A range with a dress code?

[benenglish]

Scroll to the bottom of this page: Firearm Rules

I'm way too fat to expose my belly on purpose or put on a muscle shirt but I'm more than a little surprised to find a shooting range that thinks it's somehow reasonable to prohibit those (or any other legal) items of clothing.

Has anyone ever seen someone denied service or thrown off a range for what they were wearing? More to the point, has anybody here ever even seen a range with a dress code...at all? This is a new one on me.

 

[leftyonly]

Some of it is common sense...some of it is common decency...none of it should be necessary...

 

[stx kid]

Dress Code ​

To ensure a SAFE and satisfactory experience, the following dress code will be enforced:​

​

The following is NOT allowed

​

• Flip-Flops, sandals or open footwear of any kind

• Tank tops or low-cut tops

• Extremes in apparel or jewelry, which are distractive, disruptive, disrespectful or unsafe

• Clothing or jewelry displaying: drugs, obscenities, lewd or illegal behavior, sexual overtones. etc. or any reference that is disruptive to others

• Undergarments worn as outer garments. This includes muscle shirts (RLY Bra')

• Sagging pants. If your underwear or skin is showing more than two inches above your pants, you will be requested to pull your pants up or purchase a belt from us. (Totaly see this being a good measure)

 

[txinvestigator]

Most rules are the result of the behavior of knucklheads. I can tell from reading those exactly from where they came. I got zero problem with them.

 

[TundraWookiee]

Seems to me that they just want to keep a respectable place for normal people to come shoot and feel safe. While I can understand that not everyone wearing a particular piece or style of clothing is of the same mindset, I can visualize the people you would typically see breaking that dress code and don't know that I would feel safe shooting around them without knowing them better. Some of the rules like no flip flops just make sense from a safety standpoint...hot brass bouncing around or tripping hazards without a closed toed shoe could be a liability.

 

[Mic]

Target....

Thug wanna be's and the trashy hos that run with them.
Sounds to me like a business owner wanting to keep shitheads out so people like us will show up there and the range not be have a sore eye in the community.
Nothing wrong in my eyes. It's a private business and he's running it the way he wants.
Of course, I could be wrong.

 

[TheDan]

They've probably had several folks get hot brass down their shirt, freak out, and muzzle sweep the entire line. It'd be funny if it weren't dangerous.

...it's still funny

 

[Charlie]

Betcha' it's kinda' of a CYA thing too.

 

[txinvestigator]

They've probably had several folks get hot brass down their shirt, freak out, and muzzle sweep the entire line. It'd be funny if it weren't dangerous.

...it's still funny

I have seen women rip shirts off when getting brass inside.

 

[Charlie]

Do ya' remember which range and when they show up?

 

[M. Sage]

Scroll to the bottom of this page: Firearm Rules

I'm way too fat to expose my belly on purpose or put on a muscle shirt but I'm more than a little surprised to find a shooting range that thinks it's somehow reasonable to prohibit those (or any other legal) items of clothing.

Has anyone ever seen someone denied service or thrown off a range for what they were wearing? More to the point, has anybody here ever even seen a range with a dress code...at all? This is a new one on me.

Private property - you want to use it, you have to play by their rules.

Some of that stuff is safety-conscious (low-cut shirts, AKA brass catchers; sandals...) and some of it keeps the morons out.

Do you really want to be on the same range as someone that wears his pants down under the bottom of his ass? I don't, because I know the odds of him being even close to intelligent are low, and so are the odds of him handling a firearm in any manner that even seems safe.

 

[Texasjack]

There's at least one range in Houston that attracts more than it's share of the saggy pants crowd. I can understand their desire to keep that to a minimum.

 

[Roscoe]

Pretty much every government/MIL range I've ever fired on had similar rules - even when shooting on your
own time.

 

[dmwz71]

Most rules are the result of the behavior of knucklheads. I can tell from reading those exactly from where they came. I got zero problem with them.

Target....

