Sincerely hope this isn't true -- will keep you posted

B

Bruce in West Oz

New member
Urgent letter posted today on an Australian shooting forum. This is firsthand information, not from some vague "source".

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Folks, I just visited Moranbah pistol club in Queensland and they tell me they received a letter from the powers that be stating that all shooting clubs on public lands in QLD (Queensland) are having their leases cancelled.[/quote]

This is one way many of us are vulnerable. My own club has just spent six figures of members' money plus countless thousands of volunteer hours building our range and facilities. We are on land leased from the local shire (county??), but it has been declared an A-class water reserve by the State Government, which gives them the authority to over-ride local government.

Additionally, the land surrounding the shooting complex has been recently set aside by the State govt for "public recreational use", including trailbike riding and bushwalking.

If an anti declares he "feared for his safety" (and that of his children, of course) while bushwalking, looking for the lesser chiditch, because we were shooting, how long before we are shut down in the "interests of the greater community and public safety"?

We've asked the writer for further, written confirmation of his posting. I'll keep you informed.

B
 
Bruce,

I'm bleeding for you, man! Never, I repeat never, put monetary improvements on public land. Lease or no lease. You're just setting yourself up for a fall! If you want to make improvements on public land, go through the proper channels and get peblic money to make the improvements.

A similar situation happened here locally. A good portion of land was donated to the city for use as a public park, but there were some strings attatched. First off, the grant was in a time of strict morality about 100 years ago and therefore one restriction was that 'No organized activity is to take place on this land on the Lord's Day' (which translates to 'You can't use this park on Sundays')
You can't use the city swimming pool on Sunday.
You can't use the tennis courts on Sunday.
You can't use the soccer fields on Sunday. You can't use the baseball fields on Sunday.
You can't use the ice rink on Sunday.
You can't use the boat ramp on Sunday.
You can't use the trap range on Sunday.

There is a further restriction on the funds that can and cannot be used.

The Park is to be self-supporting. No city monies are to be used for its improvements, operation or upkeep. The park used to have vinyards (long since gone) and rental cottages (also long gone). The trap range had a lifetime lease for $1 per year and it costs big bucks to be a member of the club. The boat club has a lease of $1 per year and it also costs bug bucks for memership. The park trustees have to hold a fund-raising carnival every year to obtain the funds to keep the park going. The carnival has to be held during the week so that everything is either packed up Saturday night or just sits unused on Sunday and has to be packed up on Monday.

Where am I going with all this, you ask? The gun club was forced to close its doors because the shot was falling into the lake. That violated the Clean Water Act or some such rubbish. The local police departments used the range for thier qualifications (they had a multi-position backstop set up also for pistol shooting) Now they have to find somewhere else to do that too even though their shot wasn't falling into the lake.

The EPA declared the site a 'contamination' site and big $$$ were used to clean up the lead from the ground. They had to scrape off several feet of soil and bury it in an approved toxic waste dump. What a crock!

------------------
Remember, just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!
 
This is so stupid.
First of all, elemental lead(Pb), like elemental mercury(Hg), is pretty stable.
Yes, some lead will get into the water after sitting on the lakebed for many years, but it's not nearly at the levels reported (insinuated) by the media and the EPA.

Lead oxides, and mercury compounds ARE quite hazardous.
Heating either element is dicey.
That's why shooting indoors or casting your own bullets is linked to lead-poisoning.

Y'know what, if you ate/drank a bunch of elemental mercury, it very likely would pass right through with no ill effects.
Not like I'm gonna try it.

From what I've heard (unsubstantiated, so take it w/ a grain of salt) when wildlife (ducks & fish) are killed by lead "poisoning" the actual cause is most often intestinal blockage leading to necrosis and death.
Them #8's are just plugging up the digestion.
It isn't the chemical that's killing them, it's the physical object causing harm.

Yes, I'm sure that some lead gets into the blood stream after ingestion, but it really isn't as bad as they make it sound.

$.02, -Kframe
 
Kframe, I don't know much about chemistry, but I do recall being told that one of the bad things about acid rain is that acid solutions make metals much more soluble than plain water. So I would imagine that mercury or lead, even in a stable form, would probably find the stomach an inviting place to dissolve. Whether that would really make it that much more dangerous I don't know and, like you, I don't need to find out.
 
Update:

Haven't been able to see the document myself (Qld's on the other side of the continent), but a check with a committee member from another pistol club confirms that, yes, it is indeed true.

This is devastating, because to get a range approved and licensed on private land is well-nigh impossible.

If the other States follow suit, this will virtually wipe out organised Club shooting in Australia overnight -- and literally thousands of gun-owners will lose their firearms because they will no longer have "reason or need" to own them.

BTW Cougar: Mate, there just are NO grants worth two knobs of dried goat sh*t available for shooting here; no public money; no nothing -- we either use our own money, or we don't shoot, it's that simple.

B
 
Bruce---I'm in Queensland and I shoot at a
Range that is privately owned.
I have not heard anything about the proposed
changes.I thought that the Queensland Govt
was looking for government land to build new
ranges--they discovered that there were many
more shooters than they thought (as a result
of the need for registration).
However I will be at the range tomorrow
(Sunday),and I'll ask the nomads what they
know.
 
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