Rant on Targets

I live in the state of Nevada, a glorious place of open spaces and gun-friendly politicians. For a gun guy, you couldn't find a better place to live and work. Like all of the other states, Nevada does its best to maintain the streets and highways to be safe places for all Americans to use. That includes the signs that abound our roads, telling you where you are and other important things, like the distance to Las Vegas. Apparently, some citizens seem to feel that those signs are there for other reasons. Sadly some of these people have guns.

A road sign is a road sign and it's the same in Wisconsin, Delaware, Georgia or Oklahoma. The signs are put there for the public good and paid for by public funds. Their function is obvious, so I can't for the life of me understand why some people want to use them for targets. There are lots of reasons why this is an illegal act. For one thing, these signs are placed by the Highway Department where there is a need and seldom where there is a safe backstop. Therefore, a shot fired at a sign may simultaneously establish marksmanship and idiocy. I noticed one the other day absolutely riddled with bullets, some of which looked like high-velocity rifle bullets. Straight behind the sign, at a distance of several miles was a small town.

Lots of Nevada is marked “Open Range” by a big diamond-shaped bright yellow sign depicting a bull. These seem to be particularly attractive to the dummy with a .30-30 and little common sense. I know that this is only done by a minority of shooters, but this stupid practice gives gun ownership a very bad image in the eyes of those who want all of the guns.