Revisiting shooting range the right call for everyone

When it was first announced that Wasilla was considering building an outdoor shooting range on the grounds of the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, some neighbors in the area were upset. Some said they didn’t have enough notice about the plan. Other people feel it is not a great idea to have weapons going off while people are coming and going from the popular arena.

Now, the city council appears to be poised to give the shooting range more public input. And there may even be a chance the range could be moved to another location.

There’s no reason Wasilla shouldn’t have a shooting range, but because of the noise and the perceived danger, a discussion in the open air should be a requirement.

Obviously, there will be naysayers wherever the range is built, but by allowing members of the community to have their say and offer suggestions will go a long way in the public relations department and toward getting residents’ approval.

There are some legitimate concerns.

• The noise of large-caliber weapons being fired in a city is one most people can agree on. The city, to its credit, has hired a firm to study the proposed range and its design to mitigate the noise.

• The hours of operation also has to be addressed. Nobody wants to hear rifle fire into the night or early in the morning.

• Liability issues should also be addressed. Age limits for one. It wasn’t that long ago a child Outside was killed when his father was trying to teach him to fire a machine gun.

• A long way down the road there may be concern about lead leeching into a water. That happened at a shooting range in Colorado and it became an environmental nightmare.

These are topics, among many, that need to be addressed by the city so residents can be certain all the details have been worked out and they can be assured the range is safe, quiet as possible and environmentally sound.

When that’s accomplished, build it. Responsible gun owners will make sure everything is on the up and up, because a shooting range can be closed a lot easier than it is to build one. And that’s exactly what should happen if the range turns into a mini Jim Creek.