Sometimes I think gun owners have shit for brains. They seem to have no concept of how tenuous the 2nd Amendment is. None. Their talk is full of bravado, “They’ll never get my gun!” Why would you let it get to that point? Where you are fighting a superior force that has superior weaponry? Does that make any sense? Why not take a few steps now so it never gets to that point? The NRA has 5 million members. With about 30% of the adult population owning a gun, that’s close to 95 million not paying a dime (GOA and others being figured in). And I’m not talking about the national organization, your rights are going to live or die by what happens in your state. That drops to minuscule numbers.

Which is a shame, because the closer you are to those representing you, the greater impact you have. Every state has an association fighting for their rights. In Iowa its called the IFC. If every gun owner in Iowa gave them $10, that would easily be $5 million dollars more than they have now. If every gunowner in Iowa gave $10 dollars top their State House race, that would be $5 million more dollars to spend on House races then are spent now. I’m not talking about your US Representative, I’m talking about your State Representative. Your rights will live or die at the State Capitol.

Then it comes to the gunowners behavior at the shooting range. The Iowa landscape is dotted with outdoor shooting ranges operating usually surrounded by cornfields, with varying degrees of volunteer and a paid staffer or two thrown in. The paid guy is usually the groundskeeper. I wouldn’t be surprised if the officers of the club get free membership, but probably not too much other compensation. The groundskeeper is there to mow the grass, grade the parking lot, maybe paint the trap house, plow the drive in the winter, those sorts of things.

No one is “paid” to cleanup after shooters. I don’t get it. The range I go to has one of the best groundskeepers in the business. If the shooters did their part we’d have a topnotch facility. Instead they go out of their way to make a mess. Everybody knows where the broom and dustpan are to be hung up. Put them there. But with all the brass lying around, its clear you didn’t use them, why did you get them down? Is your mother coming later to cleanup after you? We ain’t. Why do you choose to shoot in a pigsty? They really need to see the one in Story County, that poor club is getting ripped off by their groundskeeper. Its a shoddy looking facility with even lazier shooters. A bad combination.

Every range I know has neighbors that don’t want them there. Every range I know has officers that have been doing it for 20 years because no one else wants to. It wouldn’t take much for these ranges to close down. The only reason they are allowed to exist is because they were grandfathered in. You telling me the local environmental whackos wouldn’t love to close them down over the lead? You bet your ass they would. There’s nothing that says these ranges have to be here for you to come and shit in. Grow up punk.