NRAI reprimands range officials for ‘serious safety violation’ in National Shooting Championships

New Delhi: The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has reprimanded its range officials for a “serious safety violation” incident during the National Championships last year when a woman shooter, oblivious of the rules, had pointed her gun towards the spectators gallery.

NRAI sources told PTI that a woman 10m air rifle shooter, unaware of the stringent weapons safety rules, after completing her round pointed the gun towards the spectators gallery, which, as per the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) rules, is a “serious safety violation”.

The range officials, instead of confiscating her competitor’s card and disqualifying her then and there, asked for the lane number or firing point on which she was shooting.

The shooter in question gave a wrong lane number, which belonged to another shooter. Due to this, the other shooter, who represented Uttar Pradesh at the November-December Nationals, was disqualified.

Confirming the incident, NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia said that all the range officials have been issued a “strongly-worded advisory” and asked to follow the laid out ISSF’s disciplinary rules.

The said shooter, who is now untraceable as her shooting card wasn’t confiscated, had broken Rule 6.12.6.3 of the ISSF, which reads: “Serious Safety Violations. a) If the Jury determines that an athlete has handled a gun or violated a safety rule in a dangerous manner, the athlete must be disqualified (DSQ) see 6.2.2.

Rule 6.2.2 states: “To ensure safety, all guns must be handled with maximum care at all times. Guns must not be removed from the firing line during training or competition except with the permission of a Range Officer.

Rule 6.2.2.3 states: “While athletes are on their firing points, their guns must always be pointed in safe directions. The action or breech must not be closed until the gun is pointing downrange in a safe direction toward the target area.” There are very stringent rules for handling weapons, even 10m air rifles and air pistols as mis-handling them can lead to grievous injuries, even loss of life, and range officials are expected to maintain the highest level of vigil in such cases.

“The UP shooter, who was disqualified, wrote to the NRAI explaining that she had not committed the offence and her scores have since been reinstated,” the source added.

“We have also asked the range officials to be more careful. The shooter was very smart, to avoid getting disqualified, she gave the lane number of some other shooter, who got disqualified. And the girl who committed the infringement got away,” said Bhatia.

Asked if some action would be taken against the range officials, he said, “What disciplinary action can we take… they are all human beings,” he added.

The shooter who got disqualified and finally got reinstated, only said, “there was some misunderstanding” but did not elaborate.