This Question of the Month was based on an incident that happened at Nationals years ago, but that story had multiple rules that applied, so we simplified the question. A competitor arrives at the bays for a match and realizes he is still wearing his loaded concealed carry pistol. There is no unloading station at this range. What should the competitor do?
Yes, the competitor should immediately find a RO! This is covered under rule 2.5.2 of the rulebook: “Where no Unloading/Loading station is provided, a competitor who arrives at a match in possession of a loaded firearm and proceeds immediately to a match official for the express purpose of safely unloading the firearm shall not be subject to disqualification per the provisions of Rule 10.5.13.” (10.5.13 is the rule for having a loaded firearm when not directed by a RO.) The other three possible answers will all earn the competitor a DQ and not the correct thing to do.
So most of you are probably itching to know what happened at Nationals that lead to this question. It was the first day of the staff match and a competitor comes to the range to look at the stages. Once he gets to a stage, he realizes that he still has his loaded carry gun on him. So, he proceeds to the safety area and has a accidental discharge while unloading. So he has violated 2.5.2 (and 10.5.13). He also was handling ammunition in a loaded gun and magazine at a safety area (10.5.12). And he had a accidental discharge during unloading (10.4.3) which drew attention to the safety area. But he wasn’t competing that day so do the rules apply? Once the staff match has started, all competitors are subject to the rules when they are on the range. This means he was disqualified. If he had found a RO when he realized he still had his loaded carry gun on him, the RO could have escorted him to a bay and supervised the unloading process (hopefully minus the AD) and he would have not been disqualified.
Moral of the story: If you ever are on the range and realize you have a loaded carry firearm on you, don’t panic and find a RO!