I found myself wondering what it is that gets a person to go to a particular shooting range. Failing to come to a quick and easy answer, I decided to resort to the age-old practice of making a pros-and-cons list. Surely that would shed some light on the situation, and lead me to a clear and obvious answer. So I started listing the things I thought would be attractive to a gun buyer, an enthusiast, a shooter, someone honing their skills.
First on the list would be the facility itself. It would have to be clean, bright, inviting. In short, a pleasant place to spend a few hours alone, with friend or maybe even the family. Certainly you would want a pleasant environment. Comfortable and cool on those hot summer days. Warm and inviting through the chilly winter air. Speaking of air, how about a place with clean air. Of course nobody would intentionally go to a range that doesn’t filter its air through multiple stages of high-grade modern filters. You would never want to leave a range blowing black powder out of your nose or licking your lips as you try to figure out that the sweet taste of pulverized lead isn’t the best thing for you. Price! Surely price would be a major consideration. How about a range that charges a second shooter the same price as the first shooter on the same lane? Hold on — why wouldn’t you just get your own lane? I know, wouldn’t it be a real bargain to just pay a slightly higher fee to be able to shoot all day? No, I guess you’ve got that one figured out. Nobody stays all day. The range just ends up with more of your money. It must be the friendly staff and the attentive service. Maybe it’s the clean, modern restrooms, or the floor mats that remove lead from your shoes, or the washstand to get that lead off your hands before you head out for a burger. Part of the decision has got to be the reasonable gun, ammo and accessory prices, or maybe the wide selection of holsters and accessories.
Hold on there Ransom ole boy, if these were the things that brought people to one particular range, then everybody, and I do mean everybody, would be at Stoddard’s Range and Guns in Douglasville. You know, on second thought, maybe I’d be better off making a list of the pros and cons of pros-and-cons lists.