Nudists Duel With Gun Aficionados Over Proposed Sultan Basin Gun Range

[spin]

By Curtis Cartier, Tue., Nov. 30 2010 @ 8:00AM

There's a proposal by the Snohomish County Council to build a shooting range on Sultan Basin Road. A bunch of folks (including the councilmembers) support it, and a bunch of folks, including environmentalists and site neighbors, think it's a dreadful idea. But perhaps the most interesting group to take up a fight against the gun range is the Lake Bronson Club, a nudist group that does its let's-get-naked-and-swim thing about a mile or so from where the gun range is proposed to go.

The obvious take is that a bunch of nudists being upset about what a small group of hobbyists do in an isolated section of wilderness is a bit of a pot-calling-the-kettle-black scenario. But it should be noted that the nudists own their stretch of naked paradise, while the gun fans want Snohomish County to buy them theirs (although shooters would still pay each time they visited).

***snip***

Most of the (shooting-range) parcel is located on a hundred-year flood plain. It's simply the wrong spot," he says. "We're the Yosemite of the nude world. We have hundreds of members, and people come from all over the world to our spot. There are only a few gun owners who will actually go and pay money to shoot at some range. You don't kill people by being nude, and you don't foul up the land."

Still, gun owners like Stan Bernard of Lynnwood tell the Herald that "There's a huge, huge demand for a place to shoot ... the usage would be phenomenal, I'm sure."

The truth, as is usually the case, is likely somewhere in the middle--that's roughly the groin area, if thinking about the issue as two sides of a naked human body.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/11/nudists_duel_with_gun_affician.php

[villager]

1. Wow, talk about Thanatos vs. Eros!

It's all right there...

[Kennah]

2. This is my weapon, this is my gun ...

[Xenotime]

22. What if they only shot blanks at the gun range and nudist camp?

[oneshooter]

23. Are you truly as ignorant as you sound? n/t

[Ian David]

3. Self-delete n/t

[rfranklin]

4. At least they don't need body scanners at the club...

No need for concealed carry permits.

[spin]

5. The nudists aren't worried about being shot ...

they worry about the noise.

He said the main concern isn't buckshot in the backside, it's noise. "It would be disruptive to our members and guests to have that constant bombardment of noise. That's not why people come to the club."
http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/local_news_articles/20101130/Nudist-club-wants-to-stop-shooting-range/

[AtheistCrusader]

16. We used to shoot up there all the time till they closed it.

Bunch of assholes leaving beer cans and shot up garbage behind, thought it would never end, and just trashed the place.

I presume the fees will go to cleaning up after themselves, because some people won't.

[atreides1]

6. If the demand is that huge

Why don't Stan and his friends pony up the money and buy the land themselves? I own a gun, but why should tax payers have to pay for a range for me to shoot?

[spin]

7. It's a multi-million dollar range ...

The multi-million dollar gun range would be a mile away from the 72-year-old Lake Bronson Club and its 200 nudist members, who say that's too close to bare, so to speak.
http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/local_news_articles/20101130/Nudist-club-wants-to-stop-shooting-range/

Maybe Obama could help. It sounds like a shovel ready project.

[rocktivity]

8. I agree--the range should be as privately owned as the nudist colony is.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[DonP]

9. Usually for the profit

There are a lot of municipalities and counties that build and run ranges as profit centers.

Between the fees for range time and the margin from selling ammunition, there's a good buck to be made, not to mention a possible job for the mayor's brother in law.

[Euromutt]

11. In addition, ranges get used by local law enforcement

There are very few ranges in the Puget Sound area that don't get used by local law enforcement agencies. It saves them having to fund range facilities that don't get used most of the time, hiring people to run them, etc.

[X_Digger]

10. That's part of what their licensing fees are meant to cover..

http://www.rco.wa.gov/grants/farr.shtml

Firearms and Archery Range Recreation (FARR) Program

The Firearms and Archery Range Recreation Program provides funding for projects that acquire, develop, and renovate firearm range and archery training and practice facilities.

The program was created by the Legislature in 1990 after a report assessing the needs of law enforcement, sports groups, and the general public identified a need for a program and funding to support shooting facilities.
Typical Projects

* Installing fences, berms, and other noise and safety elements
* Upgrading equipment
* Renovating clubhouses
* Building new shooting courses

Funding Source
Funding is $3 from each concealed pistol license fee.

[Atypical Liberal]

14. Public shooting ranges

Here in Alabama, you have to buy a hunting license in order to shoot at a public shooting range. License fees help pay for their upkeep.

I have also belonged to private shooting clubs before. They do buy the land, just as you suggested.

[benEzra]

19. Pittman-Robertson tax revenues are *supposed* to be used for shooting ranges and hunting stuff.

A 10% excise tax is levied on every gun and AFAIK every round of ammunition sold, and the proceeds are supposed to fund shooting range construction, the care of hunting lands, etc.

If that money isn't being used to build shooting ranges and whatnot, then the tax should be repealed, IMO.

[PavePusher]

12. It was all pretty funny, until the naked guy tried to equate shooters with being criminals.

"You don't kill people by being nude, and you don't foul up the land."

Screw you too, buddy. What a jerk.

[lawodevolution]

13. Those fat tubs of lard walking around with their shrunken junk hanging out is a kind of pollution

Visual pollution

[PavePusher]

15. Meh. Let's not be the other side of their coin.

Besides, I don't give a rats' ass about clothes or lack there-of, unless I'm feelin' frisky.

[Euromutt]

17. Well, Lake Bronson IS in a pretty remote location

You wouldn't stumble on it by accident unless you have an inordinate interest in trees, because it's pretty much only forestry roads out there. The nearest houses are over a mile towards town (the town being Sultan, WA). So it's not as if anyone can complain they're imposing their idea of fun on anybody else.

[Euromutt]

18. I rather strongly suspect the Bronsonites are overstating their case

The proposed range would be a mile away from Lake Bronson, in heavily forested terrain; I honestly don't think noise is going to be that big a deal. I think that a bigger concern is that putting anything further up the road is going to considerably increase passing traffic, and I suspect that maybe that is what the Lake Bronson crowd are really concerned about. If so, it follows they'd object if you planned to build a chess club, but you can make it sound way less NIMBY-ish to object to a firing range.

And I'll acknowledge it sucks when your cozy, quiet getaway spot is encroached on by development, but it happens, unless you can afford to buy a buffer zone.

[DeadEyeDyck]

20. This thread should get the "most enticing title" of the year award

[spin]

21. That's why it caught my attention. (n/t)