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bofe954, I can see how you might get the impression that the club is at fault for not enforcing the rules. That's not the case at all. This club hosts Level 2 and Level 3 matches, and has a NROI Range Master / RM Instructor. The MD has his act together, and was on my squad when all this happened.
If the MD was on your squad, you were swept, and the shooter was not DQ'd, the MD made a mistake, period, read the rule. There is no exemption for muzzling someone with a PCC
The problem is with poorly written PCC rules and inadequate safe areas for PCCs.
Handguns can only be handled in a safe area, which typically include a table with the safe direction and boundaries clearly shown.
As you can see from the definition of berm in A3 that you posted above, a berm can be simply a separator between bays rather than a hard bulletproof barrier. This leads to people uncasing and handling their PCCs with muzzle pointed down at a low berm while people are visible directly behind the berm. This isn't against the rules, but it should be.
Chamber flags for PCC don't have to be actually in the chamber. This means that people can use any object that holds the bolt out of battery as a chamber flag.
So, we have PCC shooters handling their guns in places that weren't designed as safe areas, with muzzles close to sweeping people, without direct supervision of an RO, and without a chamber flag that prevents a round from being in the chamber. That's not a solid safety protocol.
I'll add a story to underscore this. My buddy was shooting his PCC at a match, and when he finished a stage he dropped the mag, racked the bolt, dropped the bolt, and pulled the trigger. BANG. DQ. His extractor had jumped the case rim and left a round in the chamber. Without a true chamber flag, he would have been one RO mistake (forgetting to say 'hammer down' before saying 'flag') away from walking around with a chambered round in his PCC. This makes me cringe, thinking about how inadequate the berm procedure is.
I have seen the same thing happen with pistols, the shooter needs to see an empty chamber, that's why RO's tell people to slow down during unload and show clear. If the shooter is irresponsible, it doesn't matter what kind of gun they have.
On the other hand, if I somehow come off a stage with a round in my handgun's chamber, there are only two places I would be handing that gun: a safety area with hardened backstop, or at the next stage where an RO would be there to DQ me.