Scituate R&G Club closed temporarily due to safety concerns

Yup. All it takes is one round to escape the range.

. . . or for someone to shoot from some property nearby a club (but not from club grounds)

- - - or for someone to "salt" their property with bullets/pellets and claim it came from a nearby range

I know of all three type of cases happening and the clubs took it in the chops . . . by the media, the town gov't, police, etc.
 
Same thing happened to Bass River Rod and Gun many years ago....luckily no one was hurt and the house that was struck was the house of a member and a former club president.[wink]

They shut down that range and built a new one and have had no problems since.
 
This story should be posted on the bulletin board of every gun club. This is just the reason some clubs like MRA have strict and seemingly opressive rules on their outdoor ranges. The rules really make an attempt at preserving our places to shoot..

I would argue that we have gone way OVERBOARD at Marshfield (if that's what MRA stands for).

But, with that said, any people from Scituate want to chime in? I used to shoot there about 10 years ago. At the time, it was a pretty scary club, are there still bullet holes in the club house? Old ones or new ones? What about drinking on the range? I remember being there in the early '90s when some guy that was shitfaced swept me with a pistol, I was with my Dad and he freaked out. Turned out the drunk was the range officer. I hope things have improved.
 
I would argue that we have gone way OVERBOARD at Marshfield (if that's what MRA stands for).

But, with that said, any people from Scituate want to chime in? I used to shoot there about 10 years ago. At the time, it was a pretty scary club, are there still bullet holes in the club house? Old ones or new ones? What about drinking on the range? I remember being there in the early '90s when some guy that was shitfaced swept me with a pistol, I was with my Dad and he freaked out. Turned out the drunk was the range officer. I hope things have improved.

MRA = Mass Rifle Association. Baffles on the handgun range and they shoot through tubes on the high power range.
 
I can't get this image out of my head.

Houses with armor plate on the side and roof that faces a range. Ballistic windows. Kevlar roofed carports.

Sadly, far easier just to close the club.
 
Caught it on Fox. Another "Riverside" incident except this time it seems the round had a little more energy becuase it dug into a piece of furniture.

Actually.......the damage to the furniture was caused by the Police trying to ascertain if there was a bullet lodged in the wood. The projectile in question was found in a pile of laundry under the window.
 
Actually.......the damage to the furniture was caused by the Police trying to ascertain if there was a bullet lodged in the wood. The projectile in question was found in a pile of laundry under the window.

Really, it had no energy to even go through a pile of dirty laundry but yet it still made a perfectly round hole the size of a baseball...
 
As I understand, it supposedly went through the window, bounced off the furniture and came to rest under the window through which it entered the house.

The saga continues..............
 
As I understand, it supposedly went through the window, bounced off the furniture and came to rest under the window through which it entered the house.

The saga continues..............

I really hope they get good investigators on this one, because it is sounding more and more like a salting.
 
I know the Officer who is investigating this issue and I don't believe he is a club member.
He'll do a thorough job and wil use all the resources at his disposal.
I worked late last night and did not have the chance to go to the Scituate Selectmen's meeting. There was rumored to be a large group of neighborhood residents attending the meeting to see what they could do to pressure the club to close. I do not know at this point in time what transpired there.
 
Has that town met the 10% affordable housing limit? If not, it might be time for a 40B if the club closes.
 
I think they should close the range and put in a high class strip joint. Teach the neighbors to be careful what they wish for.

Zoning and liquor license regulations would undoubtedly prevent that. It is much harder for a town to stop a Chapter 40B development.
 
Editorial

In a stunner, The Patriot Ledger came out today in support of the Gun Club:

From Today Ledger:

QUINCY — We can all say with certainty that a bullet breaking a window in our house and embedding in a wall is likely an unsettling experience.

So it is understandable that residents of Heritage Trail in Scituate want some answers as to why at least three stray bullets from the nearby Scituate Rod & Gun Club have hit neighborhood houses, including just two weeks ago when a 9-mm bullet came through a window in a room Margaret Norton had just left.

