EXACTLY what Muss said.....

Guns make quite a bit of noise, fishing poles do not.

The Constitution and its amendments if law. It is the law of the land. It is ruled on in courts of law daily.

And I see in the last statements many have no clue about being a responsible citizen and what that means. Hence we continue to loose many of our activities. I'll be dust blowing in the wind soon enough. Glad I won't be enduring the worst of it. Betting my grand kids won't be enjoying near as many "constitutional rights" as I did. Good luck boys.

My coffee klatch shrinks daily.

Well, I'm not one to tell folks what to do. Unless, of course, it's my club range, in which case educating folks on, and if necessary, enforcing the rules is precisely my job description.

But.

We all have to be mindful that where we shoot is under attack just as much as what we shoot. That means conducting ourselves safely, but also being good stewards of the land we use. Folk ought to pick up their own trash (seriously, some public range areas are little better than garbage dumps), and be mindful of the noise they make.

Does that mean lecturing every guy that comes along with a semiauto rifle and a can of surplus ammo? No. If for no other reason than the fact that you don't know who you're dealing with.

But it does mean that, culturally, we should promote such things. And instead of alienating and isolating folks that don't look like or shoot like us, we should be welcoming them into gun culture.

PS--I've actually advocated against "mag dump" rules at my club. They're just not good rules to make, in my opinion. How do you quantify what a mag dump is? How do you enforce the rule? If I can shoot a 3" 10-yard group (pistol) at one round a second or less, is it still a mag dump?

Instead, my suggestion is that the answer lies in range design. Don't allow people to shoot at random garbage (cans, bottles, etc) they bring from home. Provide target frames, and consider providing targets. Yeah, you're still going to have an idiot or two, but it's a lot easier to talk to a couple guys than it is to try and legislate against a horde you encouraged.

Not very sportsman like. Im disappointed.
Jim

It's a good thing we are so solidly united in our intense dislike of each other's chosen shooting sport...
(Sorry, I've not yet gone on record in this regard; here, "Shotgunners are the devil", they attempt to take over, rule and ruin any gun club where there is a significant number of shotgunners. Two is a significant number...)

Otherwise, in general, this thread disgusts me.

Sounds like to me, some one is very envious and jealous of people who can spend a lot money on ammo. They shot only one box of 38 Special while others shoot many boxes of 7.62x39mm ammo during range time.

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Bill

Now those trap shooters, they really annoy me, but not as much as those guys who chase a little white ball through the grass.

You guys should be thankful for having any kind of a decent public, free range.

This is what the one closest to me looks like, on a good day. They must have picked up all the trash that is normally there.

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Super Snooper

Golf clubs don't make much noise either, but the language I have heard from the mouths of some of their users? WOW!!

One club I belong to is a private club but it leases its land from the city. Over the hill is a private residence, and we keep an aerial photograph posted at the range to show everybody that we cannot let a round get out of the range, or we risk losing the range. The current county executive where the range is located tried to get our range shut down to start her political career, on the pretext of noise. Luckily the police range is located on the same road as our range, so that kept us from getting shut down. But our club was just about bankrupted with the cost of rebuilding for noise abatement so the city would keep leasing the land to our club.

Don't think a range protection law immunizes your range from all efforts to get your range shut down. One club in the next state found that out the hard way. The law did not protect the range when a neighbor complained about the noise to an agency of the anti-gun state government. Range protection laws usually only protect against direct actions by private citizens, not government.

This thread will not be breathing on it's own much longer

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Spin The Wheel

My situation too. I feel blessed that I can step out onto my deck or yard, or property to shoot. I would have never started shooting in the first place at a public range (or private to be honest). And I do feel for those that have to go to a range.

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Pass it on.
Mark

One thing about the AR is that it gave the gun
industry a big boost, not only in the sale of the
rifles themselves but all the ancillary tag-ons
that the guns can accommodate.

The bump stock was but one such add on.


Because the design of the rifle, at least in the minds
of many of its owners, the rifle is for rapid fire, very rapid
military style fire.

Aimed slow fire seeking maximum bullseye results
it seems is not much in the equation.

When the rifles were first finding a widespread
market in the 1980s, the first time I saw them
in much use was among shooters trying their
hip firing skills. The range where I was immediately
stopped such a practice.

Nowadays, so many ads that I've seen seem
to stress the "military" aspects of the rifle with
pictures of unshaven men in battle gear along
with commando knives and hi-cap pistols
strapped to their legs.

And let's now forget the open carry crowd who
immediately started to make scenes at coffee
shops by carrying their ARs with them.

The series of mass shootings has also projected
an image for the AR as the weapon of choice
for nut jobs.

Like it or not, whether the AR is practical for
much home defense, is that some owners of
them seem to be in-your-face types who
defend their right to be obnoxious under
the guise of gun rights.

At some point, even in pro-gun states, I forsee
the limitations coming on magazine capacities
for the AR.

Getting ever smaller.

Those of us who served in the military will tell you what the military thinks of firearms and how much range time you will get.
I draw an analogy with the "tacticool" crowd. As long as they behave themselves, are polite, considerate, practice safety.....

Our range exists under the same circumstances as yours. We even had to and continue to resist a shut down attempt by a city resident almost a mile away. Fortunately, we have a lot of support from most of the community. We have 2 Police Departments that train at and use the range. We support Mutual Aid. I hope you can continue efforts to keep operating. It is becoming more and more of a challenge in this crazy political world.
Best of luck.
Jim

Thank you for your kind words.

I just got kicked out of my shooting range tonight for rapid fire bursts and shooting steel with a 308. The worst part is the range is my yard, the steel target is mine, and I run the range.

Guess I'm going to have to really cool my heels.

Kinda like farting in an elevator. No rules broken, but not the right thing to do.
Best,
Gary