Gun Range Question

[mcd_sports]

I'm going to be travelling for work this summer and decided I would look up some of my possible destinations and what gun ranges they might have nearby. #1 - wow am I lucky to live in Texas. I noticed that in NY and Illinois, you have to have a license just to go to a range. At leas that is what it looks like. The question comes in on some other states though... in the LA area, Denver, and at least on other place I noticed that they have rental guns available, but will only rent them to you if you are in a party of two or more people. They will not rent to an individual shooter. Can anyone explain that to me?

 

[454me]

Around here we had a guy go into a gun range and rented a gun. He then proceeded to commit suicide with that gun. Maybe they think its unlikely that two people together are going to do something like that. I think their policy now is you cannot rent a gun unless you come in with your own gun. I guess that they think if you wanted to kill yourself you would use your onw gun.

 

[Mike38]

You don’t need a license in Illinois. If you are an out of state visitor, you will need proof of age such as a driver’s license. Only Illinois residents in Illinois need a FOID card. (Firearms Owner’s Identification). The FOID is not a license or a permit, it’s an ID proving a background check has been done on you, and you’re not a felon, and can legally own and purchase guns and ammo.

 

[Casimer]

I suspect that it's either so that they can make more in range fees, or the concern that 454me's stated - there are a surprising number of suicides at rental ranges.

FWIW in PA, you can rent w/o a license. And I don't know of any ranges that require you to rent w/ multiple people. But ranges that offer rentals here tend to be indoors.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

You don't need a license to shoot long guns in NY state. NY City, maybe, I'm not sure. The rest of the state, no. Handguns, yes, unless you're shooting with an NRA certified instructor.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

You don't need a license to shoot long guns in NY state. NY City, maybe, I'm not sure. The rest of the state, no. Handguns, yes, unless you're shooting with an NRA certified instructor.

Is that any time you are with an NRA instructor, or just when taking one of his/her classes?

I'm not in NY state, but I am an NRA-certified instructor. Say I was in NY state. A couple of weeks ago, half a dozen of us closed out the week by going to the range to shoot off some tension after work on Friday. Four of us have licenses, one has applied but hasn't received it yet, and the sixth hasn't yet applied. I was not there as an instructor and I was not offering a class -- I was one of six co-workers who were shooting together.

Would the two guys who didn't have their licenses yet have been legal in NY state just because I happened to be in the group, but they would not have been legal if I wasn't there? That really doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. (But then, it's a law, plus it's NY state, so who said it has to make sense?)

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

I don't know the answer to that. I'm ALMOST positive that having applied or not for the permit is irrelevant and I think it doesn't matter if the instructor is actually teaching a class. That's basically my impression from conversations I've had with instructors but I never specifically asked those questions.
Now, being an out-of-state instructor is a whole 'nother ball of wax. Without a state permit, I THINK you'd be no different than any other out-of- stater... out of luck.

 

[JohnKSa]

They will not rent to an individual shooter. Can anyone explain that to me?

I've run into this restriction more than once and the explanation given is that it's intended to eliminate (or at least reduce the chances of) someone coming in and renting a gun to commit suicide. It happens. A friend of mine used to own a gunshop/range and had it happen to him.

When you get ready to travel to an area, you can post online asking if there's someone in the area who wants to visit the range while you're in the area. I did that some years ago and got to meet a couple of shooters out on the west coast while I was in the L.A. area. I rented a couple of guns and got to shoot some of theirs as well. It was a lot of fun.

 

[mcd_sports]

Thanks for the the info... As sad as that explanation is, it makes sense

Luckily, while I am travelling, I'll be with a group of people. Surely I can talk one of them in to going with me.

 

[TheNocturnus]

There is a gun range near me that now requires you be a member to rent guns. They have had 3 suicides in recent years and one of those was a murder/suicide in Sept 2011.

It is called The Bullet Hole and they are in Overland Park, Kansas. They seem to have bad luck with people coming in just to kill themselves.