Shot in the Dark

You Don’t Like Those Numbers? We’ll Keep Making Them Up ‘Til You Do!

There used to be firearms ranges in the Twin Cities – places where shooters could go and practice and, perhaps more importantly, teach the kids how to handle and, even moreso, how not to handle guns.

Metro-area DFL governments have pretty much squeezed out all the ranges within 20 miles of the Twin Cities proper.  Today, with the exception of Bill’s Gun Range in Robbinsdale, you have to drive to Burnsville, Lakeville, Blaine and such (along with a private club in Oakdale with some public shooting hours) to find a public range.

Not a few of those old ranges – Braemar in Edina, for example – were absorbed by Twin Cities law enforcement; they became ranges for cops.  They’re maintained at public expense.  And while cops need plenty of practice with their firearms, it’s not like the ranges are hopping 24/7.  There’s slack time (not that the cops shouldn’t get some more practice yet).  And since the public is paying for that unoccupied time, why not give the public access to the ranges they pay for?  If only for the safety instruction that, statistically, saves vastly more lives than any gun control measure?

And so Tom Hackbarth sponsored a bill that’d open up ranges to the public for firearm safety instruction.

And the bill was debated for an hour yesterday.

And during that debate, Assistant Minority Leader Kim Norton claimed that it would cost either $500,000 or $1,000,000 to convert these ranges for public use; according to various accounts, either Norton raised the figure in mid-debate, or a metro DFLer did.

That’s right – in the special little world of the DFL, you need to convert a range (which was a public range, in the case of Braemar among others) to handle civilian bullets.

Clearly the Sheriff’s Association wants this bill killed.  Public ranges aren’t for the public after all.

And if you’re a parent in North Minneapolis or Frogtown who wants to teach your kids gun safety?  You gotta drive and drive and drive and pay and pay and pay.

Because the DFL doesn’t want all those pesky brown-skinned people to know how to handle guns.

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Mitch Berg

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11 responses to “You Don’t Like Those Numbers? We’ll Keep Making Them Up ‘Til You Do!”

  1. nate Avatar
    nate

    A Liberal’s Solution:

    Kids tempted by alcohol – education, not abstinence. Kids tempted by sex – education, not abstinence. Kids tempted by guns . . . abstinence.

    By reversing the traditional response to these issues, Liberals have brought us today’s society. What’s the definition of insanity again?

  2. Loren Avatar
    Loren

    I remember when former Ramsey County Sheriff Fletcher was willing to open the range used by the deputies for 1 or 2 hours, if you made a “donation” to a charity of his picking. But at no other times was / is that range open to the public.

  3. bubbasan Avatar
    bubbasan

    I have to wonder who really is in the Sheriff’s Association that would stand against the voters (a) funding their ranges by paying to use them and (b) getting a better view of the police in doing so.

  4. Scott Hughes Avatar
    Scott Hughes

    I know Tom Hackbarth, he tried to get mandatory language forcing police and sheriff shooting ranges to be open to public use in the Range Protection Act that was passed. But that language was not included in the final bill because of resistance.

    The answer might be in cutting their budgets, that might give them incentive to find new revenue streams. Sadly though as you point out Mitch we’re already paying for them, and they sit dormant most of the time.

    As a side note: How many gun stores are located in Mpls?

  5. K-Rod Avatar
    K-Rod

    I present the next Boogie man to the SitD audience:
    “Told You So… ”
    “…Given that someone like Hackbarth, while angry – as described by police – lies about what he was doing while armed with a gun, and who he was pursuing while carrying a gun, while in possession of a spare magazine of ammunition, and a map and binoculars, when I read about reports of domestic violence, murder and murder suicides for reasons of jealousy, or mass shootings like the one above by someone who has difficulties in his relationships with women…
    …given the attempts to expand the Shoot First/ Kill at Will, Stand Someone Else’s Ground legislation that would extend self-defense beyond the limits of one’s home or other private property…”
    Well that Dog certainly can chant! What next? Racism? Misogyny?

    Mitch, why are you and the others on the political right such woman haters?
    “…We have enough misogyny in this country, and God knows we have far too much of it especially on the political right waging a war on women. The right wing culture war appears to be an attempt to restore a new tradition of male dominance of men over women; to add more guns to the mix should not be part of that culture war.”
    Alllllrightttteee then.

    Now back to the boogie man and the Victory gin/Kool aid chanting points:
    “I’m not suggesting here that every man who simply acts like a jealous jackass as Hackbarth did is going to engage in a mass shooting because they’re angry at people generally and a woman or women specifically. But I am suggesting we have far too many people who act violently towards other people because of their emotions, and that firearms are more consistently fatal in those situations than almost any other weapon. Women are disproportionately the targets and the victims. We need less firearm violence, not more, as a civilized society. The misogyny and culture war to dominate women is just the larger context to that issue. More than that, we need to do more to keep dangerous people, especially mentally ill people, and people with emotional issues, anger issues, people with inadequate control of their impulses, from access to guns.”
    If it weren’t for that pesky 2nd amendment, eh DeeGee?

  6. Harbard Avatar
    Harbard

    You forgot Bald Eagle Sportsmans Association, near lovely Hugo. We have public hours on Saturdays.

    Occasionally, the cops take over our range for practice. We are glad to help them out. Too bad it’s not always reciprocated.

  7. jdege Avatar
    jdege

    The land Braemar park sits on was deeded to the city with the specific proviso that the shooting range would stay open.

    It didn’t, of course.

    Why should the city be bound by contracts?

  8. swiftee Avatar
    swiftee

    When you stop and realize that the “conversions” would be done by public union workers, $1 mil is probably not too far fetched.

    Painting the shooting benches alone would run a couple of hundred grand.

  9. swiftee Avatar
    swiftee

    BTW. I’m of the opinion that our willingness to let moonbats have their say is one of the things that mark conservatives as superior, but after reading that bit of mewling, inane pap from DG I’ve come to the conclusion that there are some moonbats who are so ignorant that mere exposure to them is a hazard to our mental health.

  10. Loren Avatar
    Loren

    My eyes or my computer must be malfunctioning. I see reference to a post by Penigma’s Chihuahua, but no such post.

    Or perhaps such post has been placed in detention until a certain homework assignment is turned in?????

  11. K-Rod Avatar
    K-Rod

    Loren, don’t waste your time on Penisblog.

    Here is the latest deegee moonbattery on logic and truth, this time regarding rights that supposedly are NOT afforded to gay people:
    “right to autonomy, the right to physical integrity, and the right to persona identity which includes sexual identity.”

    Oh yeah, and it’s racist!!!!

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