Who wants it?

2022-07-31 13:53:57 By : Mr. Eason Hu

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's is using a different method in its search for a site to build a proposed shooting range in Northwest Arkansas.

In the past when the Game and Fish Commission wanted to build a facility like a shooting range, its staff combed the countryside searching for suitable sites. These sites are generally remote and require substantial improvements to make them compatible with their goals. The facilities are naturally underused, which undermines its existence.

Instead of combing through marginal properties for a Northwest Arkansas shooting facility, the commission is asking Northwest Arkansas communities to compete for the facility.

Austin Booth, the Game and Fish Commission's director, made the pitch recently at the annual meeting of the Northwest Arkansas Council at the Springdale Nature Center, a state-of-the-art facility that was completed in 2020. Booth said Northwest Arkansas is a logical site for the commission's flagship shooting facility because it is the state's fastest growing region and supports a diverse constituency. The commission also has a very small presence in Northwest Arkansas, Booth said.

Economically, recreational shooters in Arkansas generate $486 million in consumer spending, Booth said. However, recreational shooting in the Third Congressional District generates only $64 million, or 13% of the total.

"To me that spells one thing, untapped potential," Booth said. "Relative to ammunition, firearms, and the larger shooting sports industry, we have 15 outstanding manufacturers throughout the state. Those 15 alone support 6,500 jobs and provide $19 million annually in tax revenue to our state. That makes Arkansas number four nationally in economic output per capita in firearms, ammunition, and the recreational shooting industry."

Of course, people drive the economy, Booth said. Here again, Northwest Arkansas is underrepresented. Almost 6,500 youths participate in the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program, but only 1,500 youths participate in Northwest Arkansas. The lack of places to shoot discourages participation.

Booth asked the audience who recreational shooters are. In sports crazy Northwest Arkansas, his answer hushed the already attentive audience.

"In 2018, the Outdoor Industry Association did a national analysis on recreation shooting sports and found that there are more participants in recreational shooting than there are in tennis, soccer or baseball," Booth said. "At first blush, that seems impossible, right?"

Booth said that people that play baseball, basketball and soccer have one thing in common: They're young. The time people spend playing ball sports is very brief, and their skills deteriorate with age. Conversely, there are no physical barriers to enjoy and excel at recreational shooting.

"Every attribute necessary to succeed is learned," Booth said. "I was genetically predisposed to play high school [sports]. I was 6-foot-2, 155 pounds. I was also genetically predisposed to ride the bench because I was 155 pounds. You can look how big offensive linemen are. You can look at Michael Phelps and how his anatomy naturally supported him being a champion swimmer. You can look at elbow mechanics in major league pitchers. There is nothing genetic about a good shooter. Every single thing is learned."

As an example in shooting sports equality, Booth cited a girl who competes in the commission's Archery in Schools Program. Though confined to a wheelchair, she is competitive at a high level, Booth said.

"There's nothing about being in wheelchair that prevents her from being just as good as the person standing next to her," Booth said. "When you come to these events, you see kids have an opportunity to succeed in a sport where everything is learned, whereas they may not have the same opportunity in some other sports."

Participation in shooting sports has grown 28% since 2000, Booth said. During that same time, female participation has grown 80%. Kayle Browning of Wooster, who won a silver medal in trap at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, is a product of the Arkansas Youth Shooting Sports Program.

In light of recent mass shootings a Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, N.Y., and elsewhere, pitching a shooting range to civic leaders might seem awkward and ill-timed. Booth said those events accentuate the need for a public recreational shooting facility to de-stigmatize lawful recreational use of firearms.

"As we reflect on communities with names like Uvalde, Buffalo or Highland Park, we should ask ourselves what we owe our community and constituency," Booth said. "We owe people access to facilities where people can explore their interest in shooting with their communities and not explore that interest in isolation, not explore that interest in darkness, not explore that interest in solitude where they're most susceptible to [malicious] influence. It should be explored in the light of day, in fellowship with their communities.

"That's why Northwest Arkansas," Booth continued. "Look at the extent to where you're underserved. We owe people that kind of access."

To build the kind of recreational shooting range it envisions, Booth said the commission is ill-equipped to find a suitable site on its own.

"As we decide where were going to build this range, we found land fairly difficult to come by," Booth said. "We have a few sites in mind, but each of these sites lacks the potential that would meet the demand that we're hearing from Northwest Arkansas for a modern day shooting facility.

"What state governments would typically do is find a mediocre option and then invest an inordinate amount of time and lots of taxpayer dollars, and then act surprised [that the facility doesn't meet expectations]."

Success would be more likely if communities invested in the facility. To that end, the commission will submit a request for proposal (RFP) in August.

"We're not going to rely on our competency as a community planning organization, not as an urban development organization, but as a conservation agency," Booth said. "We did some self examination and said, 'Hey, maybe we're not the best ones to find a place for this.' We want you to do it for us. We are proud to announce a competitive RFP in August to solicit your site proposals, your operating agreements and proposed incentives."

Finally, Booth explained how a recreational shooting complex in Northwest Arkansas would fulfill the Game and Fish Commission's mission. Every shooter is a conservationist whether they know it or not, Booth said, by virtue of their contributions to the Federal Aid in Wildlife Conservation Act, better known as the Pittman-Robertson Act. The federal government levies an excise tax on all sales of firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and other gear. Proceeds go into a fund that is apportioned to the states through a formula based on physical land area and the number of licensed hunters in each state.

The Game and Fish Commission gets more money from the Pittman-Robertson fund than it does from the statewide conservation sales tax. The commission is federally obligated to use these funds to purchase and improve wildlife habitat and to provide public access to hunting opportunities.

To maximize the state's full conservation funding potential, Booth said, Northwest Arkansas is fertile recruiting territory.

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