Photo By Staff Sgt. Jes Smith | Sportsman’s Elite, located on the west side of El Paso, is an indoor firing range...... read more read more
Subscribe
EL PASO, Texas—Soldiers and a passion for firearms usually go hand-in-hand from the start of a military career, with some soldiers being gun enthusiasts before joining the military and others gaining a love of firearms after many hours of intense marksmanship training.
While this doesn’t mean all soldiers have privately owned firearms, those who do have to find a place they can fire their weapons safely and legally.
Many soldiers here drive along the mountains leading north out of El Paso and find a presumably safe place to fire their weapons, however, this can lead to safety and legality concerns because most of that land is private property, usually owned by railroads. Firing weapons on private land can lead to police confiscation of firearms, fines or even an arrest.
Fortunately for soldiers here, there are businesses such as Sportsman’s Elite, an indoor firing range that also offers archery, fly-fishing and a gun pro-shop to the El Paso community. They opened their doors Jan. 2, and offer the only indoor range on the west side of the mountains that adorn the “Sun City.”
Sportsman’s Elite offers discounts for all uniformed services while providing safe indoor range services that include a 72-foot indoor range with target retrieval technology and a state of the art ventilation system and classes for skill levels from novice to advanced marksman.
“If you shoot along the mountains, you never know for sure what is downrange of you,” said Tess Clark, an employee at Sportsman’s Elite. “People use that land for off-roading and four-wheeling all the time in those hills. If you come to a controlled range like ours, you never have to worry about what or who you may shoot.”
Some of the classes offered by Sportsman’s Elite are Concealed Handgun Licensing, Introduction to Firearms, and Hunter’s Safety Course.
“Our range is a safe place to shoot and learn for all the people of El Paso, said Ruben Zavala, logistics manager for Sportsman’s Elite. “Everything here is designed for ease of use to the customer and, above all, safety.”
“Guns are weapons, but in the right hands they can save a life,” said Zavala. “They exist in society and we can’t un-invent them, but if you take the time to educate yourself and learn how to handle firearms safely, you will take away the fear most people have when they are unfamiliar with firearms.”
Not only is the range a safe place for soldiers to shoot, but it is also a place soldiers can take their whole family. With parental supervision, children are welcome to use the indoor range. They are also offering upcoming women’s only nights designed to give ladies a place to get out and spend time together.
For general information and questions about scheduled classes call (915) 587-4867.
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2013 12:20 |
| Story ID: | 106014 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Indoor range offers safe alternative for sportsmen, by SSG Jes Smith, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