But closing down gun clubs because of their proximity to homes, as some are calling for in the wake of the latest incident, is no more a resolution than shutting down Route 3A because there are car accidents.

The answer is for town residents and officials to work out compromises with members of the gun club, who have been very cooperative in dealing with the issue.

There are more than 100 shooting ranges in the state, including more than a dozen in our region. Most have been in operation for years with little notice or problem. A search of our archives found just a handful of reports of stray bullets coming from the ranges in the last 20 years, indicating the problem is isolated.

And each time, it appears local officials worked hand-in-hand with gun club members to make changes in the direction of the shooting and to heighten berms and other safety barriers to lessen the chance of a stray bullet.

Part of the problem is simply development over the years, with houses and other buildings going up closer and closer to ranges that have for decades been safely secluded from residential and business zones. Scituate Rod & Gun Club, for instance, has been an active range for nearly 70 years, acquiring additional land in 1994 to ensure a safety zone around the range.

In the wake of the latest incident, club officials shut down two of their ranges and are planning to erect baffle boards around the 50-yard range to make sure no more bullets leave the range. That sounds like a responsible neighbor trying to make sure everyone is safe.

While we have advocated for controls over automatic weapons and pushed for safety measures such as gun locks, none of those issues are in play here. We are fully supportive of an individual’s right to own guns.

Rifle and pistol ranges offer a safe place for responsible gun owners to use their firearms and target practice and recreational shooting are among of the country’s most popular sports. The clubs are the place many children learn to safely handle guns.

The state does not oversee shooting ranges and Scituate police and selectmen said they have no power to regulate them. That is true, to an extent. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 140 gives town meetings or town or city councils the authority to enact whatever regulations they deem necessary in exchange for a license to operate.

What we would like to see, not just in Scituate but elsewhere, is an effort by town officials, residents and representatives of the gun clubs and other organizations such as the National Rifle Association or Gun Owners’ Action League to set up safety standards based on shooting direction and how far bullets from different types of firearms carry.

Those regulations can then be implemented to reassure residents all measures are being taken to cut down on accidents while allowing recreational shooters to continue their hobby in a manner that is not restrictive.

And we would also urge residents to visit their nearby rod and gun clubs, see what happens there and maybe under officials supervision, fire off a round or two. They’d be happy to oblige and it would go a long way in bringing down the barriers between neighbors who really shouldn’t fear each other.
 
stray bullets

does any one remember north attleboro and the stray bullets.bullets with no rifling and others with stones & dirt when the land it supposed to land on was
grass.
The biggest mistake is when a club can get the land cheap and does not.
I thank the lord I move to a friendly state.sheriff comes looks "fine" goes away.[grin]
 
More problems for scituate.


January 5, 2009

Scituate - A tense battle between the Scituate Rod and Gun Club and its neighbors may be headed to court.

Residents of the Heritage Trail neighborhood, where four bullets have struck homes since 2004, say the gun club broke a promise to cease shooting until safety issues had been resolved.

They have asked selectmen to seek a court injunction to stop shooting until the 50- and 100-yard ranges are evaluated by the National Rifle Association and an independent party chosen by the town.

Club President Ron Rice agreed to close the ranges in November following an Oct. 25 incident in which a 9 mm bullet went through the laundry room window of a Heritage Trail home moments after a woman had left the room.

But residents believe club members broke that promise when they held a gun-safety course last month that included shooting firearms.

“The spirit of the agreement was that there would be no shooting other than skeet, so we are disappointed they decided to go ahead anyway,” said Alan Norton, whose wife said she was almost hit by the bullet in October.

Rice said the club stayed true to the agreement, canceling several annual shooting events and shooting only at skeet, for which shotguns, not rifles or handguns, are used. The safety course was held inside enclosed portable shooting cubicles that allowed no bullets to leave, he said.

“We told them we’d keep the ranges closed, and none of the membership has fired on the range since we closed it,” Rice said. “I don’t see a need for (the injunction).”

