[senior smoke]

HELLO:
since i joined the ata, i can remember only one time that i know of when i was on a squad with someone who was clearly intoxicated. i was not aware of this person's condition until 2 wta officials excorted the shooter off the line. years ago in wisconsin we had the 5 man team shoots with somewhere around 200 squads competing. alot of these shooters were not serious active ata shooters. some of them were urged to join the ata just for this particular shoot. i saw lots of drinking before these teams actually shot. if you know someone has been drinking before they shoot, but does not act like they are impaired, what is the proper protocol in this situation? i would think that some people are afraid to say something to this person or persons, one, he or she has been drinking, 2, they are handling a shotgun. how should this be handled, and what is the ata's position on something like this?
steve Balistreri

 

[jsteenson]

In most cases the drinking starts when the shooting stops,it is the inly way to ensure saftey as oppposed to negligence. Insurance would also play a huge factor as well as common sense.
Jack

 

[KEYBEAR]

Steve I love this sport to much to put it in jeopardy by letting anyone shoot that has had one drink . Most know better some think it only applys to others .

ALF

 

[redhawk44]

On the matter of one drink,I think I would look him right in the eyeball and say, "you know, you really should not drink at all when shooting with us" and let it go at that, hoping he would take the hint.

If he didn't take the hint, and continued to drink while shooting, I would complain to whoever was running the shoot.

If the person running the shoot did nothing about it, I would pack up and go home....taking as many with me as would go.

 

[Bruce Specht]

Why let some moron endanger others? If I saw somene drinking I'd report it in a heart beat!

 

[Jawhawker]

No drinking beofre or during. If at any time a shooter has been noticed doing such immediately inform club management. If they fail to DQ the person then a call to your state delegate or the ATA is inorder with persons name, club, and time witnessing such.

 

[phirel]

How common do you suspect a beer between events on a hot Summer day is inside some campers? I have disqualified several shooters from shoot offs because they volunteered the fact to me that they had a drink after the event and did not realize they were in a shoot off.

When I first started working as a trap boy (that was a long time ago) a half pint of whiskey was common in shooting bags. I have been to junk shoots where the prizes for 10 bird races were half pints of whiskey. The winner was expected to open the bottle and throw the cap away.

Our attitudes toward drinking have changed quite a lot over the last 40 years. This change is based primarily safety, but morality also gets involved. Is a shooter who drank one beer two hours before he shoots a safety concern? Is this person more dangerous to himself and others than a diabetic who used a little too much insulin before shooting?

I did drink when I was in College, I think it was part of the curriculum. I now limit my drinking to about one can of beer every three years.

Pat Ireland


Pat Ireland

 

[shadow]

I do not approve of mixing guns and alcohol at any time or in any place,however, the "powers that be" have somehow determined that a blood alcohol content of 0.07 is not the point of intoxication. It would seem to me that anyone at that point or under wouldnt be impaired.

Question is: How are the rest of us to know how much that guy had before he got to the club? AND what about those that suffer from diabetes? The symptoms of low blood sugar are very similar to those of excessive drinking.

 

[Gold E]

“…i was on a squad with someone who was clearly intoxicated.” (first sentence)

“i was not aware of this person's condition until…” (second sentence)

Trolling...with poor punctuation.

Drinking, before or during shooting, is a very serious infraction of MY rules.

 

[MTA Tom]

The ATA Rules are clear.

XII, B, 2:

It is the responsibility and the required duty of Shoot Management to
immediately remove and disqualify any contestant at any time during
an ATA sanctioned tournament:

a. who is under the obvious influence of alcohol or drugs before
starting or during any event, sub-event, shoot-off or practice, or
who consumes any alcoholic beverage or drugs during participation
in any event, sub event or between events or sub events held on
the same day including shoot-offs and practice.

 

[Delbert]

... so as long as it's not an ATA shoot it must be OK?

 

[Go Fish]

Many years ago when I shot in a league a young man, very drunk, walked out to the line to shoot and when he loaded the gun it went off and hit the back of the traphouse and the club let him finish. The following week the same person came out to the line drunk again but this time he shot the cord between the house and the puller in half but this time he was not allowed to finish. Shortly after that the club changed in policy and no drinking before shooting.

 

[Bruce Specht]

In this day and age with all they anti gun sentement we don't need people mixing alcohol and firearms. We don't need to be associated with that kind of bad press not to mention the dnager to every one at the club.

 

[[email protected]]

I did not see the following myself but was told to me by a friend who shoots big bore competition. This supposedly happened at a range in EauClaire, this was a rifle range. It was a competition shoot and one of the shooters at a break time went to his car and had something such a s a beer or two, He was seen by another shooter who turned him into the staff that was running the shoot. They not only stopped him from shooting but made him leave the property. This is just what I was told. alex

 

[james huffington]

Gentlemen, I can assure you having low blood sugar is nothing like being drunk, first of all the drinking causes that, "there nothing wrong with me attitude", even though you are impaired, with hypo-glysemia you know you are inpaired, your weak, shaking, dizzy,and your vision is blurry. believe me I know. you not only don't want to shoot, you can't. Also drinking after a shoot is just as bad, happened at a club i use to go to, a fellow shooter had a few after the shoot, going home was stopped, highway patrol ask where He had been! The Gun club got a bad reputation, and there always seem to be a patrol on the highway after shoots! enough said !!!

 

[omahasportingsupply]

I have seen a few clubs that sell the endless cup and tap the keg. I hope that it never happens, but one incident could close the club. It is hard to say you didn't know when you sold him the cup and pointed which tapper to use. IMHO

 

[nomoloscofoso]

What would George Newmaster say!!!!

 

[senior smoke]

i think we can all agree that handling a firearm and drinking alcohol does not mix. years ago i won a handicap shoot off. i was on 20 yds and the other shooter was on 26. we shot on different traps. as i was walking to the 20 yd line a man came up to me and said that i will win the shoot off. i asked how can you be so sure? he said the other shooter shot early in the handicap event and he thought he would win the event outright. he drank so much beer he can now hardly stand. management still let him shoot off. yes i did win, but it was a shallow victory. additudes about drinking have changed over the years. i hope in this day and age, management would not allow this shooter to shoot off. maybe management was afraid of offending this shooter and posibly losing a customer?
steve balistreri