$1100 fine for fake SGL range permit

[QuackXP]

I get why they started to charge for a range permit. I've read multiple times that the firearms industry is growing in the self defense sector where as the hunting sector is stagnant or declining. There are way more non hunter shooters out there than there where before.

They guy tried to cheat the system and got caught. Sucks for him.

SGL ranges where mostly funded from hunting permits so for a while those shooters that where not hunters got a free ride. Now they pay into the system as the hunters do.

Depending on where you live and what kind of SGL range is near you $30 could be a bargain or you could defiantly be better off joining a private club.

I pay $75 a year at my club for my spouse and myself. At the SGL I could get away with 1 $30 permit as my spouse only comes with me so she could be my guest at the SGL.

The SGL range near me is a 15 minute drive where as the club I belong to is a 40 minute drive. it's still worth it for me to goto the club for the expanded facilities and safety factor, although the SGL ranges have gotten better.

Last year I even got a SGL permit in addition to my club membership thinking I might go more often after work for a quick shoot. I went once for my $30.

[Svickstc]

I think its more of a feel good safety measure for them, as a number of private clubs also have this silly 3 bullet rule.

well that private club would not get a a dime of my money or membership....

[johnnyishootstuff]

Pittman-Roberston act. 11% tax on guns and ammo. Goes through the feds, back to the state agencies. One of the things listed for uses of monies from that act is creating and maintaining ranges.

I would encourage you to visit the trashed ranges in eastern PA. They're full of questionable people from NJ and NY who like to shoot up everything - trashcans, roofs, posts, shooting benches.

[CartBone69]

well that private club would not get a a dime of my money or membership....

I agree 100% they'd why the club I go to has no such rule.

[LifeInPa]

I wouldn't pay $30 for these trashed SGL ranges especially when they have redicilous magazines loading limits. If they cleaned them up and did away with the loading limits I would pay $30 easily. I have one right by me and would love to use it when I need to test out a rifle.

[ALS]

I liked using the range out by Star Lake (Burgettstown) until it was closed due to the idiots who were constantly shooting up the wood supports holding the target backing. $30 is a deal for a local range you can pop in anytime you want to shoot. The license/fees will keep a lot of the idiots off the ranges.

[savagemod11]

one club I belong to actually has a one round limit for a rifle enacted due to out of towners shooting everything, and 5 rounds in a pistol. Other range I belong to has no rapid fire rule only. I agree that non hunters fully need to pay into the ranges to use them, and those who break the rules deserve to get taken to the cleaners, only way to keep things like this going. If it was free, you wouldnt even have a place to hunt from the state let alone a range with the way things are anymore. Its just common courtesy. Everything costs money.

[elweasel]

Or you could just buy a hunting license for $20.70 and get to use the ranges. I used to go to one 40 mins away but that was closed due the above mentioned problems with NJ and NY a$$holes. When I would go, I never got fined, but I wasn't doing anything against the rules. All the ranges close to me are over $200 a year and yet I am not bitching about it.
Guess I should just move to Burma. ;-)





The above post is my opinion. Contact a lawyer first. You have been warned

[fortysix]

I do like the SGL, it's cheap, its *hours* coincide with my odd work hours, I don't have to go to any meetings that also do not coincide with my odd work hours, I don't have to go to a place that serves alcohol and bullets in the same building, and I don't have to kiss anyone's ass to become or remain a member.

I don't like the *city folk* or the POS that frequent them. I rarely *see* these people, but the record of their visit is always there. I'd pay an additional 50% for a range officer, even if only on the weekends. A more frequent presence, plus regular enforcement of the rules, plus steep harsh unwavering fines, that's the way to keep those ranges clean and safe. Showing up to shoot and going ankle deep in shotgun husks is ridiculous, especially when the husks are 2 feet from the backstops, and the backstops are nearly gone. A range camera mounted at the entrance for license plates and at the firing line would go a long way as well.

This guy with his fake permit should get triple that fine, just for stupidity. Likely he's the same dickbag that shoots up the backstops and plays with his gun while everyone else is downrange.

[Badpe48]

Because I already pay taxes that go, in part, to fund those crappy ranges. We're not talking nice ranges here. The one's I've been to, before the permits, aren't much more than a gravel pit that's has a sign up calling it a range. Taxes that as a non hunter, I don't get any other direct benefit from. Why should I have to pay another fee, on top of the taxes to use the range, when someone who hunts, and is paying to hunt, doesn't have to pay extra to use the range?

General State taxes DO NOT pay for the Ranges. The upkeep of the Ranges and all other expenses of the Game Commission are paid for by Hunters and Sportsmen thru dedicated fees and Hunting Licenses.