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Shirley Rod & Gun Club
- Thread starter rwl1955
- Start date
It's probably none of my business since I'm not a member, but isn't the primary purpose of every gun club to promote the shooting sports? Isn't limiting club membership contrary to this primary purpose?
We can assume most current members will remain current members. A few will get old and pass away. A few might move. A few might choose to not renew for one reason or another. But in general the club membership will remain static. Over time the club will suffer the loss of the introduction of new people with fresh ideas and plenty of energy and initiative. The same old faces, day after day, week after week. The club will be in danger of becoming a FUDD Club. Or it might become a drinking club with a shooting problem (we all know which clubs these are). Or both.
But much more importantly, whole generations of younger people will be denied access to club membership: a place where they can learn to shoot and a place where they can commune with fellow gun owners. Sure, you can say there are other clubs. But I keep hearing of more and more clubs considering restricting membership. If every club did this it would spell the end of gun ownership in America, or at least in Massachusetts.
What is the reason for restricting club membership? I mean, I know some clubs are snobby (not gonna name 'em) and like the idea of being “exclusive,” but I've never heard that about Shirley. Are the club resources truly over-subscribed? Really? And if so, how about extending the ranges, etc.?
We all talk about how happy we are that new people are getting into the shooting sports, but are we willing to open our doors and welcome them into our clubs?
We can assume most current members will remain current members. A few will get old and pass away. A few might move. A few might choose to not renew for one reason or another. But in general the club membership will remain static. Over time the club will suffer the loss of the introduction of new people with fresh ideas and plenty of energy and initiative. The same old faces, day after day, week after week. The club will be in danger of becoming a FUDD Club. Or it might become a drinking club with a shooting problem (we all know which clubs these are). Or both.
But much more importantly, whole generations of younger people will be denied access to club membership: a place where they can learn to shoot and a place where they can commune with fellow gun owners. Sure, you can say there are other clubs. But I keep hearing of more and more clubs considering restricting membership. If every club did this it would spell the end of gun ownership in America, or at least in Massachusetts.
What is the reason for restricting club membership? I mean, I know some clubs are snobby (not gonna name 'em) and like the idea of being “exclusive,” but I've never heard that about Shirley. Are the club resources truly over-subscribed? Really? And if so, how about extending the ranges, etc.?
We all talk about how happy we are that new people are getting into the shooting sports, but are we willing to open our doors and welcome them into our clubs?
DemonChronicles
NES Member
Clubs limit membership due to insurance purposes if I am not mistaken.
You mean a person's annual dues don't cover the incremental insurance incurred by their membership? Surely that can be taken care of. Charge a few extra dollars per year. Or are you saying the insurers charge more for a greater density?
DemonChronicles
NES Member
It's not like there's long lines to join the small clubs in this area (Shirley, Ayer, etc.).
Agreed. I'm not trying to rag on Shirley. I know some of the folks there and they're all good people. I just have concerns with gun clubs in general limiting membership.
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Do you want overcrowding at the ranges? If you have more members than the ranges can handle you will have pissed off shooters.
DemonChronicles
NES Member
BTW, shot there for the first time ever (and I grew up here) with EddieCoyle last week. Thinking about joining myself, nice to have options.
I was a member there a few years ago, liked it just fine. I'm not a member now because I never received anything about my membership expiration and renewing. And no, I didn't do anything that'd warrant them not wanting me to renew![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
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Again, not ragging on Shirley.
As for range over crowding, I hear this fear mentioned frequently but never see it. The ranges i see at most clubs I go to are like ghost towns.
The guns classea are packed. New license applications are at record highs. These people need to be welcomed by experienced shooters.
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As for range over crowding, I hear this fear mentioned frequently but never see it. The ranges i see at most clubs I go to are like ghost towns.
The guns classea are packed. New license applications are at record highs. These people need to be welcomed by experienced shooters.
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Some clubs limit membership to keep the ranges from getting over crowded. I dont want to be a member of a club where the firing line is always busy or I'm getting bugged to secure my weapon every 5 minutes because some fudd needs to replace his target down range.
Again, I have never experienced range over crowding.
How about adding lanes to the outdoor range? How about a dividing wall like at riverside or Harvard?
Again, where are all these new shooters going to shoot?
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How about adding lanes to the outdoor range? How about a dividing wall like at riverside or Harvard?
