Braintree Rifle & Pistol Club - Braintree, MA

LenS said:
I still think that BR&P is an awesome club.
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Im not trying to ruffle your feathers lens, And i'm not putting down your club.. [devil]Just playing devils advocate, It sucks that people have to dumb things like that to ruin the fun for everyone.. I shoot at a lot of different clubs and just from what Ive heard through the elders is when a club has "RO's" you start deterring people from shooting there, Because of the fact you have to rely on unreliable people to shoot.

The fact of the whole RO is just silly to me.
 
Sputa Arms said:
Im not trying to ruffle your feathers lens, And i'm not putting down your club.. [devil]Just playing devils advocate, It sucks that people have to dumb things like that to ruin the fun for everyone.. I shoot at a lot of different clubs and just from what Ive heard through the elders is when a club has "RO's" you start deterring people from shooting there, Because of the fact you have to rely on unreliable people to shoot.

The fact of the whole RO is just silly to me.
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When the first problem occurred at BR&P, we hired some range experts from NRA to review our ranges for safety. As reported to me (here-say evidence), the NRA expert was aghast when he got a "no" response to his question "Of course you only allow shooting with ROs present, right?" I was told that he put that in his report as an "action item" (don't allow any shooting w/o ROs present) and a copy of said report was given to Mr. Caradonna and the Braintree Police Chief . . . I do NOT know that this is fact, but it is what I was told by those involved in the investigation of what happened. As soon as you provide such info to those in authority, you have sunk an anchor in the ground and there is no going back.

On the other hand, at every club that I've shot at, there have been unsafe acts that I've observed and ROs can be a help, especially to new shooters or someone with a gun that they aren't familiar with. ROs do NOT have to hover over shooters shoulders and bug them continually.

Additionally, many new people are getting permits and joining clubs, but have zero experience with firearms (even NRA BP doesn't make you a safe and expert shot) and can use some gentle coaching. I've learned that it is "natural" for shooters to rack a slide by pointing the gun sideways! [thinking] So I politely tell shooters to move their body so that the barrel is always pointed downrange. BR&P has grown by ~1400 new members since I joined in 1999!!! [shocked] When I first started shooting, I actively sought advice from bullseye shooters who I met at my club. These days, many go and don't want to talk with anyone . . . and ignorance frequently leads to unsafe acts.

BR&P has no shortage of people who WANT to shoot there, 66 new members in one month has been the LOWEST "new member class" since the "Salesman of the Year" became pseudo-president in 2008.
 
LenS said:
On the other hand, at every club that I've shot at, there have been unsafe acts that I've observed and ROs can be a help, especially to new shooters or someone with a gun that they aren't familiar with.
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Unfortunately true. Go to most any gun club and take a look at their indoor range. You'll see bullet impacts on the walls, baffles, etc.
 
To expand on my prior remark:

Ask the club in Reading area (many years ago), Scituate club, Massapoag and Sharon clubs (many years ago) how that all worked out.
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Reading area club - a PD was using the range. A round struck a house and as I understand it, that range was shut down permanently! That was >20 yrs ago IIRC.

Scituate club - accused of a problem, shut down. I do not know the current status.

Massapoag - person using outdoor range apparently had a skip shot that went ~1/4 mile and struck a "smoke break" employee of a local business in the arm. Bullet was spent and fell to the ground, said young lady freaked out and called local police which went to club, found shooter (unaware of what happened of course), confiscated the gun and submitted it to MSP Ballistics for testing (confirmed as gun causing the incident). Outdoor range was shut down. Unknown how long and what they had to do to reopen. [This happened >20 yrs ago IIRC.]

Sharon F&G - uninvolved in above incident at Massapoag, but chief & selectmen ordered the ranges shut down anyway. Atty Ed George was hired, baffles were installed, club begged to reopen and it took >1.5 years before selectmen relented and allowed outdoor ranges to reopen.

-------

Additional example: Maynard R&G was accused of some problems by new homeowners (houses were built many, many years after club was well established). IIRC, they had to shut down at least one of their ranges, did many years of battling with neighbors and town officials. Don't know the outcome, but it did have a negative impact on the club for sure. [This all started back in the late 1980s. I worked at DEC in Maynard and knew some club members, also walked thru there a few times at lunchtime.]

As the president of BR&P (an attorney) told me, if anyone files any complaint in court against a gun club in MA, we'd be shut down. The law be damned, the judges would not rule in favor of a gun club due to massive prejudice against guns, shooters and gun clubs in MA. So the club takes an overly aggressive proactive stance to prevent that sort of problem. He's right and it's hard to disagree with his position based on reality of the "system" (re-read Mark056's thread on how the CJ system REALLY WORKS)!
 
LenS said:
Reading area club - a PD was using the range. A round struck a house and as I understand it, that range was shut down permanently! That was >20 yrs ago IIRC.
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Minor correct: that was not a private club. That was the range at Camp Curtis Guild -- a National Guard training site in Reading. But your point remains as true as ever: if a single round escapes your range, you can be shut down for good.
 
