Scituate R&G Club closed temporarily due to safety concerns

[Blues508]

Stray bullet shatters window in Scituate
SCITUATE, Mass. -- A Scituate family who lives down the street from a gun club is looking for answers after bullets were fired into their home.

Margaret Norton had just walked out of her laundry room when she heard the window shatter.

"My response, I was just shocked, couldn't believe it," Norton said of the 9mm bullet going through her window.

The Scituate Rod and Gun Club is about a half-mile from the Heritage Road neighborhood. It's believed that's where the bullet strayed from.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened.

Another neighbor said their home was struck by gunfire recently.

No one was at gun club was Wednesday evening. Residents said the club has temporarily shut down because of the most recent incident.

Norton said management at the gun club is cooperating with residents, telling them they will do everything they can to ensure safety.

More than a dozen kids live in this cul-de-sac neighborhood.

"When this happened there were kids outside playing, there were kids next door, there were kids running around, there were kids riding by my yard because its a cul-de-sac." Norton said.

Someone from the NRA is planning to come out to do something similar to a site survey to put in more safety precautions so that the Rod and Gun Club can remain a firing range and local residents can feel safe in their homes.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/17842309/detail.html

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO93251/

 

[LT1MCSS]

I just saw this, Hopefully they can get it all straightened out and open back up.

 

[joehaus]

Caught it on Fox. Another "Riverside" incident except this time it seems the round had a little more energy becuase it dug into a piece of furniture.

 

[pdm]

Good luck to the club.

 

[Bob P]

Ruh oh. Bad timing

 

[GaryO]

Last night they said it was a 9mm round and the pistol range was a 1/2 mile from the home. I'm no ballistics expert but it would seem that the amount of force to penetrate wood would be expended after that distance.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Last night they said it was a 9mm round and the pistol range was a 1/2 mile from the home. I'm no ballistics expert but it would seem that the amount of force to penetrate wood would be expended after that distance.

.357 Sig?

 

[Joe G]

"Riverside" incident? Has something similar happened at Riverside?

 

[Bob P]

.357 Sig?

Or maybe a +P+ 9.

 

[Chris]

Carbine.

 

[Scrivener]

"The best that we could envision was that a ricocheted occurred shooting off of a bowling pin," said Ron Rice, of the club.

The BEST? Was anyone shooting pins at the time?

I can "envision" other scenarios, including someone shooting over the berm. Readers here may remember a certain club along Rte. 109 that had a 9mm leave its premises. A member's carelessness? Hardly. The local constabulary was practicing.......

 

[joehaus]

"Riverside" incident? Has something similar happened at Riverside?

It was from "Southboro Rod and Gun" my mistake.

7.62x39 round went through a little girls window a while back. It hit a rock on the backstop. . Range closed and was reconstructed.

 

[Knob Creek]

How did they determine it was a 9mm? Could it have been .357 Mag?

 

[Scrivener]

7.62x39 round went through a little girls window a while back. It hit a rock on the backstop. Unless I have the range wrong. Range closed and was reconstructed.

Doesn't sound like Riverside.

 

[M1911]

7.62x39 round went through a little girls window a while back. It hit a rock on the backstop. Unless I have the range wrong. Range closed and was reconstructed.

That was not Riverside.

 

[clinotus]

No matter what gun or ammo was used, it will turn out to be a black rifle that needs more legislation, to ensure incidents like this stop occurring.

 

[joehaus]

The local constabulary was practicing.......

Or in Medfield on 27, the police shooting range. A round whent through a car door parked on the road. The car belonged to a family who was at the scene of an old car accident where a family member had previously died.

I bet it was from one of thoes "high powerd" cop handguns the news gets their panties in a bunch about when we buy them used.

 

[joehaus]

That was not Riverside.

It was "Southboro Rod and Gun" my bad.

 

[doobie]

What timing after the MG incident... Love how "no one was at the gun club" when it happened...and a 9mm slug? Um. Travelling 1/2 mile? 900 yards? I have a hard time believing that.... more likely some neighbourhood kid shooting up the neighbourhood using the gun club as a scape goat.

 

[Scrivener]

Love how "no one was at the gun club" when it happened...and a 9mm slug? Um. Travelling 1/2 mile? 900 yards? I have a hard time believing that.... more likely some neighbourhood kid shooting up the neighbourhood using the gun club as a scape goat.

A quite plausible scenario. Any sand pits or the like where the local yokels go to "spray - n - pray?"

 

[terraformer]

The BEST? Was anyone shooting pins at the time?

I can "envision" other scenarios, including someone shooting over the berm. Readers here may remember a certain club along Rte. 109 that had a 9mm leave its premises. A member's carelessness? Hardly. The local constabulary was practicing.......

I saw that on the news too and my immediate reaction was "ruh roh"... This was PR hackery 101. Tell lies to dismiss peoples fears/concerns to make the problem go away. But he just ends up sounding callous. And if/when he is found to be full of crap, this will become a lot worse for the whole club. He couldn't just say that there was a full investigation and they would most definitely work with the MSP to determine the cause and find a remedy. No, he had to go around speculating and dismissing people's concerns.

 

[Rob]

I worry about that every time I take friends or relatives to the club that are 'new' to shooting. After going through a do-or-die safety briefing I still watch them VERY closely and constantly make firm 'suggestions' on how to shoot better.

The berms at my club are high but not 45-degree high.

Any responsible (and practiced) shooter shouldn't ever shoot up.

 

[ZX14]

They need to call CSI: Boston

Oswald's magic bullet aside...

Ballistics for a round are fairly predictable.

The woman whose home was shot was on TV. They know where the bullet initially impacted and they know where it ended up. From that info they should be able to fairly accurately tell if the round came from the Club or was from some other source.

Science. It's a four letter word to the news media.

 

[Scrivener]

Science. It's a four letter word to the news media.

Like "FACT"

 

[Knob Creek]

If it get some time later I might use Google "Earth" to get a aerial view of the Club and surrounding area.

 

[GaryO]

How did they determine it was a 9mm? Could it have been .357 Mag?

I got the 9mm form the news.......I know, Iknow, don't believe everything you hear on the news.
This coincides with the 'Hero" legislator (Michael Costello) up on the north shore who wants to revamp the gun laws

 

[M1911]

What timing after the MG incident... Love how "no one was at the gun club" when it happened...and a 9mm slug? Um. Travelling 1/2 mile? 900 yards? I have a hard time believing that.... more likely some neighbourhood kid shooting up the neighbourhood using the gun club as a scape goat.

No, that can happen. IIRC, from my NRA Basic Pistol training and Ft. Devens RSO training, pistol rounds can travel up to 1 mile and rifle rounds can travel up to 5 miles.

 

[terraformer]

No, that can happen. IIRC, from my NRA Basic Pistol training and Ft. Devens RSO training, pistol rounds can travel up to 1 mile and rifle rounds can travel up to 5 miles.

After loosing kinetic energy from a deflection???

 

[P-14]

"If I shoot a bullet into the air, where it lands I do not care."

Probably maroons using the range illegally after hours. 9 PM is pretty dark these days. Just raise the muzzle a little bit and it's over the backstop.

 

[Scrivener]

Probably maroons using the range illegally after hours. 9 PM is pretty dark these days. Just raise the muzzle a little bit and it's over the backstop.

Maybe they were being "tactical" and using their flashlights for snap shots.