Representatives from the National Rifle Association are scheduled to visit the club this weekend, he said.

Selectman Tony Vegnani said the issue will be discussed at Tuesday’s selectmen meeting, but no decision about seeking an injunction has been made.

Norton said neighbors are frustrated by selectmen’s response to what they believe is a town-wide safety issue.

While the majority of the bullets have hit homes in Heritage Trail, a cul-de-sac located a half-mile through the woods from the club, there have been errant bullets in other neighborhoods as well, he said.

Norton said their request, through the state public records law, for other incidents logged with the Scituate Police Department showed at least one other instance of a stray bullet hitting a nearby home.

The 2006 police report said the bullet, found at a home on Booth Hill Road, was traced to the Scituate Rod and Gun Club, he said.

“We’ve suffered the brunt of it, but this is a town issue,” said Norton. “It’s time for the selectmen to step up and recognize this as a serious public safety issue.”

Selectmen have held meetings with neighbors and gun club members about the issue, resulting in the deal to cease fire until safety measures are reviewed.
 
Her panties are in a twist because the club honored it's agreement not to use it's outdoor range except for skeet, and held a gun safety class at the indoor range, which, I'm assuming, has... walls?

Ok.
 
Now I have only been there once, but I dont believe they have an indoor range. They have an outdoor Rifle range, skeet that actually shoots across the rifle range, and a pistol range. All outdoor. I dont know why it is that they have so many issues though.
 
Why are so many rounds leaving that range?

My thoughts exactly.

And why in so many directions. I can understand the trail area on the back side of the berm, but now they bring up the cul de sac as well.

Sounds like they have lost control of their members.[thinking]
 
????????????????

are the bullets actually coming from the club.remember Attleboro had that problem and the bullets were farmed from the bearm and some had never been fired.are they all 9 mms.I would not put it past them to fire in to their own houses.sell the club to a bunch from Roxbury.[laugh2] [laugh]
 
Why are so many rounds leaving that range?

I left the club years ago, but at the time the clubhouse had metal all over the doors and windows and had clearly been shot a number times (from the outside and the inside). At the time there were also issues with alcohol. I now some current members on NES so maybe they chime and stick up for their club. But, my impression (again a number of years ago) was that the club was dominated by know-it-all Fudds who where obsessed with enforcing bizarre, arbitrary rules on others, while failing to observe basic safety rules themselves.

Once when I was there a guy pointed his pistol at me and my Dad a few times (on the line), this was not unusual so we left right away, but not before threatening to report the guy to range officer. His response: "I am the range officer." I also remember a time when a guy screamed at me for not removing the bolt from my .22 while transporting it. When I asked another member what his problem was (aside from being drunk) I was told that he was just pissed off because he had accidentally shot a cow last week while hunting and had to pay for it.
 
I've read this thread and I just want to say thanks to Chuck Would for sticking up for us down here. The incident took place at a controlled "pin shoot". We have a no sky set up and 20+ft berms. Thats why it may have come from the 50 yard range. Its the only way but may not have come from the range at all. Get it Terra? If not pm me and I will explain it to you. The investigation seemed to stop when the neighbor found the bullet and called police back to the scene. Thats right the police left and then returned to the home when the homeowner found the bullet. Top notch police work.

Anyway court date is set for 1/29 for a TRO. Neighbors tried to talk the town into filing and they said no way now they are going at it themselves.

G thanks for sticking up for us guys.

Mass diver, That is the range of old you remember. I have been a member for four years and have seen nothing of the sort. I have heard the same stories in the past but not for quite a while. Then again how can anyone take you serious if you shop at Hunters Trading post and like it. [horse] [slap]
 
I've also shot at numerous CAS matches there. They were always conducted with safety as a prime concern. I have no first hand knowledge of this incident but I find it suspicious that a 9 mm round ( I believe thats what it was) could travel off those ranges through the woods without hitting something else first.
If the club did anything wrong it might have been to agree too early that the round came from the club.
 
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