Odd club rules

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Yaworski

Yaworski

Hawkeye
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
6,681
City & State/Province
Picksburgh, Pennsylvania
A customer was telling me about a nearby shooting club so I looked up their website. It looks like an interesting place but has an odd rule, no guests. So your coworker wants to try shooting, can't use your club's range to show him the ropes.

A club that I recently joined has a rule against open carry. Concealed carry is OK but no open carry. However, guests are OK.

The other club that I belong to has a limit on how many times a guest can visit. If memory serves, it is twice. Not per year, lifetime. So your brother-in-law comes to visit and you go to the range. Well, you can take him next year too but not the year after.

The club I belonged to in Maryland had few rules other than don't shoot the target frames and no shooting before 8 AM or after 9 PM.
 
The no guest thing could be for liability?

The guest limit, I can understand to a point. People take advantage. Why should we both join, I’ll just come as your guest every week.

Every rule was made for a reason I’m sure.

One club I belong to is full. Closed to new members at all!

After renewals are processed, they replace lost members from a waiting list.

Basically someone has to die for a new member to get in!
 
eveled said:
The guest limit, I can understand to a point. People take advantage. Why should we both join, I’ll just come as your guest every week.
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That would make sense if it was an annual limit. Twice in a decade and you can't come back?

Basically someone has to die for a new member to get in!
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My club in Maryland had a low membership limit. When I joined it was 250. Oddly, a lot of people would join and and drop their membership after a year. Most applicants got in on their first go round.
 
Yaworski said:
That would make sense if it was an annual limit. Twice in a decade and you can't come back?
Click to expand...

That’s why I said it makes sense TO A POINT. The lifetime limit seems ridiculous. But most times rules have a reason if you dig into it.

Like anything else you know the rules before you decide to join and make the appropriate decision.

One club I belong to has a guest fee to solve the problem. $10 to shoot or fish. If you come more than a few times you might as well join. Makes more sense than the lifetime limit
 
hate to say it but, i know people who are members of every club within 100 miles and dont mind the rules. if one club doesnt do this, they go over there and do that.
then again, the state im quoting has more millioneres per square mile than any other.

long the line of the OP'sdiscussion, ive been to a lot of clubs like that. one time one of them said to me....if you dont like the way we do things, go get your own gun range.
so i did.
 
as it was mentioned, every law is most likely the result of something the club doesnt want to go thru again.
sadly, people in clubs pay to be accepted.
once you stop paying dues and leave, people i knew and called friend, ignored me in public.
its not the clubs that has the issues, its the humans in them.
sometimes you get a good bunch, then over time, it gets replaced with bad apples.
i saw this a lot....in the military. one moment youre in the best squadron in the world....then they ship out one by one and duffus troops and leaders come in and the whole air about the place changes.
 
I can see limiting guests. The way most are now, one would join and the other would just ride off their membership.

Used to belong to a club that changed their rules limiting handguns to a static 25yds changing from being able to change distances on the pistol range. At the same time they installed tubes to shoot though on the rifle range and had a "no handgun" rule on the rifle range. When asked about those that hunt with handguns and those with Contenders/Competitors, it fell on the deaf ears of the good ol boy counsel. Another member and myself stood up and walked out.
 
BlkHawk73 said:
When asked about those that hunt with handguns and those with Contenders/Competitors, it fell on the deaf ears of the good ol boy counsel. Another member and myself stood up and walked out.
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Years ago, I was talking to a member of the local Izaak Walton League and he said that the board was trying to find ways to attract more members. I suggested running either steel plate matches or bowling pin matches. He said that those ideas had been presented but rejected because club rules required paper targets. I said, "They have to think outside the box." "They don't even know there is a box," was the reply.
 
All sounds like ya gotta lick a lot of,,,,,,, boots to be a shooting range member in Merryland. What a shame.
 
I guess because I live in a different world & the rules seem foreign, if not alien to me. Have shot at a lot of different clubs over the years in my area & a couple of adjoining states. They have their quirks, but nothing like I read here.
 
Usually,, there is a valid reason behind many rules,, that may appear unusual or silly.

The OGCA (Ohio Gun Collectors Assoc.) has a "twice a lifetime guest" policy. They also hold meetings in conjunction with a GREAT gun show. And a paid member has to be a "sponsor" of the the guest. In essence, responsible for them to a point. If the guest does something against the rules, the member can also be subjected to removal from the club. But it can also keep anti-gunners, media, or the undercover LEO's out etc.

Other gun ranges have a "No drawing a handgun from a holster" rule. The issue there are untrained people who want to be Matt Dillon, or whomever, and are not safe.

The "No Guests" rule is a bit strict,, but it may have been due to the exact scenario mentioned,, one guy gets a membership, and he always brings his "guest" with him. And what may be going on is the guest is splitting the cost of the membership.

Many rules are obvious.

Some,, without the background of WHY there is a rule may not understand it.

And of course,, there are ranges who listen to lawyers & make some rules to try & avoid lawsuits.

Lastly,, there are some places, run by power hungry types who only want what they want & want to "rule the roost" so to speak.

If I were to be investigating the idea of joining a club, and found a rule to be a bit unusual,, I'd POLITELY ask the "why's" of that rule.

This thread reminded me of a sign in a dance hall I used to go to all the time. It had several "normal" rules,, but the one that always raised a few eyebrows was the; "No hats to be worn inside" rule. Many questioned it,, but the owner's wife,, who worked concessions,, made that rule. Why? She would quickly explain that the worst fight,, with some injuries,, happened over a hat. And NOBODY wanted to cross Miss Betty,, so no hats.
 