Thug wanna be's and the trashy hos that run with them.
Sounds to me like a business owner wanting to keep shitheads out so people like us will show up there and the range not be have a sore eye in the community.
Nothing wrong in my eyes. It's a private business and he's running it the way he wants.
Of course, I could be wrong.

I totally agree! I don't want to be around any "gangstas" OR the wannabes. I see them enough at the gas station and such. I have ZERO desire to be anywhere near them.

My 2cents..............

 

[jtriron]

There's at least one range in Houston that attracts more than it's share of the saggy pants crowd. I can understand their desire to keep that to a minimum.

I am quite sure I know the range you speak of, and I will not go back there.

 

[scap99]

I shoot in flip flops all the time, unless I'm running and gunning.
Hot brass doesn't bother me, but then again, I have scars all over me from hot slag while welding over head...a little warm brass is much different than molten flux.

 

[txgunner00]

All sounds reasonable to me.

 

[ROGER4314]

I'm a real A-hole when it comes to safety and I've laid down the law many times when someone is being irresponsible. Even so, those dress code rules are a bit tight assed for my taste. I don't deal with folks that get that controlling and if they ever raise their voice to me.........F-'em.

My pet peeve is when range rules state that any brass hitting the floor/ground is range property and I can't pick it up......I'm outta there.

Flash

 

[ChunkyMonkey]

Lol....I was at a local range when a guy was bringing his trophy girlfriend out. I could hear him explaining some basic rules to her while waiting to pay in line. She commented on how it was her first time and so on......the idiot had her out there in 4" metal spike boots, painted on pants and some frilly fashionista shirt/blouse.....really guy? I wondered if he just gave her 20's at a time or if they were a legit couple.

 

[benenglish]

...those dress code rules are a bit tight assed...

You have a gift for understatement.

Since I was the OP, I suppose I should weigh in. None of those rules would cause me any problems.

But there's a lot more going on than just the way they impact me. Note that the header says the rules are "...to ensure a safe and satisfactory experience." That's not valid criteria. Range rules exist to ensure safety and very little else. The way you run the rest of your business and interact with customers determines if the experience is "satisfactory" for the customers.

The first two (prohibiting open shoes or open tops) are semi-reasonable. After that, the things listed are far less defensible.

"Extremes in apparel or jewelry"? How can jewelry be unsafe or disruptive? Did Mr. T visit the range one day? This one, along with the "Undergarments...muscle shirts" prohibition simply make no sense other than reinforcing a management/owner attitude of "My place, my rules." I'm really not comfortable doing business with control freaks. Or is there something more going on?

"Clothing or jewelry displaying" (if I may paraphrase) "anything we don't like". Translation: "If you're not like us, especially if you have the temerity to put your views on your clothing, we have an excuse to throw you out." What are they going to do, refuse service to anyone who shows up wearing a Pink Pistols t-shirt or a NORML t-shirt? I can guarantee that there are plenty of idiots who find the whole existence of those organizations offensive. So where's the list of what they consider "offensive or disruptive"? Or do they just get to make it up as they go along?

Finally, the big one - "Sagging pants. ..."

Holy. Cow.

Everybody knows exactly what "sagging pants" is code for. There are more issues involved in that prohibition than all the others put together and none of them reflect well on the management.

Dress codes are not needed at shooting ranges beyond an optional suggestion that closed collars and maybe a hat to keep brass from going down the back of your shirt are a good idea.

A dress code at a shooting range that transparently seeks (as this one appears to) to exclude identifiable groups is beyond stupid. "His range, his property, his rules" and "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" do NOT hold up under the law when the policies in place appear designed simply to keep out specific, statutorily-identified, federally-protected groups.

I don't care if I'm sharing the range with gangsta-thug-wannabes or 400-lb transvestites in gold lame' mini-dresses and fright wigs. If they do something unsafe, that's what range officers (and observant fellow customers) are for. But in this day and age, posting rules that pretty clearly translate as "We don't want any customers who don't already look like us" is an open request for legal hassles that no business owner should want. That's why I found their existence so surprising.

Clearly, I'm in the minority here (feel free to flame; I'm a big boy) but that's my take on it.