NRA MEMBERS - Advice to help save the Purdue Rifle and Pistol Club

[The Wiry Irishman]

The gun club is the second oldest at our University, with over 100 years of injury-free and trouble-free shooting. It has been student funded and student run through the entirety of its existence. As most likely befalls all gun clubs on college campuses, we have to deal with lots of political flak and red tape. We can work around most of it, but one problem in particular we cannot. Around ten years ago we were forced out of our original range in the campus rec building, and for a while the club had to travel an hour and a half every week to the nearest public range to practice. Since then we've had the use of a range in the ROTC armory building.

Not only do we have to share with the ROTC, but the building is also the largest enclosed space on campus not owned by the athletic department, so many large events use the building throughout the year. It has been getting worse the past few semesters, this one in particular. We have had our range time bumped for a small career fair and a blood drive. Our claim on weekend times has been usurped by four-or-so year old cricket club, which has put our ability to host large rifle matches (the club's biggest source of income) in serious question. A lot of the members are sensing that we are being forced out again, and this time there's nowhere to go.

A few members brought up ranges near their home towns that were built in full or in part with money from NRA grants. If the Purdue club could raise the money to build a range, Purdue policy dictates that they must give us land to build it on. Not only that, but if we build a large enough range (50 lanes or so) will begin to attract NCAA rifle teams (Purdue's rifle team is not NCAA and not University funded) which will not only bring more money into the club to replace old equipment, but would put pressure on the school to give us NCAA status and funding.

If anyone out there could give us any pointers on how to apply for such a grant from the NRA, or even just where to find the paperwork, it would be greatly appreciated. Any recommendations on what the club could do to increase the chances of getting the grant approved would be fantastic, as well. All the club officers are either NRA members or will be by the end of the week, and we are discussing raising dues slightly so each club membership will have an NRA membership with it. If you know of any other course of action other than the NRA, please share that, as well.

Thank you very much for reading through this, and for any help you can offer.

 

[Ian]

I don't have any leads, A., but I hope you can find someone to get you going in the right direction! For folks out there, here's a shot of a Boilermaker Invitational match from several years ago:

Purdue has been one of the few schools capable of holding a large match, and I would hate to see that resource lost (not that I have any prejudice as a former club member ).

 

[Cavalier Knight]

http://www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/grants.asp

 

[#shooter]

You could try to solicit donations from gun and ammo manufactures and shooting sports retailers for startup money. Many hunting and shooting organizations such as Whitetails Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, NSSF, NWTF, etc will assist with donations as well. You could try to partner with the YMCA, 4-H, and CMP to raise your profile and get additional funds.

I see someone posted the NRA grant program, here is the Indiana DNR program which also gets some funds from the Fed. CMP may also offer some grants as well.
http://www.in.gov/dnr/outdoor/grants/shooting.html

Some other good source material such as grant writing, etc.
http://www.rangeinfo.org/resources.cfm

http://www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/development.asp

Good Luck. Go Boilermakers!

 

[scout26]

You could always Lawyer up.

Paging El Tejon !!!!!

 

[El Tejon]

Yeah, why hasn't anyone called me about this? Why aren't we meeting with the administration to correct these scheduling conflicts?

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

We're working on ironing out the scheduling issues on our own. We've gotten our mid-week practices back, which is a small victory, since the practices are held in the middle of the day when the vast majority of members are in class. We're tackling the issues with the weekend matches next, and that might go in our favor. The random, unnotified bumps by blood drives and other such things I don't think will ever stop.

As for lawyering up, the issue in question has only been discussed for a week or two in the club, we haven't gotten that far yet. I'd thought about it myself, but I'm not sure we could do it becuase:

1) We don't have the money for a lawyer

2) We're not yet completely familiar with the relevant Purdue policies, so we can't be completely sure whether we're being deliberately targeted or if we're just the victims of Purdue's poorly run beauracracy. We're just vary wary becuase of our club's nature and past events.

3) I didn't think a lawyer would apply. Purdue's not saying "You can't compete" or "No guns here," we're just getting the short end of the stick from Space Management, the people that handle the renting out of buildings to clubs, etc. I've always been under the impression that Purdue can do pretty much whatever it wants when it comes to campus policies. A third of a semester of a business law class obviously does not make me any sort of authority on where a lawyer is needed, so please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.

El Tejon - It would be fantastic if you wanted to give us a little help, but I don't think we could give you much for it. I don't run the club or deal with the money, though, I just wrangle the pistol team and clean guns. If you're interested, I could give you the emails of the club officers so we could discuss things in more concrete terms.

 

[El Tejon]

1) Sometimes lawyers waive fees, if it is for a good cause.

2) Not all remedies are court ordered. Sometimes remedies can be obtained in the administrative or political (i.e. alumni association) sphere.

Go ahead and e-mail me.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

Fun Fact

I was reading the Purdue newspaper today, featuring an article about the 100 year anniversary of our College of Science. That really shows you how much history and tradition there is in the gun club, since it was up and shooting before the University even taught Biology, Chemistry, and Physics to its students.

El Tejon - Expect an email later this evening. If you'd like, I could also scrape up the roadkill from my apartment parking lot and mail it to the Board of Trustees with a list of demands so you can back up your sig line with hard empirical evidence.

 

[El Tejon]

I'll be at yoga and then Wing Chun until 9PM. I get back in the office at 9:30PM. Call or e-mail then.

It would not be in your best interest to send dead (or live) mammals via the U.S. Mail. The Postal Inspectors have a conviction rate of over 99%.

 

[Robert Hairless]

Have you asked Gun Owners of America for funding to accomplish this worthwhile goal? I understand from messages here and in other gun forums that GOA is a super organization that supports gun owners much better than NRA does.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

Are you serious or not?

Have you asked Gun Owners of America for funding to accomplish this worthwhile goal? I understand from messages here and in other gun forums that GOA is a super organization that supports gun owners much better than NRA does.

In light of all the "is NRA good or bad" threads going around, I'm assuming that's a joke, but I want to make sure. Does the GOA do anything like this, or are they just going to send out and ALERT!!!!!!!1!1!!!1111one saying that Purdue University Space Management wants to take away the nation's guns?

 

[#shooter]

I assume space management is aware of your grievances, but it doesn’t hurt to file a formal written complaint if you havn't all ready. Hopefully your faculty advisor will go to bat for you.

If space management does not change their practices contact the Ombudsman and or Dean of Students to see what they can do.
http://www.science.purdue.edu/doc/handbook/agencies.asp

The point of scheduling is to reserve space and it should not be bumped. Like you said it sounds like a bureaucratic/competence issue more than anything else. Chances are they do this to other clubs as well, if that is the case it will be hard for the DOS to ignore.