coloradokevin
Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2008
- Messages
- 3,285
I'm so pissed I could pee fire!
I think shooting sports are beginning to die a slow death in this country, for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is the fact that more and more shooting locations are disappearing, often due to increased legal/political pressure. I've watched this trend develop for the past couple of decades, and adjusted my shooting habits as required: one public range closes, move to another public range. When that range closes, move to national forest land, then move again when that area gets subjected to a closure order... and so on
But, I felt that I'd finally solved that problem a few years ago after I joined a well-established private shooting club out in the sticks, not too far from the Denver metro area. For the past few years I've been a member of the Wildlife Hunters Association of Colorado, and enjoyed shooting out to 600 yards on a regular basis... until today.
Now, thanks to an unproven accusation from a person who lives a couple of miles from the range, the range is no more. I received this sad e-mail from one of the range directors tonight (this is just a portion of it for public viewing):
Once again I find myself without a place that I can count on for shooting. I hope this situation somehow resolves itself, but the range owners are already planning to disperse the dues that have been collected from members for the remainder of the year. It kind of sounds like this one is a done deal.
How do we possibly keep shooting in the future if county regulations make it damn near impossible to operate a range? My friend looked through some Adams County regulations on ranges tonight, and said that they are requiring: 6 ft perimeter fences, signs every 100 yards, a ten foot berm "encircling" the property, and an on-site NRA certified instructor whenever the range is in operation. Yeah, all of that's real possible... especially for a 600 yard rifle range. Essentially, counties are regulating ranges out of business, and the problem found its way to my range today.
I think shooting sports are beginning to die a slow death in this country, for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is the fact that more and more shooting locations are disappearing, often due to increased legal/political pressure. I've watched this trend develop for the past couple of decades, and adjusted my shooting habits as required: one public range closes, move to another public range. When that range closes, move to national forest land, then move again when that area gets subjected to a closure order... and so on
But, I felt that I'd finally solved that problem a few years ago after I joined a well-established private shooting club out in the sticks, not too far from the Denver metro area. For the past few years I've been a member of the Wildlife Hunters Association of Colorado, and enjoyed shooting out to 600 yards on a regular basis... until today.
Now, thanks to an unproven accusation from a person who lives a couple of miles from the range, the range is no more. I received this sad e-mail from one of the range directors tonight (this is just a portion of it for public viewing):
WHAC said:"Dear WHAC Members,
It is with a heavy heart that we have to write this e-mail. Due to an incident with a round allegedly escaping the rifle range, we had a neighbor complain to Adams County about our organization. This was investigated by the Sheriff’s office and eventually ended up in a hearing at the Adams County Planning Commissioner’s Office. The Planning Commission has determined that we do not meet the current criteria for the operation of a shooting range in this area. Based on this they have requested from us to cease all shooting immediately on the Hazlet property.
We are certain that you have many questions and we will try to answer them as thoroughly as possible in this email…
What was the incident?
A neighbor to the south of the range alleges that a round was shot over the hill and went through window of their house. The Sheriff’s Dept. conclusion was that it was an accident and therefore they could not hold a specific individual liable for this action. They have stated that it is possible that this shot originated from our range.
As we have always stated we are responsible for every round fired from our guns and that safety is paramount. If it did in fact come from our range, it would have been caused by someone who had an accidental discharge or miscalculated his/her aim, sending a projectile over the back berm. We all know the safety rules and helped each other enforce them; unfortunately our neighbor’s misconception of ballistic trajectories had negative implications on the life of our club.
Could the club re-open?
We are looking at one other option that may grandfather the club and not have to follow current standards. However, this process will take a minimum of 120 days and may not be financially feasible. Regardless of what we may achieve in the future, understand that, by order of the County Commissioner, we must cease all shooting on the property effective immediately. Please do not go to the range to do any type of shooting.
What improvements would we have to do to the club to meet the current regulations?
Adams County makes it extremely expensive to comply with their regulations. We would need to fence in the section of land with a 6 foot high chain link fence. Material alone would cost about $25 per linear foot plus labor. As I am sure you all know, one section of land equals one square mile or, in other words, we would need to build four linear miles of fence which would amount to over $500,000.
We would also need to put a sign every 100 yards of fencing stating that this is a shooting range. Average metal sign cost about $15 apiece. In addition to this we would need to put in sound abatement that would surround the property.
Once again I find myself without a place that I can count on for shooting. I hope this situation somehow resolves itself, but the range owners are already planning to disperse the dues that have been collected from members for the remainder of the year. It kind of sounds like this one is a done deal.
How do we possibly keep shooting in the future if county regulations make it damn near impossible to operate a range? My friend looked through some Adams County regulations on ranges tonight, and said that they are requiring: 6 ft perimeter fences, signs every 100 yards, a ten foot berm "encircling" the property, and an on-site NRA certified instructor whenever the range is in operation. Yeah, all of that's real possible... especially for a 600 yard rifle range. Essentially, counties are regulating ranges out of business, and the problem found its way to my range today.