Liberty University to build nation’s first on-campus firing range – “Liberty University is seeking a permit to build an on-campus shooting range, less than a year after the school’s board of trustees also approved a policy that allows students to carry concealed weapons in dorms. According to the proposal, the shooting range would be the first National Rifle Association-approved facility on a U.S. campus. … According to a Liberty student blog, some 350 U.S. universities participate in some kind of sport shooting, and fewer than 30 of those schools own outdoor shooting facilities off campus. Liberty’s gun range will be the first on-campus facility, and will be available to students, faculty, staff and the general public.” Next up on the NRA’s list: Oberlin, Brown and Hampshire College. </sarc>
Doing it with Dan (language NSFW):
Maybe he didn’t realize an Amazon Prime stud finder’s only about $16. Delivered. He could have saved some wear and tear on that 1911.
It’s a good thing Scotland has such inept criminals . . . Prat burglars: Bungling robbers foiled after one accidentally shoots the other with rifle during armed raid – “The court in Edinburgh earlier heard how (Peter) McMurray had struck Mr Badamas (the victim) with a knife during an initial struggle. (Keith) Smith then took a rifle from a bag and fired “an attempted warning shot”. But, he hit his cousin, who ended up needing several operations to remove bullet fragments. A wounded Mr Badamas then managed to bundle the pair out of his home. Smith put the gun back in the holdall, but the rifle went off again as he had forgot to use the safety catch.”
The Year of the Gun: Carry Permit, Sales Figures Explode in 2016 – “As Dr. Lott mentions, this escalation is particularly compelling given the rising number of states that have adopted “permitless” concealed carry laws, with such laws passed recently in Missouri, West Virginia, Mississippi and Idaho. More than six percent of adults in the United States have a permit to carry a concealed weapon; in ten states, more than ten percent of the adult population are concealed carry permit-holders.” But you probably already knew that.
Cleveland man charged in deadly accidental shooting at dinner party ‘extremely sorry,’ attorney says – “(Steven) Leannais hosted (Anthony) Stanford and two other friends for dinner and drinks when the shooting happened, police reports say. One of the other partygoers went into Leannais’ bedroom and grabbed his handgun. The video shows a man waving a gun around. He asks if the video is recording and says: ‘We’re going to walk up to this guy and say ‘we’re going to cap this guy’s ass.” Someone tells the man the gun is loaded and a woman says ‘Don’t point that at me.’ The man points the gun at his face and Leannais grabs the gun and takes out the magazine and gives it back, the video shows.” You know what happened next.
I thought the balloon gun was going to show us how to inflate balloons with a handgun … which would be exceedingly difficult since the HOT exhaust gases would have to melt/burn the balloon every time.
I would think the projectile ripping through the balloon at 1000+ ft/s would be a bigger obstacle to balloon inflation than the temperature of the gases.
Hmm… blank rounds and a realllllly long barrel to cool the gases?
Yes, I was assuming blanks as Mark Anthony stated.
Georgia Southern University has a range on campus. http://recreation.georgiasouthern.edu/ssec/
And when I first started at the University of Florida there was a rifle range in the middle of campus. Nowadays it’s the site of the “new” physics building which was built like 20 years ago.
A lot of universities do, and in fact, mine does as well, converting the National Guard “armory” into an indoor range (though it’s .22LR only, sadly). I think the only noteworthy feature is that the space is “NRA-approved”. That said, I could really go for a centerfire range nearby.
The opening line in the article did not mention “NRA approved”. I would venture to say that every single campus that has an ROTC program has a range.
As a former AF ROTC instructor I would say that is partly true. From talking with the Army ROTC guys it is standard for them to have a range at their detachments along with an armory.
Some of those ranges are very old and have been condemned so whether they are there or not they are unusable. For example, this was the case for the range at KSU when I was a cadet there from 2001-2003.
Because the Army has the most ROTC detachments and you are unlikely to find a Navy/MC or AF detachment at a university without an accompanying Army det their armory and range is used by the other programs when and if weapons and live fire is required. As I recall at my university the Marines maintained a small number of rifles and we, the AF, had our student organization maintain a handful of pistols in the Army armory but neither program had enough of either that we did not have to borrow from the Army if we wanted to do anything larger than a dozen students.
All that being said yes there was a range on campus. Yes the university 3-Gun team (made up entirely of ROTC cadets) used the range for practice. No it was not the universities range. It was paid for and maintained out of the Army ROTC budget and the only reason the “university” shooting team got to use it was hecause everyone on the team was also a military cadet.
