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 The Latest On The U.S. Forest Service's Attempt To Stomp A Perfectly Safe Gun Club By Kevin Franklin THE OBSTINANCE OF the U.S. Forest Service in keeping the Tucson Rod and Gun Club's shooting range inoperable persists with the Forest Service's burial of a report and its continuing refusal to work with the club. The Forest Service effectively shut down the club in March, citing a safety assessment prepared for the service by a poorly qualified "expert," Glen Shumsky. The closure order came on a Sunday night, with no forewarning. In response, club president Mark Harris offered to have bulldozers out at the club Monday morning in order to raise the berms or do whatever the Forest Service thought was necessary to ensure public safety; but Forest Service Supervisor John McGee refused, says club lawyer David Hardy. So the club objected and took the case to U.S. District Court seeking an injunction against the Forest Service that would allow the club to stay open until members could either work out the details with McGee, or bring the issue to trial. During the injunction hearing, it was revealed that Shumsky, a high-school drop-out, had lied extensively about his qualifications, leading U.S. District Court Judge John Roll to declare that Shumsky had impeached himself. Nevertheless, Shumsky still charged the taxpayers $25,000 for his report and $100 an hour for his worthless testimony ("Look Who's Smiling Now!" Tucson Weekly, May 1).
Unfortunately for McGee, Hronek's report didn't exactly support his instantaneous and unilateral decision to close the range, Hardy says. "There have been no reported accidents inside the permitted area or outside the area as a result of firing range use," writes Hronek. "The firing range is managed appropriately and provides a relatively safe firing environment for those who utilize it." Hronek does write that the statistical probability of an accident is increasing with the greater recreational use in the area, noting there is a "rare or slight chance that an accidental rifle round would travel south or east..."
Hardy says club members would keep the pistol range closed and do anything else Hronek suggests, if they could only re-open their club. Hardy suspects the Hronek report was never mentioned earlier because it contradicts Shumsky's conclusions that the club poses an immediate danger. In fact, Hardy believes that when Hronek gave his verbal impression back in November, the Forest Service decided to look for another specialist. So even though Hronek was charging only $800 plus expenses, the Forest Service decided to hire the ill-qualified, but sympathetic, Shumsky for $25,000. Never mind that figure was four times the original estimate for the safety assessment. Shumsky was their kind of man. When Judge Roll declined the club's request for an injunction, despite Shumsky's lies and Hronek's ambiguous if not outright favorable assessment, the club launched an administrative appeal within the Forest Service bureaucracy. Regional Forester Charles Cartwright commissioned a panel of experts to review Shumsky's report and develop design criteria for improving the range. The panel concluded Shumsky's report was haphazard, poorly presented and failed to follow even basic scientific procedures. At one point, the panel notes, bullets submitted by Shumsky as "evidence" of projectiles leaving the range were so heavily oxidized they could easily be older than the range, and might, in fact, date to Civil War-era shooting. The review report, which cost another $26,000, went on to suggest a number of things the club could do to improve the safety of the range. After reading the panel's suggestions, Hardy and club officers called McGee to say they'd be willing to do everything cited in the report. The club would immediately commence construction of baffles, tubes designed to control rifle aim and anything else the panel felt was necessary to ensure public safety. Club range officers would also undergo additional training, and the club would put together a long-range plan. But McGee, who declined to comment for this story, refused to work with the club. Cartwright's office said that once the appeal process is initiated, it has to run its course. "They're stalling for time," Hardy says. "I don't think they liked what their own experts gave them. I mean, otherwise, the logical response upon getting our acceptance of (the panel's suggestions) would be to call off the administrative appeal. Where's the administrative appeal? We're in agreement. We'll do it, so they should drop their case and this will be all gone. There's nothing that forces an administrative appeal if both sides have reached an agreement." Meanwhile, the club's federal lawsuit is on hold for now. "We allowed it to go into limbo," Hardy says, "for the space of six months on the government statement that within the six months we'd have a final decision on the range, either permanent opening or closing. Needless to say, we're now five months in and we don't even have the temporary suspension decided. Now they're saying they won't decide the final thing, whether we open or close permanently, until they get through deciding the temporary thing, which will probably be another month." But the closure of the gun range may create a more serious problem.
"Just watch the next few months," Hardy says. "Deer
season starts in October. Historically, the use of the Rod and
Gun Club range skyrockets during September, October and into early
November because everybody goes in to sight-in their deer rifles.
So, now you're going to have maybe 5,000 hunters going to find
someplace in the desert around Tucson to sight-in their deer rifles
over the next two months, courtesy of John McGee."
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After Shumsky's testimony fell apart, McGee cited, for the first
time, another, earlier, safety report. This report was prepared
by Bruce Hronek, an Indiana University professor and author of
a book on risk management in recreation areas. Hronek also performs
site-specific safety and risk assessment consultations for government
and organizations.
Hronek suggests closing the practical pistol shooting range because
the quick aim nature of the combat course presents a relatively
high danger of rounds leaving the permit area.
