7/28/12
The Legislature passed and the Governor signed a law this year requiring publicly owned shooting ranges to be opened for youth gun safety training. This is the training required for young people to get a hunting license.
Chief Litsey of South Lake PD has been staunchly against making the SLMPD's indoor range (You did know there's a range in the PD building on Cty 19, didn't you?) open to other than his officers. In the past he's refused to make it available to conceal and carry classes, etc. citing all kinds of reasons.
The Insider recalls the original Planning Commission meetings that discussed the construction of the public safety building and that the shooting range was listed as a facility to be open to the public. Some Commissioners may still hold the opinion that they approved the building plans, in part, because of the open range feature. Yet, once the building was operational, the open range concept was ditched.
Plymouth also has a police range. Interestingly, two weeks ago, the city announced they were closing it just as the new law was to go into effect. The police chief sited lots of reasons including safety and mold for the closure implying the timing of the closure was just a conicidence.
The Insider wonders if Chief Litsey and the SLMPD Coordinating Committee to which he reports (the mayors) will also find reasons to suddenly close the SLMPD range. It would be consistent with past behavior.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
What were they thinking when they built that thing? Woody, want to jump in here? The building has a tactical weapons room, a decontamination chamber, a gymnasium, three holding cells, two indoor kennels with dog-walks, etc, etc. There is so much garage space that it could easily serve as a parking facility for downtown Excelsior if shuttle buses were provided. It is also a secure facility, to protect it against civilian attacks.
ReplyDeleteThe mayors then, and now, have never denied Litsey of what he wants, including this $250K+ firing range. So, my guess is the mayors will turn a blind eye, Litsey won't open up the range, and things will remain as is, because who's gonna challenge it?
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