I can't believe there's no shooting range in my town

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was at Dick’s Sporting Goods browsing over the rifles and shotguns. I used to shoot .22 rifles at summer camp as a kid and I liked it; I’ve always been a very good shot with BB guns also, so I thought it would be nice to get myself a rifle. They had a lot of them there at affordable prices. “If I bought one of these rifles, is there a place in town where I could go to practice?”

“No. There’s no firing range in town or even in the county. There’s one in Owen County. There used to be one here but the anti-gun people got it shut down.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Even the cops can’t use it anymore.”

“You’re telling me that the cops have to go to a different county to practice shooting?”

“Yup.”

What the fuck. I would love to shoot again but if there’s no firing range in town, what can I do? I have a few friends who have enough land that we could go out and shoot there, but I would still prefer to have a shooting range where I could try multiple weapons, learn tips, and have knowledgeable instructors around. Why must I drive to another county for this? It isn’t fair.

(Note, I don’t know anything about the politics of the “anti-gun people” or if that is actually why the shooting range got closed.)

2

Suggestion: use anti-gun people for target practice.

3

Yep. There’s none in mine, either. I have to drive 30 minutes to get to a shooting range. It’s really delayed my plans to become more firearm-proficient. I still go and shoot, but it’s every 3 or 4 months, instead of every month like I’d like.

4

Yeah that sucks.

Buy some land and start your own?

Buy some land either way, then you can shoot (I assume, depending on your local laws.)

5

It’s sad, and it happens more and more every day. Join the NRA, we’re not all crazy. :smiley:

6

There’s a shooting range in every town. It may just look like something else.

7

Have you actually investigated whether this claim is true? I’m a little skeptical. I’m definitely “anti-gun” but I don’t have a problem with shooting ranges as long as the guns used there are properly regulated, and the range itself is safe. I think most pro-gun-control people are the same way. Even my favorite liberal talk-show host says she enjoys going to shooting ranges. (“I just don’t think I should be able to take that handgun home with me.”)

8

It may be a “not in my back yard” issue. We were about to get a county Parks & Rec sponsored skeet shooting range here, but neighbors adjoining the rural parcel of land objected.