NRA at it again.

[mag41uk]

As ever, the NRA damned if they do damned if they don`t.

[Pete]

Well, when all is said and done, if it wasn't for the NRA and the Bisley facility, my partner and I wouldn't be shooting................
We used to get around 1.5 hours at 300yds on a remote MOD range, with no facilities other than a WC, on one Sunday morning every 4 to 6 weeks, if we were lucky.
Part of the deal was that we marked for 1.5 hours on ancient disc-popping frames that were falling apart.

Pete

[Alpha1]

Well, when all is said and done, if it wasn't for the NRA and the Bisley facility, my partner and I wouldn't be shooting................
We used to get around 1.5 hours at 300yds on a remote MOD range, with no facilities other than a WC, on one Sunday morning every 4 to 6 weeks, if we were lucky.
Part of the deal was that we marked for 1.5 hours on ancient disc-popping frames that were falling apart.

Pete

I have never been to Bisley I have been shooting over 30 years I live in the North East of England. Bisley is probably a six-hour drive and would have to be an overnight stay. Why would I.
I gave up my membership of the NRA years ago they have no interest in anything outside of Bisley.
I am a member of a couple of clubs in the North East. I am the Secretary of one of them and responsible for renewing range licenses. Renewing home office approval. Renewing NRA affiliation only because we need it to shoot on MOD ranges. Preparing RASPS a requirement imposed on us if you want to use MOD ranges. I bid for and book all our MOD ranges. I am responsible for keeping track of peoples range visits. Liaising with the Police on matters pertaining to FAC certificates. I am responsible for training and certifying probationers. I am a qualified RCO and conduct probationers full bore training days.
The second club I am the MOD liaison officer and a committee member I organize all there MOD range bookings etc. I open the indoor ranges on a couple of night a week and run the ranges. I am involved in miniature rifle and the list goes on. It's all most a full-time job and I do it for free. I'm still waiting for the NRA to fulfill their promises of getting involved in the regions.

[dromia]

Iain I have never suggested that the NRA staff aren't working hard, I would just like to see some of that effort benefiting the regions, members, shooters and legal gun owners beyond Bisley.

What are the NRA's national/regional plans and timescales?

What does the NRA think about the problems with restricting civilian access to MoD ranges?

What is its plan to address this?

How does the NRA view the continued pressure on license holders from the certification departments and what is its plan to address this? As obviously the current structures are failing legal gun owners.

Surely things like these would be the key pillars of a truly national organisation and would identify the organisation as such. The lack any such meaningful plans, or even aspirations, is what clearly shows the NRA to be at best a Bisley centric southern England organisation and failure as a national one. Perhaps the charity commissioners should have a look at the NRA to see if it is really meeting its "national" charitable aims?

I appreciate that you work very hard but from your description of a days work it suggests to me that what the NRA should be doing is putting more money into suitable staff, especially as Bisley by all accounts is now thriving.

If this is not possible through finance or will then why doesn't the NRA admit it and be honest about what it can achieve.

If we look back over the years on here and the aspirations from NRA staff then and the reality now for shooting beyond Bisley then we will see that shooting and legal gun ownership has and is going backwards with increased restrictions, cost and added bureaucracy that do nothing to add to public or range safety. We non Bisley shooters are still waiting to see a difference and improvement from the NRA to their shooting experience and environment, hence the criticism. How long are we going to have to wait to see some effective action on our plight?

I know that the NRA has appointed a regional officer and I am sure he is working hard also, but what he can achieve is very limited in regards to the need and scale of the task, it is just a finger in a collapsing dam.

For Bisley to be thriving, which I am happy about as I have spent many happy days there in the past, in this current firearms climate is to be "fiddling whilst Rome is burning".

[the running man]

You know ide like to know the percentage of shooters in the UK who have never had anything to do with bisley or the NRA,if u add shotgun shooters it would probably be (at a guess) 70/80%,this a loosing statistic for a so called national body.

