Nemo Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 (edited) I don't know when the decision was made, although I've been hearing about the possibility for the 5 years that I've lived in Jax, but on Friday night I got the call... The board of directors of the Gateway Rifle & Pistol decided that USPSA competition was no longer welcomed in their range facilities after I don't know how many years of hosting the matches of the South East Practical Shooters Association (SEPSA). From what I know, it's always been one of those situations where old range geezers couldn't comprehend how was it possible for our sport to be safe when we ran with our guns and shot TOO fast. Maybe some board members gave it a shot and when got their respective asses handed to them by a D-class junior girl decided they had to get rid of this discipline where they were embarrased. SHOOTERS VS. SHOOTERS GUN OWNERS VS. GUN OWNERS More Zumbos are alive and well here in Jacksonville, my friends, and now the "terrorist rifle" is the sport I love; the one that gives me super quality time with my teenage sons. These so-called sportsmen have attacked it and wounded it bad. We'll get through this. SEPSA is in good hands. I'm sure they are already looking for alternatives. But our enemies will remain in their microcosmos of power, standing on top of their berms and yelling into the wind "We have finally kicked them out!" like they have done the world a great service. Poor small retrograde minds... they don't know they are the second worst enemy of our right to keep and bear arms. My letter to Fred Gatlin, president of the Gateway's BOD will be in the mail no-later-than tomorrow with courtesy copy to the NRA. If you have a minute and want to put your $0.02 into the issue, feel free to drop them a line. Edited February 17, 2008 by Nemo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scirocco38s Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Well, just another in a long list of reasons to not move back to Jacksonville. I remember the last 2 A6 matches there and it was a question even then. The club I belong to up in NC wouldnt allow it if it wasnt for the fact that we bring in more money to the club than all the other competitions combined(and that includes shotgun sports). Some people never learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00bullitt Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Unfortunately you're not alone down there. We've got those same sort of fuds up here. Just about every club we shoot at seems to have some sort of opposition to the IPSC crowd. They seem to think we are the unsafe ones. The only club that has banned IPSC and IDPA matches is the small one I am a member of. Hopefully we will have no more and some of those old geezers will die off. Lets take their license to drive away and see how they like that. They are the dangerous ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckbradley Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 That happened with a club up here but many of the IPSC shooters filtered their way into the club and onto the board. They got many others to join. Then they made their move and bascially moved back in. All the old guys who kicked IPSC out left and now IPSC controls the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtr Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 It boggles my mind that certain shooters will do this to other types of shooters. We have enough crap to deal with from the leftists and democrats in our country that want to get rid of all guns, this type of infighting just makes the situation worse, and makes it harder to have a unified front against the gun grabbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbadaboom Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I remember Eustis Gun Club doing the same thing a few years back and I've read about a lot of others and in 95% of the cases it's Shotgunners who initiate it. Sorry if this offends anyone but facts are facts and if you don't like it then change it. We are all in this together so when you go after someone elses sport just remember it when the 'Antis' come after yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ap38 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 That's a shame. I remember shooting there in 94 when only 13 people would show up if I brought 3 or 4. Then through good management, the club grew, and new walls were built making more shooting bays. Lots of good memories there. I seem to remember the same battle brewing in the background even then. Maybe USPSA members can filter into the board, as others have said, and have some positive say in the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrmn1 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Sorry to hear that Nemo. Sadly the club I belong to Griffin Gun Club where they hold the Georgia State Steel Challenge match will probably do the same thing to CAS, Steel Challenge, and the sometime monthly IPSC match. With this club the old geezers never wanted anyone else there anyway but couldn't afford to run the club without us. Now they are old, unhappy, grumpy, bitter, old farts that are probably going to end up losing the club in the end and nobody will have a place to shoot because they can't see their noses in front of their faces Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianH Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Unfortunately you're not alone down there. We've got those same sort of fuds up here. Just about every club we shoot at seems to have some sort of opposition to the IPSC crowd. They seem to think we are the unsafe ones. A quick look at YouTube and one can see who's blowing holes in their feet and sending handguns into their head! It ain't IPSC..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwx40x40 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Interesting topic indeed. I thought my club was the only one experiencing this, and yet I see so many other similar postings here. The sad thing is my club, like Tony's club is showing a decline in their beloved socially acceptable shotgun sports. Yet will do nothing to help our growing Action Pistol group in the club. The Practical Shooting group has always been in thier eyes, the rogues in the club. IPSC has already been shut down once in my club a few years ago. But,one of my USPSA brothers has taken it upon himself to get it started again. So an interesting things happens to me this weekend. I am running a Manually Operated Rifle match and one of our members who just happened to come out while we were running it, but did not shoot with us, commented on how well we were running the match. He just so happens to be a Benchrest shooter and orgainizes those events at our club. One thing lead to another and then this hits. " I hear those IPSC A**holes are going to start up at our club again." I responded " Yes that's true ,and I am one of those A**holes". So he got apologetic and then I find out