Sheriff's Office wants a gun range; old DeLaveaga site would be ideal

Got Lead? Oh...and tons of cash?

Oh NO! Not only is Santa Cruz known for its hapless homeless, sponge-brained college students, political correctness, and as "Serf" City for it's outrageous taxes...but soon the county might be typecast by "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight!"

A range is needed. However, one that could be used by the Sheriff's office some days and by the public on other days, just might find sources of funding outside of government.

Besides, with gangs moving in to the city of Santa Cruz, members need practice too. Stray bullets are devasting to the unsuspecting. I would much rather have gang-on-gang shootings hit their intended targets instead of the mom or child in the house down the street.

Lets see; $50 million for an artist center,
3 for a foot bridge next to the highway and the cops have to leave town to practice.

this is UNBELIEVABLE..
the city has just spent the last year
unloading all the debris from the gun range.
we have been promised a park.
i'd like an accounting of the money spent
to clean up the area.

Steve Hartman wrote:

Oh NO! Not only is Santa Cruz known for its hapless homeless, sponge-brained college students, political correctness, and as "Serf" City for it's outrageous taxes...but soon the county might be typecast by "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight!"
A range is needed. However, one that could be used by the Sheriff's office some days and by the public on other days, just might find sources of funding outside of government.
Besides, with gangs moving in to the city of Santa Cruz, members need practice too. Stray bullets are devasting to the unsuspecting. I would much rather have gang-on-gang shootings hit their intended targets instead of the mom or child in the house down the street.

Exactly right Steve-it should be able to be used by the public.I took a gun safety course up there when I was a kid and I didn`t even get feel like shooting up a neighborhood afterwards!

Was the Delaveaga soluable lead "deposit" ever cleaned up? When the range was closed, "lead" was the nominal argument for closing. The council's substantive objection focused on guns. If, afterall, the city was really interested in environmental issues the golf course would have been a better target;-) That said, seems silly to spend public treasure at the moment on a capital project like a shooting a range. Shooters have options...all private facilities. Hey, the Delaveaga facility was useless for long guns and only the Sheriff folk could use shotguns (by the way, most civilians use non-toxic shotgun loads.)Let the Sheriff deal with it with the operating budget. Maybe paintball exercises around the County Building after 5 pm;-) Using a variety of colors and assuming the "shooters" will miss from time to time, fund the activity with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and think of it as a dynamic art project to spruce up the bleak appearance of the County Building.

oh my freaking god
are you telling me they made a supersite out of a gun range ?
tell em to call the buffalo range in ottawa illinois
the state epa cleaned up their range and now they are back in business
law enforcement without a place to qualify
you oughta be ashamed of yourselves

Here again the typical bureaucratic "mentality" that "seperate and un-equal" facilities are somehow needed. Why on earth spend taxdollars on a private shooting club just for employees of police/CHP/Sheriff's departments to use ? Not only would that be a stupid, haughty, arrogant, action it would further distance employees of city/county/state from the people that pay their bills. Now a mixed use range where such employees rub elbows with their employers would be a very good thing in terms of P.R., Espionage data on just who is and who is not a pretty good shot, as well as surface some of the unstable personalities on the payroll, as well as in the generaal public. The "let them eat cake" attitude bureaucrats typically have will continue to be a dis-service, as well as lead to ever higher taxpayer costs of maintaining current levels of "law enforcement" employment, or, will lead to cuts in staffing in order to conserve limited taxdollars.

When was the last time the Sheriff's department fired a gun while on duty?

Our tax dollars are supposed to pay for it but we can't use it?

this area was promised (by city parks/rec) to be a
safe park , free from traffic and
bullets.

tax dollars were used for a year to
clean up this area. it couldn't
have been cheap. re-open and
in another ten years the funds
will be needed for clean up.
when will they learn?

Let them pratice at the flats and trolls downtown!
Bring back the TROLL BUSTERS!

Yes! We need a shooting range! Also the Sheriff needs
to start issuing Carry permits in this county. Legal
gun owners should not have to depend on his whim to be able to exercise their constitutional right to be safe in their homes AND their persons. California
is a "May Issue" State. The Sheriff has sole discretion to issue carry permits or not.
This is wrong and should be corrected.
Law abiding citizens
are entitled to protect themselves.

mastering a 9mm doesnt require much time.

Lucas wrote:

Our tax dollars are supposed to pay for it but we can't use it?

so unfair in my opinion. i hope we still have our 2nd amendment

The basic difference between the gang bangers and the police is that the gang bangers who shoot up a neighborhood have no regard for my safety, yours, or your childrens. They just want to shoot up the place. The police, on the other hand, are not only required to neutralize the threat of these bangers, but also do it with the publics safety as their foremost priority. They need to be superior marksmen to the gang bangers, and providing a rifle/shotgun/pistol range is essential.

I've worked side by side with many of these fine heroes in our midst in the past, and, although they risk their lives without much support from their public and certainly not the A$$ CLOWN politicians we negligently elect, they do so with class, dignity, courage and commitment not found by most in our communities. Any argument against providing them with adequate training facilities is wrong, and any beareaucrat who opposes it should be run out of office.

The Troll Busters are closing in on retirement age - and while at least two of them still have their jackets, neither guy can squeeze into them :-)

Perhaps they can open a Troll Buster School as a public vocational school and we can once again look forward to finding trolls tied up with their own clothing on park benches, patiently waiting for the police to arrest them for public nudity.

My 2 Cents wrote:

Yes! We need a shooting range! Also the Sheriff needs to start issuing Carry permits in this county.
This is wrong and should be corrected. Law abiding citizens are entitled to protect themselves.

Amen, sign me up!

The streets of watsonville are perfect for a gun range.