What to do?

[gcollins]

Hi Guys,
I am not sure that this post can be posted here, please delete if need be.

Here is my deal, From the mid 70's untill late 80's my town had a great Gun Club with a AWESOME Skeet and Trap field all of it was auto. We had a 20 year lease that could be redone every 20 years for life! Said thing happen, the property owner went bankrupt in a big way, and as things go I Skeet and Trap field was dead set in the middle of 4-80 acre plots, we had no chioce but to relocate, we spend a lot of money moving and rebuilding, that seemed to kill :shock: what little life that was left, for the last couple of years only a hand full of guys did the work out there. We couldn't pay back our loan that we took out to move, so we sold our machines and the buildings and nothing was left but the pistol range.
We havn't had a Club meeting in 10 years or more:shock: can the club be defunked::shock: We have a young man that is a member and is hot to go with pistol match's ect. He is a license st instructor!
When everything closed down a person could go out there and shoot what ever, What can I do to get the club back and running can I call it defunked and start a new Club???

I would be very much great full for any and all advice.
Greg

[nvbirdman]

If you start a new club I think that would void the twenty year lease.
Have any payments been made on that lease in the last ten years?
Since the property owner went bankrupt, who does the property belong to now?

[wv109323]

Not enough information to advise the best route to go.
Does the club own the land it is now on?
Was there club By-laws?
Where are the last officers?
Are there any outstanding debt that the old club owes? (lease, electric)
Was the old club dissolved?
Was the old club set up thru the state government?
Just guessing here but probably the best route to go is:
Contact all old members with a meeting date.
Have a meeting to nominate officers.
Have the next meeting to elect offficers.
Start Over
Good Luck

[gcollins]

Sorry for not giving enough info.I was and still am the President, the VP has past away, the Sec. owns the local Gun Shop, but he doesn't give a **** about the club any more. The land that the range is on belongs to the city, I myself went and got a new 20 year lease, with a addictional 20 last Nov.. We don't owe anyone, yes we have by laws, but the Sec. has them and most likely won't go out of his way to dig them out for me:-x He is a Big a$$ and allways has been, back when we were shooting every Sunday If I was a owned of a Gun Shop I would of been there every Sunday with Skeet and Trap guns plus ammo and ect. all for sale, but not one time in 10 years did he ever do that!"Was the old club set up thru the state government?" NO.
WV, We are working trying to get a metting set up. We have a really good young man in his early 30's and he has went and got all his state and NRA Lincenes to teach.and he wants to get the Club back up and running! I was just wanting to get a little feed back from you guys so that maybe I could have some direction! There is some friction between myself and the Sec., he is one of the founding fathers of our city:-P:-P like I care, as far as I know, I think we all put our pants on the same way??:smile:
Thanks
Greg

[MtGun44]

How about starting some fun shooting matches? We have been doing IPSC and bowling
pins matches for years at our club. NRA High Power, too. We have done some Swiss rifle matches,
everyone has to have a Swiss rifle, mostly K31s. One member is looking at starting holding
Military sniper matches, based on NRA rules.

How about mil surplus rifle matches? .22 silhouette matches? Might be able to get the
gun shop to spring for some plaques or simple medals to hand out - Especially if they
somehow work in the name of the club to the plaques. "The Bob's Gun Shop .22 Silhouette
Match" trophy or plaque might stroke the owner's ego enough and be written off as
a business expense. Keep the fees low, just enough to cover expenses and give some
nice little trinkets, and you might trigger interest. Start with 4H or Scouts to teach shooting
and hold some BB gun matches to grow the next gen of shooters.

I think the NRA has a budget for the state of KS that supports kids shooting programs, so you
might find some funding for prizes and targets, even loaner rifles from them. Check with the
Kansas State Rifle Association (Pres is Patty Stoneking, she is a real active leader, maybe able
to help with a list of members in your area) on any kind of help.

Bill

[runfiverun]

talk to your city council.
they own the land.
we have the same situation here.
call the nra and ask for thier help,our club gets help from them on occasion,and we hold meetings in town/city hall.
some of our club members/officers are from surrounding towns which really helps diversify things.
you may also want to charge a minimal fee for membership,but keep the range open for non members [a donation box doesn't bring in much money but it reminds those using the range that it isn't thiers]
good luck and keep plugging away.

[DIRT Farmer]

And then there is the Pitman- Robinsion route. Look into getting back some of the tax money you have been paying on guns and ammo. Thee are definate rules that have to be followed, but the grant match can be 100% labor equity. Check with your DNR for info.

[camaro1st]

where in ks are you??

[crabo]

I would check into putting on some of the Ruger 22 matches. They look pretty easy to shoot for new shooters. They aren't intimidating at all.

[canyon-ghost]

Want to start more? Start talking! Take other people shooting, talk to folks about Concealed Handgun Licenses, talk to them about Cowboy Action Shooting, have a silhouette range?

But just for me, when do we shoot? I'm not all that far away. NRA Whittington Center isn't as far as you think, either.

http://www.nrawc.org/ranges/index.html

http://www.professionalmarksmen.com/courses.php

http://www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/development.asp

[Frank46]

Our gun club had 1 year leases for close to 50 years. The land was owned by the railroad. There were a few dump sites on the land and the railroad was looking at deep pockets to fund the cleanup if the gov't wanted them cleaned up. Long story short, railroad cancelled our lease.
The club still collected dues in the few years it took them to find new land. Lost a lot of members
but those that stuck with it now have a great place to shoot rifle out to 300yds, Pistol and shotgun. The wait was well worth it in my opinion. Used to mine the pistol berm during the high power matches. Would love to go back to the old place and do some serious mining. Chances are that will never happen. Frank