M1911 said:
Minor correct: that was not a private club. That was the range at Camp Curtis Guild -- a National Guard training site in Reading. But your point remains as true as ever: if a single round escapes your range, you can be shut down for good.
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Thanks for the correction. It was so long ago I forgot exactly which facility it happened at.
 
LenS said:
Thanks for the correction. It was so long ago I forgot exactly which facility it happened at.
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The rumor that I've heard is that it was the Cambridge Police SWAT team, playing with their MP5s, and that it wasn't the first time a round had escaped the range and hit a neighboring house. But I can't verify any of that.

The point is, if they can shut down an important National Guard range (I believe there are only three facilities of that size in MA -- Devens, MMR, and Camp Curtis Guild), which was used for training military and police, they can shut down your private club in a frickin' heartbeat.
 
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I was dumb and didn't renew my membership this year (I even managed to misplace the mailer!). I'd like to settle up and continue being a member but would like to avoid taking the orientation class a second time. Don't mind paying the fee for only about a half year of use -- my fault I missed the deadline to begin with.
 
chupa88 said:
How much longer is the outdoor rifle range shut down for?
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See post # 172, check the website (I haven't lately) or attend tonight's meeting (I'll be there) to find out the latest info. I do not know any further info as of now.

BR&P still hopes to run their CMP match there on 5/21, so the target is to get it re-opened before then.
 
chupa88 said:
How much longer is the outdoor rifle range shut down for?
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Considering that I was down there last Tuesday and the rifle range hadn't been touched, my
guess is at least three weeks from last Wednesday at the earliest (5/25?) and that is only if
the weather 'cooperates'.

Here is the official statement posted on their web site:

Up-To-The-Minute News
The rifle range will be closed for lead removal from April 18th 2011 for approximately 3 weeks
depending on the weather. The only outdoor range that will be open at this time is the small
pistol and plinking range.
 
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DesertNavy said:
Any update from last nights meeting?
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Yup, the Chief Range Officer, Joe Norman asked that members with questions on range status contact him directly. His Email address and phone number are available on http://www.brp.org/RangeOfficers/tabid/1148/Default.aspx

I don't keep up on the status but once/month, so please don't rely on me for continually updated info.

From last night's meeting:

- Joe was going to talk with the lead removal boss today, so again he'll have better info than the following.

- They can't sift the sand if it is wet, so rain delays the work. My guess is that it takes multiple days to dry out after it rains, so the time loss is not a 1:1 ratio.

- The boss of the lead removal job had a family medical emergency to attend to, which further contributed to delay in this job. [Remember they are NOT charging the club anything to do this work, so they want to get done quickly but we don't have anything to hold over their heads either.]

- We were told that the lead has never been removed from that range and that range has been in operation for 90 years. Also, we were told that the rifle range has never been shut down for longer than 1/2 day since ~1996, so it is long overdue for some maintenance.

- Regrettably, it appears unlikely that the rifle range will be done in time for the May CMP match, but Joe or the website should have updated info as the date approaches.

- The middle range has been approved for a "brow lift" of ~10' with work to proceed as soon as the contractor can get to it. Then it will be re-opened.
 
LenS: Do you have contact information for the lead removal company? I might be interested in talking to them about doing something similar at our club.
 
Rifle Range Open

Joe just sent this out to all the RO's.....[smile]

I have opened the rifle range as of today. It will remain open until June or July when the weather is more co-operative, and it dries out so that we can shut it down and complete the clean-up.
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Just got that notice too. Thx.

With all the rain it will take weeks to dry out enouth for them to even attempt sifting for lead. We might as well get some use oug the place in the meantime.
 
I don't mean to come off as a wise A$$ or being ungrateful to the BRPC leadership but I was out there three weeks ago at the plinking range, the only work that had been done on the rifle range was the removal of the target stands. In my opinion timing couldn't have been worse. We all saw how long it took to remove the lead from the pistol range and the problems they had with weather. Why would you start an operation that requires it to be dry in April / May when it's the wettest? Close it down in August for 3 weeks instead when it's too hot to shoot outside and you know the weather will be dry. There's nothing like coming off a long winter and wanting to shoot but finding your range roped off without a sign of progress.
 
chupa88 said:
I don't have the rule book on me but what time is first shot at the rifle range on Monday? Thanks.
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I honestly don't know and don't have time to look to see if Holidays are the same as Sundays in the rules.

Sundays it is 12Noon, rest of the week it is 10AM . . . assuming an RO is present.

The rules are up on www.brp.org
 
PLD7 said:
Can anyone tell me if guests of members need an LTC to shoot with a member at this club? Thanks.
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Nope! In compliance with the club rules, the member is responsible for the guest and must be present and supervising said guest at all times that the guest is on the range. Therefore, the member supervising a non-licensed person is in total compliance with MGLs (and club rules) for any handguns/rifles/shotguns.
 
I'm interested in joining, what do I need to do? I'm sure I could go back and research this thread but if someone could let me know the basics, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!!
 

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