You shouldn’t have eaten that burrito for breakfast, or had that third Venti dessert-a-chino, and now you’re struggling to concentrate on the stage in front of you. Where’s the nearest facility? In a slight panic, you notice one on the next bay, near the safe area. But, you have a gun on. What now?
We get occasional questions about what to do when you have to go to the bathroom at a match and you are geared up. Whether it’s a Port-A-Potty or a fixed bathroom, the answer is the same: if you need to, remove your gun. You can take it off at a safe area and leave it on the table (Yes, that’s legal–calm down, Francis!), or remove it at a safe area and bag it etc. But, there’s nothing wrong with leaving a gun unattended at a safe area, laying on the table, muzzle in a safe direction. The worst that can happen, sad to say, is that it gets stolen, but thankfully that’s not much of a problem at USPSA or SCSA matches. Other disciplines may prohibit this practice, and it’s not legal under IPSC rules, but we encourage placing port-a-johns near safe area and vice-versa for this reason. While we don’t normally police the bathrooms for unsafe gun handling, it’s best practice and follows the rules if you remove it as noted. Gun alone is fine, belt with holstered gun is fine as well–it’s a safe area and you are allowed to handle the gun, and abandon it there if you wish.
What you can’t do as a match director, is build a “safe area” inside the bathroom, regardless of it’s shape or size or construction. A range I know set some up in the fixed bathrooms, but the muzzle ended up pointing in an unsafe direction, i.e., back toward the areas where competitors congregated. Never a good idea. Just don’t do it, regardless of how convenient or hilarious you think it may be. Put a safe area table, clearly marked and indicated, near the restroom facilities, regardless of how big it might be, and prevent heedless unsafe gun handling.
And, when someone comes up to you and says “there’s a gun on the table in the safe area”, you can calmly assert that it’s OK, and probably won’t go haywire and start shooting people. But, with the advent of AI everything, smart guns might be the wave of the future, so we may have to revisit this post.