WA: Midland and Belmont range 'temporarily closed'?

[moopere]

Hello Folks, I normally shoot in Midland at the Midland Sporting Firearms Association (MSFA) range, they also sponsor my guns.

Last week I was buying some ammo from a local gunshop and in having a casual chat with the guy there he mentioned that 'something' (unknown) has happened and that the MSFA range is closed.

** boggle **

I went along to physically see if this is the case and yes, there is a sign on the security door telling everyone 'closed until further notice'. I've still got to do at least one more shoot this year in order to qualify for firearm license retention and scooting around the web sites of other local clubs and ranges it appears on face value that you have to be a member to shoot at their ranges and membership is a long and drawn out affair - need to undergo the individual clubs training regime and wait 6 months before you can become a full member. So this isn't going to work.

Interestingly and only because they are close, I looked at what I'd have to do to become a member at the 'Lone Ranges Shooting Complex' in Belmont only to find Google reporting this range is also 'Temporarily closed'

Now I'm thinking WTF?

No-one answering the phone at either location I should add.

Anyone got a clue what might be going on? Any inside information?

Should I panic at this stage and go looking for a new club immediately? Whats likely to happen if whatever is going on isn't resolved by JAN 2024 and ... presuming closure of MSFA I'd then lose club sponsorship of my guns?

Yikes!

[Faedy]

Yeah it's all very strange.
In the last few weeks they have gone on a power trip.
Myself and many friends have Been rung/ emailed checking up on us and wanting pics of firearms etc...

[moopere]

Right .. thanks for the feedback. I wasn't aware of this. So, something is 'up' over here that has caused a problem.

I guess there is nothing to be done if the powers-that-be are on the rampage. I'll have to sit tight and keep my head down

[Bazz]

Hi Moopere,

I believe there's over 600+ financial members at Midland (could have been quoted 800). I wouldn't worry just yet as there's a lot of us which would be in the same boat as yourself. I know a few weeks ago they were upgrading / renovating the rifle range which was slated to take a couple weeks. The pistol range was open at this time.

Maybe there's nothing more to it than upgrades on the pistol side now. Time will tell but I'm fairly certain they wouldn't just shut the doors without sending out some communication to members.

In response to your question about panicking and looking for a new club, you'll not meet the requirements for endorsing your club sponsored firearms, especially if you're talking about completing a mandatory shoot by the end of the year. I'd try not to stress too hard just yet.

As Faedy has mentioned, there's a new email address from WAPOL - "FirearmsProject@...." which is cleaning up all the details on the system so the new legislation can target us efficiently (my assumption). They somehow managed to lose a lot of info I'd previously had on my licence for the 10 years prior and had 3 registered addresses for me on their system. Couldn't make this up....

[Insanitywombat]

The Midland range is/was closed due to lead contamination. The entire car park is fenced off and covered.

The Belmont range has been closed ‘temporarily’ for ‘upgrades’ since the end of September. Questions as to when they may be open are met with the answer ‘we will let you know when it opens’. They advise their members that they ‘don’t know’ if there will be any reduction in the number of required match shoots or whether an SSAA non compliance probation will be applied to members who do not complete them. No information is forthcoming other than ‘we will let you know when we open again’.

SSAAWA aren’t answering their phones either and SSAA national are simply saying ‘you need to call SSAAWA’.

I think I’m going to just surrender my firearms and be done with it.

[Bazz]

https://echonewspaper.com.au/news/shoot ... amination/

The timing seems strange with both indoor clubs being shut at the same time. I wonder if they were both audited and found to have lead issues.

[Oldbloke]

https://echonewspaper.com.au/news/shooting-range-blamed-for-lead-contamination/

The timing seems strange with both indoor clubs being shut at the same time. I wonder if they were both audited and found to have lead issues.

I wonder what the atmospheric monitoring results were, and how/where they were taken. In any?
History tells me it will all be BS.

"officer “suspects on reasonable grounds that there is, or is likely to be, an emission from the premises, which has caused or is likely to cause pollution’’.

So this says there is no proof.

[Noisydad]

“I think I’m going to just surrender my firearms and be done with it.

”

Rather than surrendering something good how about surrendering something bad….like Western Australia and claim political asylum over here!

[moopere]

I believe there's over 600+ financial members at Midland (could have been quoted 800). I wouldn't worry just yet as there's a lot of us which would be in the same boat as yourself. I know a few weeks ago they were upgrading / renovating the rifle range which was slated to take a couple weeks. The pistol range was open at this time.

Mmm. When I went by mid OCT there was nothing open insofar as I could see. Just a sign saying closed until further notice.

Its now late NOV and I've not been back to have a physical look, but no-one is answering the phone ... so thats not good.

Good to know that the membership is substantial though, this actually helps my temptation to panic If more than just a few people would be affected by a bad outcome then theres possibly some chance that a bit of leeway might be granted?

Maybe there's nothing more to it than upgrades on the pistol side now. Time will tell but I'm fairly certain they wouldn't just shut the doors without sending out some communication to members.

Yeah, you'd think, but depends on the nature of a closure. Everyone hopes for a managed close of a business ... if its even that, not trying to fear monger, but sometimes its not the case. Employees are gone and the doors simply close.

In response to your question about panicking and looking for a new club, you'll not meet the requirements for endorsing your club sponsored firearms, especially if you're talking about completing a mandatory shoot by the end of the year. I'd try not to stress too hard just yet.

Well, yes. This is my fear such as it is. Looks like a pretty much standard 6 month probation to get full membership to most of the clubs I've reviewed and I further imagine that there wouldn't be any clubs willing to sponsor firearms for people who are not full members.

At this stage I'm not that frightened of the sponsorship ramifications. If something has happened here then its out of my control. Rectification measures, including delays, can be performed surely. I'm more worried about the mandatory shoots problem which on face value is something I could (??) do something about.

I think pretty soon I'm going to have to ring up some other clubs to see if they'll allow me to have a supervised shoot at their range with my own guns even though I'm not a member. Perhaps explaining the situation would help?

[moopere]

https://echonewspaper.com.au/news/shooting-range-blamed-for-lead-contamination/

The timing seems strange with both indoor clubs being shut at the same time. I wonder if they were both audited and found to have lead issues.

Thanks for the link.

This can't be good and I can't imagine anything being resolved quickly.

[moopere]

“I think I’m going to just surrender my firearms and be done with it.

”

Rather than surrendering something good how about surrendering something bad….like Western Australia and claim political asylum over here!

Heh. Moving to Danistan is likely to be jumping out of the pan into the fire I suspect

I realise Dan Andrews is gone now ... are things measurably better though?

[on_one_wheel]

I realise Dan Andrews is gone now ... are things measurably better though?

Has anyone been forced into lockdown lately ?

[Larry]

It sounds like stage two or three of the plan to remove all guns from the republic of WA