A Modest Proposal
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como Park writes:
Sheriff Fletcher got in trouble for using the Concealed Carry Permit holder’s list to invite permit holders to shoot on the Sheriff’s indoor pistol range in exchange for a contribution to the Sheriff’s favorite charity. He got lots of people to come and raised money for charity which was good, but using the list was bad and he was properly chastened for it.
It was exactly the sort of thing Second Amendment activists and other Real Americans were concerned about when the Legislature used to propose gun registration.
Ramsey County is having a charity drive again and employees are permitted to bid on donated items, one of which is an hour of time on the Sheriff’s indoor pistol range actually shooting the guns the Sheriff’s Department uses. Notice that the bidding has been fierce. Link here:
http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/681/auctions/735/auction_items/12381
I don’t know the details of the RCSD’s range, but I think the State Patrol used to run a close combat pistol range in the north ‘burbs; I’d bid on time there, if it still exists…
It’s evident there is strong interest in shooting on the Sheriff’s range. People are willing to pay good money for it. Why not take the money?
Why not open the Sheriff’s range to the public a few hours per week? Take some of the pressure off Bill’s.
Here you go, voluntary additional revenue for public safety. Why isn’t this a no-brainer?
Because RamCo’s pea-brained County Commission gets all teary-eyed when they think about private citizens with guns, most likely.
But it is a great idea…
September 22nd, 2010 at 2:38 pm
The range at the South Metro Public Safety Training Facility (in Edina, south of Braemar Arena), is open to the public Saturdays from 8:00 to 2:00, and the 1st Tuesday of every month, from 6:00 to 9:00.
http://www.southmetrotraining.com/public.html
September 23rd, 2010 at 1:08 am
Wow, six hours a week! I wonder how many hours a week the range sits completely empty.
When you go, you can’t shoot closer than 25 feet (almost all defensive shootings occur between bad-breath distance and 15 feet), you can’t shoot at silhouteees, and you can’t “rapid fire.” But at least it’s expensive at $15 per lane per half-hour ($25 per half hour for two people, as if they somehow use the lane more?)
It’s a beautiful facility, but it’s open to the public a little because they have to.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
A requirement for police agencies to open their facilities to public shooting when they were not in use by the agency was included in early proposals for the MN Shooting Range Protection Act. Unfortunately that language did not make it through in the final bill that became law.
At one time the Sherburne County Sheriff shooting range was open to public at certain hours, for some unknown reason that seems to no longer be the case.
Many of these police ranges are the best quality that money can buy. It’s a sad fact that so much of OUR MONEY is spent on these facilities and yet we aren’t allowed to make use of them even though they sit dormant much of the time.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I’d love to see some Sheriff say:
“Okay, look, I still think armed civilians is a bad idea; but if the idiot Legislature is going to make me do it and still do my job as Chief Public Safety Officer for this county, then I’m going to make the best of it. Free public shooting lessons on the Sheriff’s Range every Saturday morning, taught by our best instructors, with the intention of making the general public safer by making sure the pistol-carrying public is competent.”
Man, I’d sign up for that in a heartbeat.
.
September 23rd, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Howsabout one a you well-connected guys pass Nate’s remarks along to Stanek?
September 24th, 2010 at 8:05 am
“It’s a beautiful facility, but it’s open to the public a little because they have to.”
The website I linked to discusses the range’s history, but from what I was told it doesn’t get it quite right. The range wasn’t opened on public land, it was opened on private land, that was then donated to the City on the condition that the City would keep the range operating and open to the public. (The donated land became Braemar park).
The range didn’t close because of environmental concerns, the range closed because the City managed to convince the heirs not to sue, if they closed it. They’d kept it open for limited, unpredictable hours, so as to keep attendance down.
The range is open to the public because the City is under a legal obligation to run a public range at that location. That six hours a week is their attempt to do so to the minimum extent possible.