I've run into ranges that only wanted you to shoot ammo bought there or that insisted that once brass hit the ground it was their's. Only visited them the one time.

Since pretty much all I shoot are my reloads I guess I just aren't welcome b then too, neither is my money.
 
gunzo said:
I guess because I live in a different world & the rules seem foreign, if not alien to me. Have shot at a lot of different clubs over the years in my area & a couple of adjoining states. They have their quirks, but nothing like I read here.
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I guess that I wasn't clear. The club in Maryland has the range with few rules. I'm running into the odd rules in Pennsylvania.
 
Another rule of the club where I can bring guests with impunity is that you can only have two guests at a time. That's reasonable. However you cannot shoot at the same time as your guest and you have to be within arms reach of your guest while he is shooting. Safety, sure but there was no proficiency or safety test when I joined.
 
Jeepnik said:
I've run into ranges that only wanted you to shoot ammo bought there or that insisted that once brass hit the ground it was their's. Only visited them the one time.
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There is a commercial range near me that seemed reasonable when I bought my membership. I specifically asked about ammo and brass when I signed up. Then the owner changed the rules and said that any brass that hit the floor was his and later decided that you had to buy ammo from him. When I called him on it, he said, "My range, my rules." I didn't renew and enough other customers didn't renew that he went out of business.
 
The only local(?) 'public range' I know of is maintained by MDC and it's 40 miles away. Grandson works for MDC maintenance dept and has a constantly increasing number of stories about the users/misusers of this facility. The only time(s) I went there was to use the 'public facilities' since it was the only option in the area besides finding a convenient tree trunk.
 
None of us like rules but they are a necessary part of life... I drill home the four rules of gun safety to anyone who is interested.... those are simple but in reality hard to strictly follow even after years of training and handling guns.
My club has most of the rules listed above... especially about guest ... limited number, limited number of times and they are supposed to sign a disclaimer before doing any shooting. The 'rule' that you are responsible for any guest is just as it should be, So, as for Yaworski's original question the "no guest rule' actually takes care of anyone having to follow any of the list guest rules. Simple logic... do the best you can to 'vet' potential members... and then they are all you have to be concerned about.
 
My conservation club has rules too.
No Open Carry WHILE HAVING PUBLIC EVENTS. Guest limited to 2 (no term limit). Don't kill the uprights or hang rails. 50 cal. and larger not allowed. Be safe... NRA safety signage is always present. ALL members and guests to sign a liability waiver. Not much else.
We have a bowling pin hanging in the pistol range. It can be a lot of fun.
We've also have a lot of "single year" members. They join in the calendar year that they'll want to use the clubhouse for a wedding, graduation or such thing, then never see them again.
 
My club is also closed to membership with a pretty long waiting list. You are allowed to bring one guest who has to pay a $15 guest fee and a $5 range use fee. I don’t think there is a cap on how many visits.
Both pistol (7/15/25 yards) and rifle (25/50/75/100 yards) are done from static positions. No drawing from the holster.
 
My club: $20 guest fee (come as often as you pay it and sign the waiver) it's NY so waiver or no, HELL will pay if someone gets hurt); member must supervise the guest so he/she doesn't shoot anyone.
LOTS of other rules ... I try to read them ALL every year (because every year I remember less and less ....). Some rules make sense, some don't (sorta like the makers of those rules :-).

J.
 
Laserbait said:
They would not let you pick up your own brass after shooting.
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Only time I ever went to a "range" it was way out in the country and we were the only shooters. Set up was okay and wasn't too expensive but he made it clear he kept all empty brass. So I brought my MK III 22/45 and my only AR at the time with several boxes of Monarch steel case 5.56X45. He even showed us his reloading set up. Said he used the brass to keep entry prices low.
 
My gun club has a rule that a guest can come once, then they are expected to join if the wanted to come back.
Another club near by had a policy of two guests per member when you were at club and there was no limit to number of times they could bring that guest. They probably could have had more members if they limited that to two visits per person.
Another club about an hour from me has a 10-12 year waiting list. Membership starts at $2k/year.
 
Yaworski said:
A customer was telling me about a nearby shooting club so I looked up their website. It looks like an interesting place but has an odd rule, no guests. So your coworker wants to try shooting, can't use your club's range to show him the ropes.

A club that I recently joined has a rule against open carry. Concealed carry is OK but no open carry. However, guests are OK.

The other club that I belong to has a limit on how many times a guest can visit. If memory serves, it is twice. Not per year, lifetime. So your brother-in-law comes to visit and you go to the range. Well, you can take him next year too but not the year after.

The club I belonged to in Maryland had few rules other than don't shoot the target frames and no shooting before 8 AM or after 9 PM.
Click to expand...
The club I belong to has a visitor limit of three times in a calendar year. The rule was instigated when I was on the BOD because we had just gone through a period of accusations from neighbors that the club was "unsafe". (No incidents, no accidents in the previous 10 years) Basically the wealthy horse owners wanted our property and were trying to bankrupt the club with lawyer fees while battling them in court. Membership in the club had dropped to below 100 members, the club could hardly pay the taxes, expenses, and pay our lawyer. To encourage people to join the club we put a limit on yearly visits, this was done to increase our financial basis. It certainly helped but we continued to do background checks to insure we weren't allowing problems into the club. Now the BOD has limited membership to 300 members but the 3 visit rule is still in force. The club, since the 300 limit, usually has a waiting list of about 30 prospective members. The "Executive Officer" has the duty of reviewing the range registration sheets to ferret out members friends who violate the 3 visit rule. This issue never comes up in the BOD monthly meetings.
 
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