A local youth shooting club is having trouble finding a new location for its club after its lease was not renewed in the Columbus AirPark.
The future of the Hoosier Hills Rifle and Pistol Club has been in jeopardy since its lease with the Columbus Aviation Board was not renewed early last year due to an inability to come to an agreement about contamination and remediation.
“The club has been in existence since 1958, and has always had a youth program,” Thomas said. “You can’t have a sportsman club unless you have youth participants, or else your club dies.”
Since losing its lease, the club has been looking for a new location for an indoor air gun range for youth to practice marksmanship, learn about gun safety and improve skills, said Hoosier Hills Youth Marksmanship director Jerry Thomas.
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“These are not firearms,” Thomas said of the guns that are used for an indoor air gun range. A number of the 50 Indiana high schools who sponsor shooting clubs allow students to fire air guns in gymnasiums or cafeterias, Thomas said.
“They don’t contaminate, spew out fumes, aren’t loud, and are not considered a lethal weapon,” he said.
Coming to terms
For nearly 50 years, both adult and youth clubs, as well as other groups, utilized an indoor firing range located on the southwest corner of the Columbus Municipal Airport area, in the Columbus AirPark. It was in a white building at the end of a gravel drive extending off Whitney Court.
But the lease was not renewed early last year after the Columbus Board of Aviation required the clubs to pay for removing all lead contamination when the lease expired, Thomas said. That type of remediation is far beyond their finances, he explained.
When Hoosier Hills Youth Marksmanship lost its indoor shooting facility for skill improvements during their competitive season, from October to March, participation numbers dwindled. Without an indoor facility, the number of shooting club members dropped from 23 youngsters a few years ago to six today, Thomas said.
In the past, members of youth shooting programs sponsored by the Hoosier Hills Rifle and Pistol Club have competed at the Junior Olympic level, won college scholarships, and received valuable training for military and law enforcement careers, Thomas said. In April, member Thomas Luehrmann will compete in the National Junior Olympic Championship competition at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs
Hoosier Hills Rifle and Pistol Club still has an remote outdoor shooting in a wooded area within the hills of eastern Brown County.
Thomas contends there is no contamination from lead left from air gun ranges, as they use canvas backstop curtains and pellet traps to minimize or eliminate damage to the interior of a building.
While American Legion Post 24 is now a co-sponsor of the Hoosier Hills Youth Marksmanship Club, the Legion post does not have sufficient space for the program to operate, Thomas said. And while efforts are underway to secure space at Camp Atterbury, that deal has not been finalized, he said.
The club’s goal is to have a facility by September if not earlier, he said.
Safety first
During his 12 years of running youth marksmanship programs, Thomas has become an NRA-certified instructor and coach for pistols and rifles, a chief range safety officer, and a 4-H rifle instructor. He has also taken courses regarding fundamentals in safety that go beyond the shooting range into such areas as how to — and how not to — interface with young people on the internet, he said.
But during those dozen years, Thomas says he’s never seen one student point a rifle or pistol at another person with intent to harm. In fact, a student will be disciplined simply for putting a finger on the trigger without having the target in his or her sights, Thomas said.
Kids involved in paintball shooting competitions are not allowed in the club “because I’d have to untrain them about shooting people,” he said.
“We don’t handle guns in an unsafe manner,” Thomas said. “Boys and girls will either learn respect, or they won’t participate.”
Participants in the Hoosier Hills program do not shoot at anything like cars, windows or houses just for fun, Thomas said. “It’s those who are not trained that learn an unsafe behavioral pattern.”
Impact on future
About three years ago, Hoosier Hills Youth Marksmanship created its own legal entity that allows the youth group to have its own revenue streams. Although the adult club remains a sponsor, the Youth Marksmanship club is now eligible to receive financial assistance from a number of foundations that support youth shooting programs.
Grants available through these foundations can be used to buy equipment, pay entry fees, finance traveling expenses to and from major competitions, or make improvements to their shooting facilities.
If shared indoor space can be secured that the club can use for three hours two nights a week, Thomas feels confident he can recruit a dozen more members from Boy Scout troops and a law enforcement club at Columbus East High School.
But if a facility cannot be secured and the youngest shooters leave, the future of the Hoosier Hills Rifle and Pistol Club remains in jeopardy, he said.
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Hoosier Hills Youth Marksmanship is searching for a building whose owner might be willing to share space in exchange for low rents and/or utility payments. The building needs:
- Space that is 50-feet long, and between 20 to 30 feet wide for up to 10 lanes.
- Sufficient storage space to hold $20,000 worth of equipment that include precision air rifles, pistols, pads, targets and stands.
- Electricity to power 80 watt flood lamps on the floor to light targets sufficiently to meet national regulations.
- Wood or concrete floors.
The room’s width would be used to install a canvas backstop less than a foot from the down-range wall, and the distance between shooters and paper targets would be 34 feet.
The remaining space behind the shooter would be used for other students awaiting their turn and instructors.
Pellets that hit their targets will wind up in a pellet trap, while all other pellets would fall at the base of the canvas for easy pickup.
If you have such a space or want more information about Hoosier Hills Youth Marksmanship, contact Thomas via email at jathomas725@gmail.com or by telephone at 812-376-8922.
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