Crowd safety

[infomanpa]

During reenactments there is always great care to keep the public a certain distance from the shooting. Since no one is using real bullets, why the great concern? I know little about weaponry, so fill me in. Thank you.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

We don't want people, little kids, dogs, running in front of cannons that are shooting, getting under-foot of horses, mixing in with lines of infantry that are trying to maintain cohesion.....
Common sense dictates that inexperienced "civilians" don't intermingle......
THAT is the very simple answer as to why there is "great concern"!
Do you advocate for civilians mixing in during the battle scenarios?

 

[infomanpa]

Do you advocate for civilians mixing in during the battle scenarios?

Absolutely not. I've just seen a lot of "enforcers" of the crowd control barriers have fits if someone happened to move over a few inches or so over those lines, even though the barriers were tens of yards away. From their behavior I was just wondering if there was some danger of which I was not aware.

 

[amweiner]

I also imagine that great care is shown around spectators getting too close to ground charges (where those are used), too close to the noisy discharge of muskets and cannon, and too close to heaven-knows-what that could pose any safety risk and a lawsuit.

 

[amweiner]

We had the occasional person who, despite all safety training to the contrary, would draw their ramrod and leave it in the barrel. This gave our organizers fits, but the best that could be done was making sure the offending party regretted it sufficiently to never repeat the mistake.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Reenactors, for the most part, know and assume the risk involved with using black powder........We cannot take the risk to "assume" that some spectators understand this risk to their safety by permitting them on the field.
Again, it's common sense for us to require them to remain "behind the lines"

 

[mofederal]

The noise, weapons used, a safe space which puts room between the spectators and the reenactors. At one time they had land mines, really pyrotechnics in the ground for simulated artillery fire. Those were weird for reenactors even let alone a crowd.

 

[thomas aagaard]

You make it sound like the use of ground charges are rare? Thought it was something that was always done when ever you have scripted "battles"? (Just curious, since we always use them, if there is artillery at the "battle"... bt that obviously don't mean that others always do so)

 

[István.AT]

They're not safeguarding public from the reenactors, they're safeguarding reenactors from the public

There are specific type of curious folks that would gladly look into the gun barrels when the firing line is discharging their rifles, unless specifically restrained from doing so.
You may be aware of the safety distance and safety rules when firearms are being used, but can you vouch for a guy next to you? It is a reasonable answer not to let anyone in, except the reenactors and the qualified auxiliary personnel.
And there can always be incidents. Like the "sloppy artilleryman accidentally fired a cleaning rod out of his cannon" one. If a civilian gets hurt in one of these, it's a complete disaster.

2thomas aagaard:
Hm, they're quite common in our corner of the world too. Every event gathering significant crowd of guests and spectators usually has ground charges.

 

[mofederal]

I have been in more than a few reenactments. I have only seen them used once at, Lexington, Mo. I am not saying they aren't used elsewhere. It was a scripted battle, I never saw them again.

 

[drezac]

This could very well be for insurance reasons - it may be a requirement in their policy to keep spectators at a specific distance.

some other issues:
1. as reenactors, we have all signed waivers regarding any accidents/injury. The public typically does not (unless printed on the tickets as they do with sporting events)

2. as far as artillery, one reason we need a clear area is primers. When we fire the gun, the primer takes off like a bottle rocket. We did a reenactment where we had a cannon on a stern wheeler on the Ohio river. we were as far forward as we could get, and we found spent primers at the stern of the boat. Also, our limber box will have quite a bit of powder. while not likely, we need a safe area around us just in case there was an accident with the limber.