One in a row....

Hello, my name is Len and I'm an insensitive prick.

I think I'll start introducing myself that way. It seems that I upset the nice folks at the Surprise Sportsman's Club by expressing my opinions in this post about their range closing. This is what prompted the disclaimer posted below. The rant in question was intended to be a warning to other clubs not to become complacent. Naturally, the rant is what got everyone's attention and not the warning. I was pretty damn hard on them, but the anti's are closing enough ranges as it is without us helping them.

Everything posted on this site (unless otherwise attributed) is MY OPINION. MINE. ALL MINE. I don't pull punches and I don't sugarcoat anything. I call it like I see it. Some people may not like or agree with my opinions and I'm just fine with that. I won't go back and edit my posts to remove things that piss people off. If you disagree with what I have to say, more power to you. Leave a comment. If I'm proven to be wrong I will say so.

In fact, I'm going to give the folks at the Surprise Sportsman's Club an opportunity to set the record straight and prove that I'm an idiot. I will allow any or all of the executive committee of the Surprise Sportsman's Club to log in and post directly to my blog. You will be required to prove your identity before posting to keep the riffraff out. Let's bring it all out in public so that there is no "he said, she said" BS going on. I give my word as a gentleman that your posts will remain un-edited and in their original form. I will reply in another post without ever removing or changing what you have to say.

Please prove me wrong. I am looking in from the outside and giving my opinion based on what the general, non-member public has to work with. Yes, I was harsh on your club. As I said before, I call them like I see them. This isn't the first time I've criticized another club. In my opinion (just mine, not belonging to any legal entity or other person), we as shooters absolutely must be safe at all times. Period. The anti's come up with enough fuzzy statistics, out of context comments, and one-sided "news" stories on their own without us giving them more ammunition, so to speak.

If bullets were in fact leaving the confines of the range in Surprise, then the club management was correct in closing the range until the situation was corrected. In my earlier post I criticized the club for closing due to unproven allegations. I didn't have all the information and my statement regarding that decision was unjustly critical of the club management. There. See how easy that was? Of course this brings up the whole "what did they know and when did they know it?" question, but it would be insensitive of me to ask that.

I think the club is going in the right direction now.

Let me say that again: I think the club is going in the right direction now.

I am very much aware that bitching at the present management about past decisions will not change the current situation. The members of the Surprise club are doing all that they can at this point to open their range again.....looking forward and being pro-active may keep your club from facing the same issues.

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