Target Shooting under fire again. Target Shooting has grown. More people are target shooting, yet the range options are shrinking. More publicly available land is getting closed down to target shooting. Not for the reasons many think, either. The highly vocal hyperbolic, anti-second Amendment crowd is indeed out there, but the guns themselves aren’t the lynch pins…It is the land…the use of the land.
As many Grok readers know, I have been the leader of one of Southern New Hampshire’s Largest sporting clubs with over 1,500 members. In addition, the Londonderry Fish & Game Club also has eight ranges for firearm use to include a newly constructed 200-400 Yard Range. I have spent countless thousands of hours pressing forward with the planning and design efforts that have now come to full fruition at our wonderful facility.
In real world money, LFGC spent over $56,000 on engineering and permitting costs, Site design inspection fees and all the nifty things a municipality can throw at a little club out in the woods. But we got it done. And it is grand. In real world money, LFGC has spent upwards of $560,000 to build our new range facilities.
I have learned a great deal about shooting ranges these past 13 years. LFGC is also abutted by over 900 Acres of conservation land. There has been an ongoing fight over that land’s uses. Everybody from hikers, to bicyclists, to hunters and even to a small degree, OHRV’ers. But no fight has been more visible than target shooting in the Musquash.
As a club we did not weigh in on that issue. First, because we have our own ranges that we manage and maintain. That is not to say we do not advocate for target shooting on publicly available lands, but the fact is to advocate for shooting on public lands is to be arguing from a position of weakness. Gone are the days where folks could drive to a gravel pit and shoot. Most landowners who have such properties have posted them, “No Trespassing,” and surprisingly not for the reasons most think. Most landowners don’t want the abuse that goes hand in hand with making any of their land available for recreation purposes.
There are two kinds of target shooters: Group A, who recognizes and acknowledges the privilege of entering on land owned by another to shoot firearms. This group follows three tenets: 1) Respect the land; 2)Shoot in a safe and proper manner; and 3) Don’t leave a bunch of trash. Leaving trash is the pathway to closure of what little remains of public lands available.
Group B, just wants to do what they want to do and damn the consequences. This is where old bullet-riddled appliances, old cars, glass, furniture and other assorted trash gets left. empty casings, beer cans and other assorted refuse just gets left for the landowner to clean up. Its a never-ending saga. This was one of the big arguments int he debate over shooting in the Musquash conservation lands. Shooting of trees, bullet-riddled beer cans, and other assorted trash being left on the conservation land following shooting activities. That is a black eye on the second amendment community. It sends a negative message. Ultimately, we do ourselves in and we are mostly responsible for elimination of places to shoot.
The Hudson Litchfield News features a “Thumbs up?Thumbs down.” column every week. This past Friday, (6/29) featured the following entry:
“[A] huge thumbs down to the Litchfield Police Department and the NH State Police for allowing incessant firing of weapons in the sandy area between Cutler Road and Alvirne High School. They should be using their considerable influence to stop these potential terrorists from firing their large caliber high velocity weapons 24 hours a day, seven days a week in this area, especially after what has been going on with [sic]the massacres that have been happening in high schools recently. This is disgusting and it should be acted on no matter what the law says. This is terrible, it has to end. These are terrorists down there training for more massacres.”
So much to unpack there, I’ll just skip it but say this. This person calls their neighbors terrorists and doesn’t care about the law, only that the shooting stop. This is a purely vitriolic comment. It’s ignorant, uninformed and demonstrates the irrational, emotion-fueled rage that we, who support the Second Amendment, are up against. Politics have taken over nearly every of life and Guns are front and center.
I would also point out that by posting this, the individual has unwittingly advertised a place to shoot and in all likelihood, the shooting will increase for a time…for a time. For a time because the venue will eventually be posted against all shooting. Not because the neighbors don’t like gun fire, but because there will be those shooters who show up and place old cars, other “durable” trash, appliances, and other items that lay waste to the area. They will come and make full unfettered use, leaving in their wake, the bullet-riddled 
carcass of Grandma’s 1972 console Quasar Television (whose picture tube contains Mercury, BTW). A large human cheese-like grater that was once a 26 cubic foot refrigerator; A Microwave or two…Perhaps a Dishwasher. A 2000 Plymouth Neon that hornets will nest in. Or, perhaps they will use 8 lbs of Tannerite inside the skeleton of what was once a gas grill, sending shards of metal flying everywhere. It would put the whole neighborhood into a panic. At some point thereafter, the owner of the property will decide that the clean-up needed, warrants that owner to now preclude shooting activities. For the large majority of shooters that enjoy the use of the open land, the land is now closed because of the few within our ranks that couldn’t care less about the consequences of their choices.
The Anti-Second Amendment Crowd often figures out pretty quickly that a direct attack on the gun is not going to get a shooting venue closed. Rather, an indirect attack on the venue often succeeds, citing pollution, property damage and sometimes damage to their adjacent properties (deep tire ruts, erosion, trees shot in half, Garbage shot up and left behind, etc).
Most private land closures could be avoided in four simple steps: 1) Respect the land/owner; 2) CLEAN UP YOUR MESS; 3) Clean up your mess. 4) behave in a safe and responsible manor. Having landowners allow us on their property to shoot is a privilege. Being able to do so requires us to do the right thing and not leave messes. As I write this, I can see people giving me the finger. Whatever.