[Christel]

As ever, the NRA damned if they do damned if they don`t.

Part of the reason is that there are two camps looking in on the NRA. The "home crowd" and the rest of the country who do not really benefit from the facilities.

Obviously the "home crowd" will be in favour of the developments that have taken place. The rest of the country not so.

If the NRA actively fought our fight then I would be less negative about it despite not having access to the facilities.

When I lived further south I went to Bisley and loved every minute of it. Now the distance is such that it is not possible for me to go there.

[Christel]

Iain,

I appreciate your input, thank you for that.

Now, believe it or not you are the only person I have heard positive feedback about at the current NRA (the few others that had a good reputation are no longer with the NRA)

I don't think we are talking about abusive untruths.

What people have got to remember is that we all (almost) have been to Bisley and really liked to go there - distance is the culprit now for some of us not going there, so with that in mind no wonder some of us voice a less than positive approach as we get nothing from our membership. Bisley/NRA do not work nationally nor for cases where the law is being changed.

Something that puzzles me is why negative feedback is not listened to, only seen as a "how dare you" say anything negative approach.
The door is slammed right in our face if we say anything less than positive.

[MistAgain]

You know ide like to know the percentage of shooters in the UK who have never had anything to do with bisley or the NRA,if u add shotgun shooters it would probably be (at a guess) 70/80%,this a loosing statistic for a so called national body.

The NRA has 9200+ individual members . I would guess that a majority of these members live within 90 minutes driving time from Bisley.

The NRA claims some 53,000 members through its membership and affiliated organisations .

The NRA claims an estimated 16,000 of its membership total practised their marksmanship last year at Bisley .

[artiglio]

I only started using bisley in 2010, at which point depending on who you spoke to there were stories of varying degrees of alledged mismanagement and decline, i believe that things were then just starting to be turned around and the place has changed for the better hugely since.

There is without doubt the need for facilities through out the rest of the country and from people i’ve spoken to there are past and on going efforts to achieve this, but land is incredibly expensive and the general mood is pretty anti shooting and these points have made aquisition and provision of new facilities very difficult.

As for the complaint that all the cash goes into bisley, given that the vast proportion of the revenues are derived from bisley and there is a growing demand for range space, it surely makes sense to make the most of your best cash generator so that it will provide the surpluses required to enable provision of facilities elsewhere when the opportunity presents.

The NRA must be acutely aware that the lack of regional facilities is the most common complaint.

I’m fortunate in that i have time to shoot midweek and whilst its 2 hours each way (210 miles round trip) getting to shoot 2-3 times a month is doable, plus i enjoy a bit of competition shooting and there is more than enough available over the year for me.

As mentioned before ,demand has increased substantially with the electronic targets being very popular as it does away with the marker availability lottery, issues with the electronics appear to be reducing in frequency and they were used ( i beleieve successfully in one of the long range events at the phoenix).

Decent toilet blocks ( regularly cleaned) electronic targets, 300 yard car park, new road and upgraded parking at rear of century, dealing with the state of the road to siberia, the pavillion take over and refurb, substantial commercial income ( which whilst initially meant siberia was largely lost midweek, with the works in butt zero now means siberia has better availalbility), the caravan site upgrades ( though not catering for the majority is fulfilling a demand and provides revenues) , efforts being made to increase range efficiency and the booking system. The refurb of zero range and adjacent short ranges.

All moves in right direction, even if there is always a section that objects to one or other.

[Strangely Brown]

There is without doubt the need for facilities through out the rest of the country and from people i’ve spoken to there are past and on going efforts to achieve this, but land is incredibly expensive and the general mood is pretty anti shooting and these points have made aquisition and provision of new facilities very difficult.

I suspect the only chance of finding new ranges is to take over redundant army ranges, if and when they become available.
And that will only happen if any future purchase or project looks commercially viable to the NRA.