Surf City’s gun range might limit public’s use

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A city consultant fired off a report this month

that shot holes through plans for an indoor gun range to replace the

outdoor one closed for safety reasons in 1997.

If the city builds an indoor shooting facility on the 17000 block of

Gothard Avenue, Pulse Marketing estimates annual budget deficits will run

between $200,000 and $400,000, the report shows.

“This is going to be a very tough thing to make financially feasible,”

said Ron Hagan, the city’s community services director.

To reduce the risk of losing revenue, the report suggests limiting, if

not eliminating, the number of recreational shooters who can use the

range.

“I think it’s a terrible loss to the city of Huntington Beach,” said

John Lynch, political activities chairman for the local chapter of the

National Rifle Assn. “You’re never going to get the civilian community to

pay for it if you’re not going to let them use it.”

But City Councilman Tom Harman said there’s very little demand for a

gun range open to the general public.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “How many people do you know [who] are running

around looking for a gun range in town?”

The shooting facility could make money as a regional training center

for local law enforcement agencies, which would pay the city for its use,

Hagan said.

With a city gun range, the Huntington Beach Police Department wouldn’t

have to travel far for training, saving about $42,000 annually, the

report notes. The city could also save about $160,000 per year by

building on city land instead of buying private property, such as the

proposed Randall Lumbar site on Gothard, Hagan said.

The prospects for a city gun range depend a great deal on Fountain

Valley, which plans to replace its own aging shooting facility, Hagan

said. City staff will meet with Fountain Valley officials Tuesday to

discuss either building a joint facility or letting one city take over

because two ranges so close together would never survive financially, he

said.

No time has been set for city staff to make a recommendation to the

City Council, he said.

The old outdoor gun range operated from the late 1960s until January

1997, when the council shut down the facility because of safety concerns.

In February 1996, a stray bullet fired by a police officer in training

whizzed through a sliding glass door at a home on Ford Drive. No one was

hurt.

READER QUESTION

SHOOTING GALLERY

What do you think of the city’s plan to possibly limit the public’s use

of the proposed gun range? Leave your thoughts on our Readers Hotline at

965-7175, fax us at 965-7174 or e-mail us at o7 hbindy@earthlink.netf7

. Please include your name and city where you live.