Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
Nope, no custom inserts - they had muffs hanging around their necks. Coupled with their reaction to my shot, it was pretty clear they had gotten the full effect.
These guys all clearly have some background in all of this. Likely from being in some branch of the service, in addition to have risen to the rank of not only their respective department's SWAT units, but additionally being in some sort of a training or squad leadership capacity in those units.
Their behavior is, of course, being documented back to their departments in the form of having failed our training, which denies them access to our range. They will have to come back and try again. Or, maybe more likely, their departments will have to send someone else back to try again. As for now, their departments have no access until they can send someone who will pass. I would hope that is not taken lightly by their superiors.
We love providing access to law enforcement at our range. We recognize that there are not very many options in our increasingly urban area. That, and the politics of our area tend to be a little hard on gun ranges, particularly outdoor ranges. Even more so with ranges that use up the footprint required to provide a 300 yard rifle range.
To be honest, out motivations are not entirely altruistic. It's also a matter of self preservation. We came within the proverbial "RCH" of being "eminent domained" into a regional, multi-county sewage treatment plant (otherwise known as a "turd farm") just over a decade ago. The only outdoor, multi discipline, long range shooting facility in a multi-county area, and local politicians were going to use the need of this new turd farm as an excuse to shut us down and seize our land.
Well, our many friends in law enforcement stepped in and saved the day. They made it clear to the politicians that they, themselves, had nowhere else to train. That is what put us over the top and saved our range. Politicians, even those who tout "gun safety" (while passing all manner of nuisance law that accomplishes anything but), were eager to shut down the only safe, controlled, supervised environment in a three county area. To hell with civilian shooters having access to any sort of a safe place to shoot. Their turd farm was only an excuse. It was pretty darn tough for them to argue, publicly, with law enforcement's requirements. Especially in light of the fact that our politicians had succeeded in shutting down every other public range on which they relied for the kinds of training opportunities we can provide. We are quite literally their "last man standing" in that regard. So, yeah, some of our motivations are a bit self serving. We really, really want to keep these relationships alive.
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