Chantry Stermer and Hailey Vigil practice at the Los Alamos Sportsmen’s Club bunker trap range. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com
BY STEVE MCKELVEY, President
THOMAS TURNER, Vice-President
KHAL SPENCER, PR Director
Los Alamos Sportsmen’s Club
By Steve McKelvey, Thomas Turner, and Khal Spencer
(President, Vice-President, and PR Director, respectively, Los Alamos Sportsmen’s Club)
Have you recently purchased a firearm or archery equipment? Have you had some of that stuff for eons, perhaps passed along by a relative but you never tried it out? Are you just curious about the use of firearms or archery equipment? Perhaps you are a novice gun owner and shooter. Well, the Los Alamos Sportsmen’s Club Open Range Day is just for you!
On Open Range Day, held once a year, the range is open to the public rather than solely to members. It will be held on September 26, 2020 during the hours of 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. This includes the pistol, shotgun, and archery ranges. If you do not have ammunition for a firearm, some common calibers of ammunition may be purchased.
We realize and are concerned that due to recent circumstances and events, and based on media reports of high numbers of Federal background checks being done across the country (not to mention, the bare shelves in many gun shops) it appears that a considerable numbers of people have purchased firearms for the first time and may not yet be fully familiar with their safe operation and storage requirements. As a public service, we are offering a day where folks can bring their own firearms or use ours to learn safe handling, shooting, and thereby become familiar with the operation and proper cleaning and storage of your firearms, under the supervision of a certified NRA instructor. In addition, we offer certified basic rifle, pistol, and shotgun courses and archery throughout the year.
We will rigorously practice social distancing and the NM State Health Dept rules for the Covid-19 pandemic. Don’t forget your masks and keep in mind that in addition to normal gun range safety concerns, COVID concerns and related safety requirements will be enforced.
.All of our Shooting Instructors and Range Safety Officers (RSO) are NRA certified. For those interested, we also have specialized instructors for shooting fully automatic firearms as a “machine gun shoot” is part of Range Day. Normally the vendors charge a fee to shoot their ammunition through their fully automatic weapons.
The fee for attendance is $10. The range is located north of Barranca Mesa on Rendija Canyon Road. There will be assistance in parking vehicles.
Hopefully, we will see you there!
Details: Please arrive at the main clubhouse entrance. Make sure your guns are cased and unloaded. Let the RSO presiding check your firearm for safety. If you have them available, please bring your own safety glasses and hearing protection. We have some available.
The club’s website can be found at http://www.la-sc.org .