One in a row....

The Surprise Sportsman's Club (formerly known as the Peoria Rod and Gun Club) has shut down. The following is a complete cut and paste from the September 28th issue of Surprise Today. I'm pasting the entire thing because it's not very easy to read on their website. My comments are below.

Shooting range closes for now

By PATRICK O’GRADY Surprise Today

A private shooting range in Surprise has locked its gate and may not reopen, the result of concerns from the county about bullets leaving the facility and the coming end of its lease on the land.

Domenick Iacovelli, president of the Surprise Sportsman’s Club, said Saturday’s closure of the range that serves about 1,200 club members was a precaution as they look at causes and potential solutions for why bullets and shotgun pellets were found on McMicken Dam, one of the county’s concerns with the facility.

"We’re going to address these issues and whatever we can to make it safer," he said.

Making it safer, however, does not mean the club will reopen. Its lease on land owned by the Flood Control District of Maricopa County ends in 2007, and Supervisor Max Wilson has met with the group and told them they would not be offered a renewal.

"We’ve got houses that have moved in there, and houses and a shooting range are not a good combination," Wilson said.

It’s also not a good combination for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office shooting range located next to the club’s. Its lease also expires in 2007 and land has already been purchased for its relocation.

Shooting in the area near the dam — which has long been attractive to hunters, particularly those seeking dove and rabbit — has drawn criticism from Sun City Grand residents. As the development has grown closer to the dam, more residents have complained about shooting noises and pointed to the two ranges.

In meeting with Wilson, club members said they were told bullets and shotgun pellets from their range were found on the dam and workers with the Flood Control District were concerned about their safety.

Larry Timmerman, a member of the club’s board of directors, said club members have heard the complaints and tried to work with local police whenever they heard or saw people shooting illegally in the area.

"A couple of weeks ago, when dove hunting season started, we were constantly calling police because we didn’t want people to think it was us," he said.

The range also has strict protocols for shooting when there are people working on or near the dam in order to keep them safe, Timmerman said.

Club members have operated the range continuously since 1953, first as the Peoria Rod and Gun Club before recently changing its name. They have leased the land from the Flood Control District since 1960.

Timmerman said they learned of the potential for closure about 1 1 /2 months ago from people at the MCSO range. They had received official word that range would be relocating to an area about 5 miles south of Buckeye. When the county failed to contact the club, members started making inquiries, specifically to see what improvements they should make should the 10-year lease be renewed.

Club members and Wilson met last Tuesday and that was the first time they learned of problems with spent ammunition on the dam. They went out to the site and found pellets and some bullets on Wednesday and Thursday, then sent a notice to members that because of liability concerns they were, at least temporarily, closing down, Timmerman said.

The problem is club officials don’t know if the pellets in the area were from the range or not. The area is still a prime spot for hunters despite a Surprise ordinance banning hunting or shooting within city limits. Found along with some ammunition were shell casings that could not have come from the range, Iacovelli said.

"People shoot on the other side of that berm," he said. "They ride SUVs out there and shoot dove."

Just the presence of bullets and pellets in the area, however, was enough of a concern to the club to shut down operations because they would rather find out for sure if the ammunition is from the range and what the club can do to make it safer, Iacovelli said.

With costs in the tens of thousands to install steel backstops, it may be difficult to reopen the range, Timmerman said.

"There’s a possibility that the range may not reopen again," he said.

Wilson said he would like to see the club’s range remain open and locate with the MCSO range in a phased development that would open it to public and law enforcement use.

"That’s one thing we’re talking about," he said.

The range that is referred to as being "an area about 5 miles south of Buckeye" is the Buckeye Hills Shooting Range ........the range where I teach and shoot. We've known that the MCSO was coming for years and these guys are just now figuring it out? Didn't they notice the houses being built directly in their line of fire? Hellooooo. The time to start doing something about it was 10 years ago. Before the houses went in. It was obvious to me years ago that this club was doomed....that's why I never joined. Now that the doors have been closed they will never open again, even without the expiring lease. Their eagerness to avoid any hint of trouble and their desire to appear to be "the good guys" in the public eye by shutting down at the drop of a hat is going to be the final nail in their coffin. Now it's not up to someone else to prove that they are dangerous, it's up to them to prove that they are safe. Ain't gonna happen. Not with strict protocols for shooting when there are people working on or near the dam in order to keep them safe. The very fact that they felt the need to have strict protocols indicates that they had prior knowledge of danger. Case closed. As much as I hate to see any range closed, this one probably does need to go. According to Google Earth, there is a house 1.2 miles away, directly in line with the firing positions.

That's not good.

That house never should have been built, but now that it has been built the range is screwed. The club should have been involved with the town planners to see what was coming and to try to guide the plans to benefit everyone. Even if they couldn't change the plans, they would have gotten a glimpse of what was coming. Hell, they could just look out the window and see what was coming. They were a shooting range in the middle of one of the fastest growing cities in the country. How could they not know what was coming?

They got too comfortable. Now they don't have a place to shoot.

It could happen to you.

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