By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Great Bend’s idea of creating a public shooting range seemed like a good
idea on paper. The city’s .15% quality of life sales tax was set to allocate
$34,000 to potentially expand the police department’s shooting range at the Great
Bend Expo Complex grounds. After a conversation with an insurance provider, city
staff found out there are a lot of liability issues and expenses.
Great Bend Police Chief Steve Haulmark said a range safety officer would need
to be on-site at all times and waivers would need to be signed.
"You're going to need somebody there checking people in, making sure they're not bringing in something they're not supposed to," said Haulmark. "You're probably going to need a couple of range safety officers, particularly if you have more than one person shooting. I wouldn't be comfortable with people shooting long guns and handguns. It would probably be limited to handguns, which cuts down a lot of people that would use it."
The Great Bend City Council was in consensus at last week’s work session that
the shooting range was not feasible. The board determined a private business or
organization would have to provide such a facility.
"Garden City opened one," said Haulmark. "The police department partnered with a private business. They built a $2.5 million building. It's open to the public like Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays...something like that. They have three or four staff members that are present. They charge an entry fee or annual membership. I think at least half of the project was private funds."
In November 2021, Great Bend voters passed a .15% sales tax increase to go
toward quality of life projects. The city will reallocate the $34,000 for the shooting
range to another project.
Haulmark did say as a community service, the police department could staff the shooting range once or twice a year to open the range to the public.