Liberty University to become first U.S. college with an on-campus firing range

[Aim1]

Awesome!




http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/1...t-u-s-college-with-an-on-campus-firing-range/

Liberty University to become first U.S. college with an on-campus firing range

Tré Goins-Phillips December 13, 2016 10:04 am

Liberty University, located in Lynchburg, Virginia, already permits students to carry firearms on campus, and last year, President Jerry Falwell Jr. encouraged students to obtain their concealed-carry licenses through a college course.
Now, the evangelical university is taking the next logical step: Liberty will soon become the first U.S. college to build a National Rifle Association-approved firing range on campus.

A proposal was filed last week for a special permit from the Campbell County Planning Commission, and it states that Liberty wants to build a “nationally recognized, full-scale shooting, training and competition center” on campus. According to Yahoo News, the outdoor facility will include a pistol range, a rifle range, an instructional area and a three-gun competition range. The school plans to eventually add an indoor firing range.

 

[hdwhit]

Liberty University to become first U.S. college with an on-campus firing range

There must be some qualifiers tied to that claim of being "first". I got one of my degrees from Arkansas State University and they had an on-campus indoor rifle range for the rifle team to practice. Students were allowed to use it when the rifle team and ROTC students weren't using it, but they had to use rifles supplied by the university. Still, Liberty can't have been the first college to have an on-campus firing range if ASU (and many others) already had them in the 1960's. Liberty may be the first college to build an "NRA-approved range with facilities for rifle, pistol and three-gun", but it is certainly not the first college to have an on-campus firing range.

 

[Dog Soldier]

A fellow I knew from Rawlins, Wyoming had a full shooting scholarship at the University of West Virginia.

http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?section=9625

 

[OcelotZ3]

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana has their own range on campus.

Oregon State University also has an indoor rifle/pistol range on campus. I'm sure there are probably many other universities with them.

Who writes these crappy articles? More made-up news?

 

[Dog Soldier]

It seems collegiate shooting programs are extensive.

http://www.nssf.org/cssi/pdf/CSSI_StartClub.pdf

 

[hdwhit]

It seems to me that to the extent the article posted by Aim1 (http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/1...t-u-s-college-with-an-on-campus-firing-range/) is supposed to suggest that colleges other than Liberty - particularly public land-grant colleges - have a supposed anti-gun bias, the posts of other members have established that to be a false assertion. As I noted, Liberty may claim (subject to rebuttal) that it has the first "NRA-approved shooting range for pistol, rifle and three-gun", bit it is manifest from the unrebutted testimony offered by myself and other members that Liberty is manifestly not the first college to have an on-campus gun range.

 

[Havok7416]

Michigan State University has had an Olympic training shooting facility on campus for at least 5 years and probably a slight bit more than that.

 

[X-Rap]

So Liberty has the most liberal firearms regulations of any college I've heard of and is building a real shooting complex and all we get here is complaints of fake news and comparisons to stuffy small bore or air rifle ranges at schools that won't honor a constitutional right.
Can anyone point to a school with similar rules?

 

[JohnBiltz]

When I was teaching ROTC at Wyoming I was in charge of an indoor range right in the heart of the campus. It was only for .22 though. It was under ROTC control. But the local youth shooting club used it more than we did and a pistol course was a phys ed credit.

 

[JohnBiltz]

So Liberty has the most liberal firearms regulations of any college I've heard of and is building a real shooting complex and all we get here is complaints of fake news and comparisons to stuffy small bore or air rifle ranges at schools that won't honor a constitutional right.
Can anyone point to a school with similar rules?

I'm inclined to agree to an extent. I don't think it is fake news, it was poor reporting. There are a lot of state schools that were started with the intention of producing officers for the military and grew from there. So ROTC is rooted deeper into the school than a lot of the professors would care for. Putting in an indoor range for .22 is a lot cheaper than something that can take rifles. In Wyoming there was also a city range a couple of miles out of town but during a school year and the weather being what it is in Wyoming its pretty cold most of the school year not to mention the snow. This facility sounds to be far in scope past what any other college facility has. But it is not the only range on college campuses.

 

[pockets]

Just bad reporting is all. It is 'The Blaze' after all. Got to be spectacular!
Perhaps they are the only to currently have 3-gun range...meh.

The Ohio State University has had a gun range since at least 1875.
Their current 'Lt. Hugh W. Wylie Range' was built in 1966. Located on campus just across the river from the Horseshoe stadium.

 

[Lafitte]

Sam Houston University had an on campus rifle range when I graduated, 1956!

Lafitte

 

[X-Rap]

I think the article adequately explains their claim to be "first" in the second paragraph.
Later they make the claim again but without the explanation. I would still challenge anyone to produce a more pro 2a school than Liberty. Our own service Academy's don't promote firearms to this degree.
The initial intent of other schools had a strong preparatory component but in modern terms ROTC and any reference is only tolerated because of the funding that goes with it.

