In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Shooting range proponents defend proposal
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Shooting range proponents defend proposal CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Supporters of a proposed shooting range just south of town say the facility will be safe, quiet and will not pollute groundwater.Although the nearest house is a mile away, residents of the Winchester Hills and Hyndman Heights neighborhoods have been concerned about having a shooting range on nearby Terry Ranch Road."If this site weren't safe, if it posed a safety problem, the National Rifle Association wouldn't have anything to do with it," said Will Lederer, a member of the shooting park board and an NRA representative.The facility will have a 600-yard range for high-powered rifles and a 300-yard range for black powder guns.The firing lines will be mostly underground. Overhead baffles and 12-foot side berms will help contain bullets, as will a 20-foot backstop with a slightly higher, natural hill behind it."The basic concept is a blue-sky gap," said Dick Smith, president of the Cheyenne Public Shooting Park Corporation. "You won't be able to see blue sky from anywhere on the firing line. Bullets won't be able to get out."Distance will help absorb the noise, according to Smith."Shotgun sound is the hardest to baffle," he said. "It's not the crack you get from a rifle. Eight- to10-foot fences can make a big difference in shotgun noise."The shotgun range will not be built until later, according to Dave Lockman, education director for the state Game and Fish Department. No public money will be spent on the project, but the agency is a partner."We feel it's important to have a partnership with the shooting park," he said. "We want more proficient shooters as hunters and we want safe hunters. We need a place where they can learn these things."Lockman said the range will be constructed in stages, with the high-powered rifle range and hunter education classrooms built first. A trap range, which Cheyenne already has, will be built last.Smith said lead pollution is easily controlled at shooting ranges by using agricultural products to balance the pH of the soil. Also, he said, dissolved lead tends to cling to clay and adding clay can help keep lead out of the groundwater. http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/31shootingRange.html