More Range Closings

From the ever informative Kim du Toit, we find a story about gun-banners who want to close down a range that has long served its community. A new development was built and a new elementary school is being built. People who just moved into the area now don't like the noise and many are worried about children in playgrounds. One more time, let's hear the refrain of, "It's for the children," sang in your most plainitive voices.

Give me a break. These people come into a new area and immediately they want to remodel it. If guns are concerned, no matter how safe one makes the range, there's always the children to consider.

The range Bill and I joined recently has gone through no little expense and trouble to redesign all the ranges and ensure that no bullet could leave the range. Otherwise, the "it's for the children" gang would claim that bullets are peppering their roofs and endangering their children. It doesn't make any difference that there is no evidence of a bullet let alone one that hit a roof. Or, if they find a bullet someone there is no evidence that it came from the range and not the nearby woods. Still, one must be a good neighbor I guess and please the local gun fearing wussies by tightening up on safety.

This is how our gun rights will disappear. Our neighbors will be so concerned for children, they'll start to get politicians to close down ranges. They'll say shooters could use one in the next town over--one more suited for shooting because it's a smaller, more rural town. That is, until that new town gets bigger. Before long, you'll be driving across your state or paying an exorbitant fee at a "safe" indoor range." One made safe by location, armored walls, soundproofing, .22 Long Rifle only, no drawing from holsters, and everything else they can think of to make it "safe for the children."

The problem is many of those politicians and "mommies" who're trying to set gun safety policies have never shot a gun before. They have no idea what makes a range safe. They don't know how far shotgun shot can carry, all they hear is a big boom and imagine something out of a movie they once saw. They have no idea what make a berm safe to shoot rifles into and yet they try to tell us how to do it.

I'm getting tired of it. If it's not a new bill to fight, it's a range closing. If it's not lead, it's the noise. If it's not a new school, then it's a new church. And, always, "It's for the children." We must fight to keep our gun rights on every front they open. The fight is worth it, but Claire Wolfe time seems to be getting closer. (And, compared to Bill, "Yosemite Sam," I'm the quiet, moderate one.)