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Gun Reports - News

Shooting Ranges, Clubs May Be Missing Opportunities with Majority of Enthusiasts

(GunReports.com) — A recent survey of nearly 3,500 shooting enthusiasts conducted on ShooterSurvey.com discovered only 26 percent of respondents claim membership at a shooting range or sporting clays club. With nearly three out of four shooters not associated with these private ranges or clubs, the survey also explored the reasons for not joining.

Top reasons included:

• 37% said they are not interested or have no need to join
• 27% said it is too expensive
• 25.1 % said they have another nearby range that is open to the public or free of cost
• 18.3 % said the nearest range or club is too far
• 15.7 % did not identify a specific reason only citing “other”
• 4.8 % said nearby ranges or clubs did not offer the type of shooting that interests them
• 3.9 % said they do not feel welcome there.

“With more than 19 million recreational shooters in the United States, these numbers show there is a huge segment of enthusiasts that could be brought into the fold by tailoring programs and resources that might overcome their reasons for not being a member of a range or shooting club,” said Rob Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, which designs and conducts the surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com. “Private clubs can offer shooters a great chance to improve their skills and increase their opportunities to enjoy a variety of shooting activities.”

Of those shooters who are members of a range or sporting clays club, ShooterSurvey.com explored what those people would like to see improved or offered at their shooting range. Top responses included:

• 29% want more shooting benches or target stations
• 24.2% want more competitions
• 14.3% want more shooting benches or equipment that better fit women and youth
• 13.9% want more/cleaner restrooms
• 13.1% want improved food/beverage options.

Of those surveyed, 36.2 percent didn’t want anything changed at their range or club as they are happy with it the way it is and 3.1 percent actually want fewer competitions held.

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Reader Comments

Ranges here in rural Arkansas (gun heaven) are located in hard to reach areas and few in number. I currently belong to a club that costs me 250.00 to join...only range in area. Public ranges are miles up dirt roads. Over crowding of population and gun-unfriendly land owners contribute to the problem. I would shoot daily if didn't have to drive 20 miles to range. If shooting industry is serious about our sport surviving (therefore their jobs) then they need to sponsor ranges.

Comment by: HORACE W | September 22, 2011

Over crowding is the problem, as you stated Horace. You need enough members (or customers) to sustain a shooting facility, and shooting ranges require a fair amount of space. Thus, where land is cheap, you can't get enough shooters; where you have enough shooters, land is at a premium. That doesn't even touch on noise issues and safety concerns...

Comment by: PVB | September 23, 2011

Ammo and gun manufacturers should sponsor ranges to keep costs down

Comment by: wyldbill99 | September 23, 2011

Ranges here in northern New Jersey are few and far between. There is also a concerted effort from the non-shooting public to close both indoor and outdoor ranges. Indoor ranges represent a "safety hazard" due to environmental concerns about lead. Outdoor ranges are "noisy." I no longer shoot at any ranges in my state. Any range in proximity to my home is more than an hour's drive away. I belong to a club out of state and shoot at their outdoor range. "Atmosphere" and cultural climate in this state is more friendly to shooters than in my home state. That is somewhat sad too.

Comment by: Setters4life | September 24, 2011

Ranges here in northern New Jersey are few and far between. There is also a concerted effort from the non-shooting public to close both indoor and outdoor ranges. Indoor ranges represent a "safety hazard" due to environmental concerns about lead. Outdoor ranges are "noisy." I no longer shoot at any ranges in my state. Any range in proximity to my home is more than an hour's drive away. I belong to a club out of state and shoot at their outdoor range. "Atmosphere" and cultural climate in this state is more friendly to shooters than in my home state. That is somewhat sad too.

Comment by: Setters4life | September 24, 2011

Wyldbill - good point, and it does happen, though not enough to fully subsidize membership costs. Many local gun shops will donate, or sell at cost, goods to be raffled off in club fund raisers. That's also another reason why you should support your local shop, even if it sells ammo at a higher price than the uber-rich Walton family's MaoMart.

Frankly, I would probably not want to belong to a club where membership was essentially free as it would become like welfare. Even at pricey clubs, members can be downright abusive of the facility.

Comment by: PVB | September 25, 2011

PVB you are spot on about a virtually free membership-type club. Even the gangsters might decide to put in some range time under those conditions. A major problem that we have in urban and suburban areas is lack of space to have a range at all. Folks generally do not like to hear shooting from their back yards. So a pistol range, at least, can go indoors be muffled and be just another local business. But a rifle range needs at least 1-500 yards of open space and a fairly rural setting. Then the problem becomes how many times per month does a shooter want to take the time to go out there?

Comment by: Visigoth52 | September 25, 2011

As a matter of fact Vis, I think it was gangsters going to an "open" range that lead to the infamous FBI shootout in Florida that caused revisitation of conventional ballistic opinions leading to the .40 S&W. I think their MO was go to a "public" shooting area, steal the law-abiding guns and cars, maybe kill the former owners in the process, and go on a crime spree with somebody else's car and guns. In one of our state game lands last fall, a shooter was killed and his silenced .308 taken while he was downrange changing targets.

Yes, rifle shooting for urbanites - even suburbanites - is quite a challenge...

Comment by: PVB | September 25, 2011

P V B - No range officer there? Or was he just out in the woods? (In which case he should have been carrying his rifle with him!)

Comment by: david b | September 26, 2011

The state game lands? There are no range officers - shooters are supposed to police themselves.

In Florida, I think they would go to quarries or the like where people routinely would shoot free of charge and without supervision.

Comment by: PVB | September 26, 2011

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