Again, where are all these new shooters going to shoot?
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DemonChronicles
NES Member
All these "new" shooters doesn't always equate to them all joining their local clubs.
There are plenty of ranges in MA for all of these "new" shooters to shoot. I wouldn't worry about it.
This.
Well, I know there are mutterings at Harvard about limiting membership, and we get 30 new members every month. These folks would have to go elsewhere. I think Southborough recently limited membership, too, or will be soon. Which other clubs have recently decided to limit membership?
Again, this seems like a trend, one that won't end well for the 2A in Massachusetts. I think I'll start a new thread.
I get more pissed at people of all ages with ZERO range etiquette. I guess it is just a continuation of the lack of manners in all aspects of society.
I've seen it (at Shirley) and I'm there more than probably anybody.
You (and others) are making some incorrect assumptions. We didn't do it for insurance purposes. We did it because at peak times the ranges get too crowded. We have four lanes on our rifle range, and 5-ish on our pistol range. With a sizable investment, we might be able to add more, but there are other things we need to do first, and squeezing in more on the existing ranges isn't safe. Comparing Shirley to Harvard is like comparing your driveway to the Mass Pike. The 50 yard range at HSC is twice as wide as all the range space at Shirley combined. We don't have room for a lot of shooters. (I bet if you compared feet of range width per member, we're an order of magnitude more 'crowded' than HSC).
Our membership doubled in three years (read that again), so we capped it at 400. Your assumptions on the turnover rate are dead wrong. We reached our cap for the first time in late 2012, and by June 2013 we had almost 100 openings. 25% turnover per year is fairly typical.
As far as promoting the shooting sports goes, we decided that the best way to do that was to not create a more miserable experience for a larger number of members. If and when we expand our range space, we'll look at increasing the membership limit. In the meantime, we have a pretty liberal guest policy, and many members take advantage of it to introduce new people to the shooting sports.
I was a member there a few years ago, liked it just fine. I'm not a member now because I never received anything about my membership expiration and renewing. And no, I didn't do anything that'd warrant them not wanting me to renew
Yeah, we don't mail anything that's not required by the bylaws (too expensive and labor-intensive). All of the renewals are due in March, and we explain all that on our website: Membership Renewals - The Shirley Rod and Gun Club
We might not have had it while you were a member, but now we maintain an email list. In addition to sending out the monthly minutes, we also send event announcements and renewal reminders.
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I've been a member at Shirley Rod and Gun for a few years now. My experience has been that the club is very welcoming to new members and that it has never been a hassle for anyone to join. None of this "invitation only" or "exclusivity" that I hear about at other clubs. Sign up, write your check, done. Need a sponsor? - just ask an officer to sign. Never a hassle. The only time I ever saw anyone impacted was in the first few months of this year. I heard they hit their membership cap and rushed to get a buddy on the "waiting list" so he would have a chance to join earlier than later. I assumed (as "willbdavis" mentioned) that turnover would be slow and slots would be impossible to get going forward. I was thinking he might have to wait a year, what being 5th or so on the waiting list and all. While he waited, I was still able to take my buddy to their range with me because of the liberal guest policy. A couple of months passed while the leadership waited for the "feet draggers" to pony up the cash for membership renewal. We do not hold anyone's hand at Shirley. It is a member's responsibility to remember to renew. Anyway, the deadline came and went and to my surprise everyone on the waiting list was able to join because their were over 100 openings. So much for my concern that getting my friend in would be a problem.
That being said, I do foresee a point in the future where it might take some time and waiting to get into our club. So what? Personally, I would much rather our leadership held the cap and made people wait until a membership slot opened up, than to oversubscribe membership and have people constantly crowding me on the range. How would making our club suck promote people enjoying the shooting sports?
That being said, I do foresee a point in the future where it might take some time and waiting to get into our club. So what? Personally, I would much rather our leadership held the cap and made people wait until a membership slot opened up, than to oversubscribe membership and have people constantly crowding me on the range. How would making our club suck promote people enjoying the shooting sports?
Glad to hear it. The more I learn the better. Again, I wasn't trying to rag on Shirley, or any specific club. My concern, well founded or not, is that new people entering the shooting sports have a place to shoot, preferably with other experienced shooters. This is an opportunity to grow our ranks and help ensure the future of the shooting sports.
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