Gun Range Suicide in Florida - Another One

Robert Adams used to think the gun range was a good place to teach his teenage sons about gun safety. Now the St. Petersburg lawyer says he won't return. Adams and his two sons were at the Shoot Straight Gun Range in Pinellas Park on Saturday when a man shot himself to death with a rented gun. Before the incident, Adams did not know it was possible to rent a weapon for target practice. "You don't know who's driving the car next to you," he said, "or who's shooting the gun next to you." "To send someone back there without any training or knowledge is frankly irresponsible," Adams said. It wasn't until Adams and his sons started to pack up about 3 p.m. that the man turned the gun on himself. Tampa Bay Times Adams and his younger son, picking up shells on the ground and facing away from the man, heard the shot. The older son saw everything. Adams grabbed his guns and pushed his sons out the emergency exit. Shootings with rented weapons have happened at ranges around the country. A manager reached at Shoot Straight's Apopka headquarters declined to comment for this report. At least one other person attempted suicide at the same Pinellas Park gun range in August, Unmisig said. In January, a 37-year-old St. Petersburg man shot himself at a Shoot Straight branch in Tampa. In 2009, a 44-year-old woman shot her 20-year-old son and then herself at a branch in Casselberry. Florida law does not require background checks before a person rents a gun.