If that ever changed to a majority of the team being non-ROTC their access to the range would be curtailed. So an ROTC range != a university range.
That’s all real fine, but the claim was not the oldest range on campus the claim was the “first”! In 1960 (that is 57 years ago, just BTW) I took a shooting class with target .22s on a range within the football stadium of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, VA. The range may not still exist, may not be active, may not be safe, but the structure housing it is still there, looks unchanged.
Rereading, it looks possible the article is attempting to claim a first *outdoor* range, which I personally could not argue with.
When I attended Columbia University at 116th St and Broadway in Manhattan in the early 70’s there was a 25 yard rifle range (.22 rimfire only) in the basement of the student union. We even had a rifle team. I shot with them on occasion.
That building was replaced about 15 years ago so I don’t know if there is one now. I haven’t set foot in NYC for a long time.
When I first saw the headline about Scotland’s inept criminal class, I assumed the linked article was about their parliament.
Avid Reader for the win!
Liberty tends to call all of it property “on-campus” regardless of the lands’ usage. This range will be about six miles away from where the students take class. The range will be separated by a mountain and really thick woods. I wanted to go to the meeting since I live in Campbell County; however, I had to work.
A range up on near Camp Hydaway is better than putting something like that in the basement of any of the new buildings being put on campus. Lynchburg is in need of a good outdoor range that doesn’t require a membership (i.e. Bedford or what was Red6 tactical). The current 25 yrd indoor range can only provide so much entertainment or training. And let’s be honest, most of Lynchburg qualifies as LU’s campus. Either way I am looking forward to it.
“And let’s be honest, most of Lynchburg qualifies as LU’s campus.”
Truth. Lynchburg needs a thousand yard range, one hundred yard “tactical” range, several wide stalls for individual practice. I hate that there is no place for me to practice with a holster. That is just ridiculous.
Yeahhh there’s more than a few on-campus shooting ranges, including on a main campus and not some satellite.
Whoever called this the nation’s first didn’t do any research.
“…first National Rifle Association-approved facility on a U.S. campus.”
They didn’t say it was the first range on a college campus. The NRA part is the bit that’s first.
Yes they did say it was the first range on any campus. The first line, “Liberty University to build nation’s first on-campus firing range”
Just because they qualify that statement later in the article doesn’t mean the first statement was less false.
There’s only so much room for a headline. Otherwise, the entire story would be in the headline.
Bullshit. You can’t write a true headline for that story?
Never live stream anything. That’s just common sense.
Mr. Leannais gets my vote for the Stupid Person of the Year Award.
Dead ringer for Billy Zane.
Exactly what I was thinking!
Also, based on the above description of the video, I assumed the magazine was removed, but the chamber was not emptied, which would’ve been the cause of the accidental shooting… but the video shows him remove the magazine AND rack the slide a few times, so I’m not buying that he later just happened to pick the gun back up, not knowing that a round was in the chamber, and “accidentally” shot the guy. At some point, the magazine was put back in and a round was chambered.
“Never live stream anything. That’s just common sense.”
Funny. I thought “live stream” used to be called “life.”
“Someone tells the man the gun is loaded and a woman says ‘Don’t point that at me.’ The man points the gun at his face and Leannais grabs the gun and takes out the magazine and gives it back, the video shows.” You know what happened next.”
Yes, we most certainly can guess what happens next.
That’s why I don’t have (much of) a problem with requiring demonstrating safe gun handling for concealed carry…
What the hell happened to the edit function again?
After not working for *months*, it finally returns for a few weeks before disappearing *AGAIN*.
A pain in the azz on my phone with that awful Brownells pop-up. I rarely get to use the ‘puter with my sons both in college. Gotta’ pay the bills I guess…
Except that is not what happened. #FakeNews.
Watch the video. He takes the gun, drops the “clip”, racks the slide multiple times, points the gun in a “safe” direction and pulls the trigger. Then he hands the verified unloaded gun back to the idiot. At some point, someone loaded the gun. Too bad the idiot didn’t blow his head off instead of killing the black dude.
Yup, I watched the video, too. The gun is clearly empty once the owner takes it away from the dumb@ss, drops the mag, & racks the slide. At some point someone reloaded it. Seems unlikely that this is actually an accidental shooting. Stupid gun owner, stupid people, no question. But accidental? There’s the question.
Why blame the gun owner unless he was the trigger man? He showed some responsibility when he unloaded the gun. Looked like he knew what he was doing. I’d say his biggest mistake was having an idiot over for dinner. But that shouldn’t be a crime.
