Know Your Target AND What's Beyond

Here's an unbelievable story of what appears to be an accidental shooting in the Florida everglades.  Lawrence Ramdass was fishing when he was killed by a bullet that seemed to come out of nowhere.   

In this updated story, police were later able to identify the shooters.  Two men were illegally target shooting on public land 1/3 of a mile away (over 500 yards) and shot Mr . Ramdass.  I am surprised that the shooters weren't charged in this incident.  I agree that there was no criminal intent but shooting with no backstop is highly negligent.

This is a senseless tragedy.  Guns are deadly at long-distances. The first rule of safe gun handling is to always keep your gun pointed in a safe direction.  A safe direction is one that will STOP a bullet without hurting anyone or anything.  A second rule to follow is: know your target AND what's beyond.  These men should have never been target shooting without a target or backstop that could safely stop a bullet.  I know shooting ranges can be expensive but I'm sure these guys wish they had paid to use a range.  

As shown here, our range has a large dirt berm designed to stop all bullets within the confines of the range.  Additionally, the range is at a low point on our property so if a bullet did go through the berm it would be stopped in the field behind it.  Be safe out there!