idea/
[…] I’m sure 99.99% of people have engaged in one of those behaviors at some point yet they’re still alive. Guns are bought and sold everyday, suicide is extremely rare although there are gun ranges that don’t rent guns to single men due to suicide fears. […]