 

[alientrainwreck]

I think it's great. I also hope that the shooting sports are resurrected to be like they used to be, scholarships and the whole 9 yards.

 

[JohnBiltz]

There is not only a political agenda about gun ranges on campus. OHSA regulations pretty much made them more expensive and the backstops accumulate lead. No surprise there it is its job. That is a problem though with the EPA. Disposing of an old style backstop is expensive So renovation plans come along and its a lot more expensive than they thought because new codes are in effect. Cost combined with political leanings killed a lot of ranges. Then you have to have someone in charge of it. That often defaults to ROTC at small campuses because its free for the university.

 

[Taurus 617 CCW]

But not everyone likes the idea of guns on Liberty's campus. Gun control advocate Rob Schenck, president of Faith in Action, a Washington, D.C. based outreach organization, called the idea of a gun range "morally reckless."

I suppose a better name for the organization would be Faith Inaction. What do they even mean by morally reckless. I love these inflammatory emotional buzz words and how they serve no purpose but to further their "common sense" agenda. I love the direction Liberty University is going.

 

[Dog Soldier]

The collegiate shooting programs exist in Wyoming, Alaska, Arizona and other states that recognize Constitutional 2nd Amendment freedoms. This is not about who is the best. We are celebrating our American 2nd Amendment liberties.

 

[Darkhorse]

It's not fake news. I live about 15 miles from Liberty University and know many people who work there.

From the Virginia Citizens Defense League:


Liberty University is planning to build a shooting sports complex, which is expected to include access by the public!

Quick summary of the complex:

13,500 Sq Indoor Range
4,000 Sq Foot Storefront
100, 200, and 300 Yard rifle range
Pistol/Biathlon Range
3-gun/Police Shoot house Range
2 Skeet Fields
A Trap Field
Classrooms for training courses

Details can be found here:

https://sl4gr.wordpress.com/2016/12...announces-plans-for-outdoor-shooting-complex/

 

[aarondhgraham]

Back in 1998 when I went back to school,,,
Oklahoma State University advertised an indoor rimfire range,,,
Honestly, it was one of the prime reasons I chose this university over three other choices.

Imagine my dismay when I actually started here and tried to find it to join up,,,
That's when I found out the range (old ROTC facility) had been shuttered for many years.

The information office who prints all of the advertising brochures hadn't updated their campus brochure in ages.

I was so angry (with myself as well as the university) that I filed a formal complaint with the Regents,,,
It was very gratifying when my efforts got them to change their advertising,,,
Hints of a law suit will motivate academic folk very nicely.

Now the only facility is a shotgun range (for the skeet club only) that miles away from campus.

I have been hearing rumors though that the College of Agriculture is considering a range facility,,,
I heard this through a friend who is high up in the administration of the Ag College,,,
Apparently they think there is a need for a modern competition facility.

It will be years away but what a great thing that would be,,,
A world class competition range right in my place of residence.

That could be a great retirement job for me,,,
I could be the curmudgeon at the range wielding the bullhorn.

Aarond

.

 

[Deanimator]

I learned to shoot rifle and pistol on the Westminster College indoor range in 1976-1977.

I shot on the rifle team, and spent a lot of time practicing on the range there.

 

[Christopher B]

We had an indoor smallbore rifle/pistol range at Villanova in 1976.

 

[barnbwt]

"Just bad reporting is all."
Nah, inaccurate/misleading/misinformed reporting on a story involving guns?! Inconceivable.

It's the "first" university to offer a publicly-accessible (i.e. not just the rifle team, not just the ROTC, not just some basement 25yd affair) *shooting complex* in the sort of vein you see for swimming or track/field. Rather than a dark, dusty, forgotten hole beneath the Chemistry Building, this will be a dedicated facility large enough to accommodate competition, elective courses & education, and public use. Next step is getting alumni to back promotional efforts & ultimately start getting airtime for NCAA firearms competition.

TCB

 

[X-Rap]

Colleges today have bass fishing teams, it would be great to have shooting teams competing.
Best though would be our higher learning center's allowing personal weapons on campus and in dorms.

 

[Hacker15E]

When I was teaching ROTC at Wyoming I was in charge of an indoor range right in the heart of the campus. It was only for .22 though. It was under ROTC control. But the local youth shooting club used it more than we did and a pistol course was a phys ed credit.

There was one just like this at the ROTC building (Clark Hall) at the University of Washington in Seattle in the 1990s.

The only reason people are balking is because of the headline that says, "first US college with an on-campus firing range...."

Nobody saying it is bad or that the news is fake...they're saying it is a disingenuous headline since a lot of colleges also have "on-campus firing range"s.

 

[Sam1911]

PSU had/has TWO.