Bucks County Fish and Game Association, Inc. OC Unfriendly!!!

[Steve_NEPhila]

I was considering joining the Bucks County Fish and Game Association. Performing the due diligence necessary I started reading their rules, and there it was on the first page under safety:

Rule 1.3
"Worn sidearms must comply with State Laws with the exception that open carry of side arms is prohibited."

Here is the link:
http://www.bcfg.org/General_Rules2010.pdf

This was on the first page mind you, which prevented me from wasting my time further. To analyze their rule it shows that they understand that open carry is legal, yet they have made a provision in their rules to specifically prohibit open carry! I see no logical reason to prohibit such a practice.

This prohibition of open carry falls under the "Safety" section of their rules. Here is their preamble to the safety regulations:

"Safety is of the utmost importance in the use of the facilities and ranges of the Bucks County Fish and Game Association, Inc. These rules have been developed to ensure safety of those individuals who use or frequent this facility and the community at large. Violation of these rules shall be sufficient cause for disciplinary action as determined by the Board of Governors, including suspension, loss of membership and/or arrest and prosecution. Remember all members are responsible for safety. Violations of safety and range rules must be reported to the Board of Governors."

I am compelled to comment on the above bold section regarding arrest and prosecution. As far as I know no private club in this Commonwealth has their own police force or prosecutorial authority. This bold statement reeks of legalism and club heavy handedness. This smacks of an attitude that I want no part of as a freedom loving American.

The prohibition of open carry at a range facility bothers me quite a bit. I do not OC on a very regular basis. However, I do OC to and from my favorite local range (Classic Pistol). When traveling to and from CP and while shooting I usually open carry my favorite revolver and do not shoot it or handle it in any way as it is on defense duty. This move to prohibit Open Carry at a range complex specifically in contravention of statute endangers the participants. Furthermore, the perceived permission of concealed carry at the range while strictly prohibiting open carry shows that this rule has nothing to do with safety and is all about image. After all, those OC'ers ruin it for everyone.

In short, the Buck County Fish and Game Association strictly prohibits the open carry of a firearm even though they understand that it is perfectly legal. At the same time, they permit the concealed carry of firearms while using the range facilities which clearly shows that this is not a concern about safety. For this they will be taken to task. Included in this thread is the letter I am sending them as a fellow hunter and shooter and prospective member, their responses will be posted here for all to see.

[Steve_NEPhila]

Here is the email I sent them today. The following email was sent to:
info@bcfg.org
membership@bcfg.org

The letter:

Dear Sirs,

I am a prospective member, archer, rifle, handgun and shotgun shooter and a hunter in Pennsylvania. I read your club rules and was struck by something that I have a bit of a problem with and would like to have some clarification on. Your club explicitly prohibits the open carry of firearms while on club property, why?

It appears from your rules, section 1.3 that the following is in place:
“Worn sidearms must comply with State Laws with the exception that open carry of side arms is prohibited.”

Please clarify if concealed weapons are permitted. Please clarify why rule 1.3 is listed under the “Safety” section as it appears to permit the carrying of concealed weapons yet the prohibition of openly carried weapons. Please clarify that the club understands that the open carry of firearms in Pennsylvania is legal. Any additional explanations or reasoning to prohibit the open carry of firearms at a range facility would be helpful for me to understand. Thank you in advance for your time and attention to this matter.


Regards,
Steve (last name redacted for this forum)

[falcn]

Good luck with this. Many clubs have this prohibition.

[DonM55]

Although I don't agree with it, it's their club their rules. Clearly the members don't have a problem or they would change the rules.

[bac0nfat]

They also have a rule that you can't shoot FMJ at the pistol range. For that reason I can't/wont shoot there.

EDIT: I just skimmed over the linked rules PDF; it looks like they removed that rule. I was blown away when I was considering joining there and then found out I couldn't shoot FMJ.

[P7hk9]

Sounds like another gun club that doesn't really support the 2nd Amendment. Bullshit rules like that are why I joined Topton Fish & Game. I've OCd my G19 every time I've been there, and there has never been anything said about it.

No mag limits. No carry restrictions. Only thing I don't like is paper targets only, but I can live with that.

[ViperGTS19801]

Yeah, I was going to say, to prohibit FMJ rounds for shooting is almost as bad as prohibiting OC - what are you supposed to do, buy 500 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense and send them downrange?

[ThomasJ]

This prohibition of open carry falls under the "Safety" section of their rules. Here is their preamble to the safety regulations:

"Safety is of the utmost importance in the use of the facilities and ranges of the Bucks County Fish and Game Association, Inc. These rules have been developed to ensure safety of those individuals who use or frequent this facility and the community at large. Violation of these rules shall be sufficient cause for disciplinary action as determined by the Board of Governors, including suspension, loss of membership and/or arrest and prosecution. Remember all members are responsible for safety. Violations of safety and range rules must be reported to the Board of Governors."

I am compelled to comment on the above bold section regarding arrest and prosecution. As far as I know no private club in this Commonwealth has their own police force or prosecutorial authority. This bold statement reeks of legalism and club heavy handedness. This smacks of an attitude that I want no part of as a freedom loving American.

To be fair, I believe they are talking in general about their safety rules and everything they may cover, and not about open carry specifically. While open carry may result in suspension or loss of membership, it wouldn't necessarily result in arrest or prosecution as other safety violations might. It does say "including," and "and/or," not "all of the following."

[twoeggsup]

Good luck with this. Many clubs have this prohibition.

^^^^^^^^^ this.

Perhaps it's hard to believe but there are many out there that may very well support your right to OC but that doesn't mean they support OC or CC in their playground.

Gun clubs in general are composed of many 'levels' of 2A supporters. Unfortunately that includes those who have their trap gun or hunting rifle and since that is as far as the 2A applies to them they are incapable of thinking outside of that box unless they personally know or can vouch for someone's handling of firearms. In fact, many of these members may be old farts who may very well pre-date common legal CC in PA.

To an old fart like me, it wasn't that long ago when the only people who could legally CC in PA were off duty LEOs or people who had a police chief as a neighbor. Nobody (or few) really knew about OC.

Unfortunately, as wrong as it may be... one only has to look back to firearm accident statistics to their height in the 1930s to realize that although we have come a long way it will take a whole lot longer to convince some of these people.

Their prejudices against others with firearms unfortunately are often reinforced any time they take a trip to a SGL range and watch the stupid among us prove, that stupid knows no bounds.

[dgg9]

Good luck with this. Many clubs have this prohibition.

Yeah, actually BCF&G is among the better clubs in this regard. Some others in the Philly metro region flat out prohibit ANY carry, CC or OC, on premises. On GUN RANGE premises...oy.

Still others have super-Fudd rules about number of rounds in the mag at one time, etc.

All in all, you could do far worse than BCF&G, regionally.