zach
Regular Member
imported post
Got this email from the NRA regarding Rampart Range.
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[align=center]Colorado: Support Needed to Re-Open Rampart Shooting Range!
[/align]
Following an accidental shooting last July, theForest Service closed the very popular and heavily used Rampart Shooting Range on the Pike National Forest. In its nearly 20-year history, Rampart had never before experienced a shooting-related injury or fatality.]Rampartis the only free public range in El Paso County and receives 40,000 visitors a year. The Service called the closure a "time-out" in order to assess whether the design of the range was a factor. An investigation determined that the range was not a factor in the accident.Safety experts have said that the accident could have happened at any range. Butafter it closed Rampart,theForest Servicedevised a schemetokeep the range closed permanently.
The Forest Service has listed requirements that must be met before it will reopen Rampart. There is no timetable formeeting these requirements and likely no moneyto cover costs. The most significantissue is the requirement of full time supervision.Most ranges on federal landsoperate without supervision and this requirement could place all such ranges in jeopardy. Rampart Range is in need of improvements which were identified more than two years ago. Such improvements can be addressed and implemented with therange reopened.The Forest Servicehas said that it could take up to five years beforeRampart is reopened, but there is no guarantee that it would reopen Rampart in that timeframe or at any time in the future.
NRA has been working to get Rampart Range reopened since the day it was closed, but we need the help of Colorado hunters and shooters to show the Forest Service and your elected officials that the federal government cannot continue to closepublic lands to recreational shooting, and certainly not without replacing those areas lost with other areas of the same or great value.Rampart Shooting Range is an important resource for the shooting community along the Front Range.There is no incentive for theForest Service to reopen Rampartunless the shooting sports communitydemands it!
Shooting ranges on public lands are few and far between in Colorado. In addition to the closure of Rampart, theForest Service has closed its lands to recreational shooting near Boulder and on the Pawnee Grasslands, and large acreageclosures have occurred west of Sedalia. The Forest Service is not planning for recreational shooting. Closures are imposed without opening new areas and needed improvements to existing areas, including the Rampart Shooting Range, have not been made. Recreational shooting is not being treated by the Forest Service in Colorado asa legitimate and valued recreational activityon forest lands.
Pleasesend an e-mail in support ofthe immediate reopening of Rampartto:
Tom Tidwell, Chief of the Forest Service, at ttidwell@fs.fed.us, and copyyour letter to:
Senator Mark Udall at senator_mark_udall@markudall.senate.gov,
Senator Michael Bennet at http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/,
CongressmanDoug Lamborn at CO05ima@mail.house.gov, and
Governor Bill Ritter by clicking here.
Please stress that keeping the range closed is not supportable by the investigative report; that the closure has robbed the shooting community of a valuable resource; and that needed improvements to the range can be planned and implemented without closure."
Got this email from the NRA regarding Rampart Range.
"
[align=center]Colorado: Support Needed to Re-Open Rampart Shooting Range!
[/align]
Following an accidental shooting last July, theForest Service closed the very popular and heavily used Rampart Shooting Range on the Pike National Forest. In its nearly 20-year history, Rampart had never before experienced a shooting-related injury or fatality.]Rampartis the only free public range in El Paso County and receives 40,000 visitors a year. The Service called the closure a "time-out" in order to assess whether the design of the range was a factor. An investigation determined that the range was not a factor in the accident.Safety experts have said that the accident could have happened at any range. Butafter it closed Rampart,theForest Servicedevised a schemetokeep the range closed permanently.
The Forest Service has listed requirements that must be met before it will reopen Rampart. There is no timetable formeeting these requirements and likely no moneyto cover costs. The most significantissue is the requirement of full time supervision.Most ranges on federal landsoperate without supervision and this requirement could place all such ranges in jeopardy. Rampart Range is in need of improvements which were identified more than two years ago. Such improvements can be addressed and implemented with therange reopened.The Forest Servicehas said that it could take up to five years beforeRampart is reopened, but there is no guarantee that it would reopen Rampart in that timeframe or at any time in the future.
NRA has been working to get Rampart Range reopened since the day it was closed, but we need the help of Colorado hunters and shooters to show the Forest Service and your elected officials that the federal government cannot continue to closepublic lands to recreational shooting, and certainly not without replacing those areas lost with other areas of the same or great value.Rampart Shooting Range is an important resource for the shooting community along the Front Range.There is no incentive for theForest Service to reopen Rampartunless the shooting sports communitydemands it!
Shooting ranges on public lands are few and far between in Colorado. In addition to the closure of Rampart, theForest Service has closed its lands to recreational shooting near Boulder and on the Pawnee Grasslands, and large acreageclosures have occurred west of Sedalia. The Forest Service is not planning for recreational shooting. Closures are imposed without opening new areas and needed improvements to existing areas, including the Rampart Shooting Range, have not been made. Recreational shooting is not being treated by the Forest Service in Colorado asa legitimate and valued recreational activityon forest lands.
Pleasesend an e-mail in support ofthe immediate reopening of Rampartto:
Tom Tidwell, Chief of the Forest Service, at ttidwell@fs.fed.us, and copyyour letter to:
Senator Mark Udall at senator_mark_udall@markudall.senate.gov,
Senator Michael Bennet at http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/,
CongressmanDoug Lamborn at CO05ima@mail.house.gov, and
Governor Bill Ritter by clicking here.
Please stress that keeping the range closed is not supportable by the investigative report; that the closure has robbed the shooting community of a valuable resource; and that needed improvements to the range can be planned and implemented without closure."