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What liability might a club have


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Shortly after getting into this game, my shooting pardner came to me and informed me that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of Parkinson's and early Alzheimer's. We dicsussed his continuation in the sport and I agreed to keep an eye on him and tell him immediately if I ever felt his participation was a danger in any way. Several times he asked me if I was still comfortable with his performance. I never had any doubts about his safety, but when he asked, for the third time, if I thought he was OK, I answered; "It would be much better to hang it up 2 years early than 5 seconds too late." He hung up his guns and never shot again.

 

In retorspect, he had another year or so of safe participation left in him. I regret that he lost the pleasure and comraderie that he got from SASS, but I would handle it the same way if the need arises. He has lost significant cognitive and memory ability, but, when I visit with him these days, he still asks about SASS and can tell you every gun deal we ever made.

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The policy that covers the club should list any coverage exclusions and their causes. No policy covers every situation, and no club can exclude every potenial risk. A person's medical history or driving record shouldn't be considered in allowing them to shoot unless it is specifically listed as a factor in providing coverage. Read the policy, then have your attorney read it and craft a liability waiver for your club. Will it protect you completely, no, but I believe it's the best defense that you and the club can have. Standardization of the wording, along with 100% participation from all shooters, will show good faith and possibly keep everybody on the same page. But first, like I tell all my clients, read the policy and call if there's something you don't understand. That's what we get paid for and we're glad to help.

 

And the ADA angle, although probably not an issue here, could possibly be a hugh problem if clubs or SASS decided that they were going to begin excluding participation based on medical histories. Can you demonstrate that a particular disability, afflication, handicap etc actually creates an unsafe situation and if not why are you discriminating against my client? Something to think about on the large scale of the sport. Do other shooting sports have this problem, and I'm sure they do, and how do they handle it?

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