Because he was the trigger man. Did you not read the article?
Obviously I did not read it since the part I did read did not match the facts of the video.
Liberty…is aply named! Yeah this story is odd. My doppleganger (same rare name) ran a shooting range at a university. Whatever-it’s great?
You should read Liberty’s student honor code:
“Sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman are
not permissible at Liberty University”
“Media or entertainment that is offensive to Liberty’s standards and traditions (i.e., lewd lyrics, anti-Christian
message, sexual content, nudity, pornography, etc.) is not permitted”
Attendance at a dance is an offense that is penalized with points and a fine (page 12)
Failure to properly identify oneself, 12 points and a $250 fine.
Possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages, 30 points and a $500 fine plus 30 hours of community service
But, hey, GUNS! Those rules scream of Liberty.
“Where the SPIRIT of the LORD is there is liberty”…pretty sure that’s where they got that nom de plume. Don’t go there if you’re a heathen.
There are plenty of Christians who don’t consider having a drink or going dancing the mark of a heathen. Liberty is free to believe and practice what they want, but they do believe in a more restrictive lifestyle than many.
So attend a heathen university, the attitude expressed here demonstrates an organization so filled with rumor, superstition, and magic that I wouldn’t believe a thing they taught, anyhow. It must be observed, however, that in the early ’60s, essentially all those prohibitions were by society at large, imposed upon everyone just as ineffectively as Liberty no doubt imposes them now. I don’t know what not identifying yourself even means, or wtf a point is, and I’ve never had an inclination to have sex with other than a woman. There was effectively no such thing as porn, other than loops, until closer to 1970, so I could not access that heathenness until later. Which I certainly did! All the other horrid behaviors listed, I participated in most enthusiastically just as soon as I got the opportunity, as often as I could manage, and I have been rewarded most generously for my heathen beliefs ever since.
I am an graduate of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. In the basement of what is known as the “mini-dome” on campus, there is a 25 yard indoor firing range. As of about 8 years ago, a marksmanship class was offered that counted as a physical education class; Anschütz .22 LR rifles were used by students in the class, along with several Colt, Ruger, and Beretta .22 LR pistols. I have no idea if it is an NRA approved range, but the university, at one time, had a collegiate rifle team that competed and did quite well.
The worst part of that Cleveland guy is that Ohio requires a class for a CCW, IIRC. So it wasn’t just ignorance. He explicitly ignored the training that he was given. *Picard/Riker facepalm*
It is nice to see a school not afraid of being associated with the NRA. And this is a new range! How old are the ranges at the other schools?
Where any of those older gun ranges ever up dated? I don’t it.
Good for Liberty University. A secular school would never do this.
There are plenty of campuses that have indoor ranges. Penn State has one and has had one for decades. MIT even has one. A little bit of searching and you’ll find many more. Truly, it’s an underground scene as these ranges tend to be in the basements of campus buildings.
Yale, University of the Sciences Philly, University of Akron, Clemson, Harrisburg Community College, and Temple are some more colleges and universities that own and operating working shooting ranges.
Youngstown State University in Ohio has had an active on-campus indoor shooting range for decades. It is currently in use, and the university even offers marksmanship classes still. The marksmanship classes fill up instantly every semester. However, the range is not open to anybody for recreational use.
FWIIW – I don’t know if Penn State still had it when Nick attended, and whether there still is one, but while I was at their main campus from ’79 to 81, PSU had two indoor ranges for .22 rimfire. I took a Phys Ed class called “Hunter Safety” where we shot .22 bolt action rifles in a range located behind a pair of bowling alleys. Believe it or not, we would grab a handful of ammo at the beginning of class with no one checking if we used all of them or if possibly, we used them on the weekend at the nearby state game lands shooting range. That indoor range area was revamped a decade or so ago to make a world class facility for the wrestling team and other sports, but another reason to wax nostalgic about “the good ole days”.
Hillsdale College in Michigan has Shotgun, Archery, and Pistol/Rifle bays in their shooting range. They also have basic shooting classes as part of the curriculum.
Southwest Tech in Wisconsin also has ranges, with classes as part of its curriculum.
The only question here is what qualifies as part of ‘campus’ – Hillsdale’s complex is a few miles out (they didn’t have enough land) but Southwest Tech’s main campus is less than half a mile away (and the shooting complex is considered a part of campus, as there are classrooms). Less than half a mile is nothing, my two schools were well over half a mile wide.
Every university should be required to have a range for the training of their students, who are part of the militia, or not get federal funds.