Thread: Ashburton Rifle Range: CLOSED

Hi Guys,

I'm passing on an email I received on Sunday from the President of ARUA to any members who might be on the forum.

Good evening,

I received the attached letter today from Department of Conservation raising serious concerns about the safety of our range. We will do everything possible to ensure the land is kept as a rifle range, however, while this is being properly investigated we will need to temporarily close the range.

Please pass this message on to all key-holders, that under NO circumstances shall anyone use the range until otherwise notified by myself. Eric, do not lend out the key to anyone.

We urgently require documentation from NZDA, Blackpowder, NZ Antique Arms and Pistol Clubs referring to their national policy on range inspection/safety and what modifications to the range would be needed to comply to those. We are also working on the NRA aspects. The existing Police Manual he refers to has a danger zone behind the butt stop, we need to modify the range so that the range becomes a no-danger area range (because of the cycle track). Any suggestions or ideas to assist in this process would be appreciated.

I realise this notice will result in inconvenience to clubs and individuals, however the sooner we close this, get on with fixing this the more chances we have of retaining the range in the long term.

Hopefully the committee & DOC can resolve this issue so Ashburton doesn't lose it's 700 yard rifle range.

Cheers
Sas