he was basing his opinion a couple of individuals character, but not necessarily there saftey habits. Anyway, even though the club is letting us start back up , we are on our own. No support for us at all. I have thought about trying to get enough interest in the area to start our on Practical Shooting Club, but can't get enough support to get past the finicial barriers, let alone find a suitable piece of property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougCarden Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 It has taken me 7 years to get on the board of my club.......slow process for sure, but it is damn important, as you read above..... Do the time, so you can help steer the club down the road..... Good luck, DougC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maineshootah Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 All the old guys who kicked IPSC out left and now IPSC controls the club. Ahh.. the crux of the conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdstihl Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 What does it take to set up a decent shooting range for action shooting? At the average IPSC or IDPA match, on average how many shooters show up? I'm chewing on a little idea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 As I've posted before, we lost an IPSC match around here due to the pretty much the same thing. These people will never learn. You almost wish that some politician introduced a law to ban bullseye and trap/skeet guns only, just to get the point across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxshooter Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 While Doug's post makes a good point it does not and cannot work at Gateway. I was elected to the BOD as Treasurer. At that time the club could not account for about fifty thousand dollars. I made a motion at the annual club meeting to have the club audited by an independent CPA firm. The motion was seconded and passed. At the first board meeting of the year I was informed by the old guard that there would be no audit as they did not have to do what the membership voted for. They said that was only a guideline. I immediately wrote the board my letter of resignation citing the legal ramifications of thier decision as well as thier lack of honor as people intrusted to run the club. I was not going to be the scapegoat for the missing funds either. This club is controlled by about 14 people who sit on the board and swap back and forth to comply with the by-laws as to term lengths. The work done at the club is done without bids, without cost caps, without permits etc by this group also. Thier arrogant attitude that they can do what they want to, when they want to may be on the brink of haunting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Guy Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 ... some of those old geezers will die off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L9X25 Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I remember Eustis Gun Club doing the same thing a few years back and I've read about a lot of others and in 95% of the cases it's Shotgunners who initiate it. Sorry if this offends anyone but facts are facts and if you don't like it then change it. We are all in this together so when you go after someone elses sport just remember it when the 'Antis' come after yours. Daniel, Look a little farther South and you may recall the Dade City Rod and Gun Club. They had a "super secret" board meeting late on a Saturday night and decided to toss us off the range. There was a USPSA match scheduled for following Sunday morning and we all arrived to a locked gate with a message attached telling us we had been voted off and that we should all leave. The "old NRA guard" controlled that range too, and the "good ole boy" network would not let us on the board. They only used us to pay off the property and all of the debts that they had accumulated over the years and then they did not want or need us anymore. One more sad chapter of gun owner vs gun owner. Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revchuck Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 You almost wish that some politician introduced a law to ban bullseye and trap/skeet guns only, just to get the point across. Dave - IIRC, this happened in California, where some trap and skeet shotguns, as well as Olympic Rapid Fire pistols, were classified as "assault weapons". The state government's reply to protests was, "Tough. Move out of CA if you don't like it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Sorry to hear it, Nemo. Gun owners really don't need anti-gun enemies---we tend to destroy ourselves fine without them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I will take this moment to thank those guys that started, and restarted and restarted our club. Here what we have dealt with is rapid expansion of development. What was once our range has been repeatedly annexed by development. For now we have a good stable place, but that could change. I have been in your predicament so to speak and wish you all the very best. Luckily it has always been the practical and tactical guys along with steel challenge and cowboy action who have ruled our roost. Our meetings are held in the open and they tell you what we have in the bank and what it's for ad nauseum. I guess I'll be more appreciative when they go over the figures at the next club meeting, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentlemanJim Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 This is just a small piece of the iceberg It seems that half the whole country...has turned to communism and fascism. The spirits that roam Omaha and Utah beach....would not be pleased. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 The absolute worst anti gun people I have even encountered were at gun clubs. Fools, period. Take control or be controled is the only solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johann the Horrible Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 It is so sad that we fight on behalf of the "Anti`s". They mean to get all guns, also the smart over and under`s of the shotgun crowd. Here in SA it is the Hunters and the Collectors that screw each other. The result stays the same- we loose our guns. Would it be possible to approach the NRA with you guys to intervene on your behalf? Here in SA we have SAGA and they seem to try and pull all firearm owners together so that we all play in the same team. Still it is so sad that we as shooters cannot or will not work together for the greater good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caspian guy Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Damn... I ROed my first Area match down there the second year that SEPSA ran the Area 6 match. I hate it when bad things happen to happen to good people. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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