Gun club takes aim at new range
Cayman Islands Sports Shooting Association
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority has approved an application by the Cayman Islands Sports Shooting Association for a new range on crown land in East End. The plans for the new facility have been on the cards since 2013 but the project blocked due to concerns about the potential contamination of the water lens in the area from lead shot. But following the gun club’s creation of a stewardship plan to prevent the lead pollution, the CPA gave the project the green light at its Wednesday meeting.
Around a dozen objectors raised concerns about the noise during the hearing, and farmers who are worried about being able to safely water and graze their animals as well as the lead contamination submitted a petition.
But with the Water Authority content that the new plan will protect the ground water from the lead, arrangements made for farmers, and the insistence that the noise would be minimal given the distance from the nearest homes, the board has granted permission.
A spokesperson for the association told the CPA that the lead shot would be replaced with steel shot on the open range and the target range would be enclosed to prevent any lead getting anywhere near the ground water. They said that the club would be using the facility mostly on Wednesdays and Saturdays but the police and customs would also use the facility from time to time. The project would also pave the way for Cayman to host shooting competitions in the future as well as opening up the possibility of a new arm of sports tourism.
The gun club range is currently located near the airport but the association would have to move from that location if the runway is ever expanded. As a result the club signed a lease with government for this location, which was chosen because it is remote, being some distance from any homes, and close to a quarry.
The project has a $1.5 million price tag and it is still not clear if the club has managed to raise the funds to cover the full cost. The Department of Environment has requested that the land is not cleared until the shooting association demonstrated that it has the cash to undertake the project to avoid the “unnecessary premature clearance of primary habitat”.
The CPA has not yet published its reasons for the approval or the conditions attached.
See details of the project here
Category: development, Local News
they are going to spend money for a gun club that no one can join? i mean you can. but what you have to go thru and what it takes. you need to be kissin one of the top dogs ass. But we struggling to get education on its feet? something that everyone will benefit from? Then you all want to ask why so much illegal guns are on island? Seriously Cayman! Think about it for just 5 mins. Its not illegal to think as yet …
And I can’t even get an air rifle like I had when I was 9 to kill iguanas…
Firearm enthusiast have one up on the education enthusiast. Maybe the youth can learn how to assemble and fire a gun in a safe environment. What a mess.
Sad times for all who have roots here.
I am a bit surprised this was approved considering the threat to the water lense. Does CPA and the Water Authority pose the question as to who will be policing the club members to ensure they are using steel shots? Police to use the range, do you think they will be using steel shots when criminals are using lead? Did they consider if there is lead leak into the water lense, this would seriously affect the farmers and the crops and meat that they would be consuming. A really bad idea considering there are other Crown land available for this venture without ruining the envorinment. Where’s the National Trust?
Lead would need something to break it down in order to get into water, as Cayman is generally limestone, which is on the alkali side of the PH scale, you would need an acid to dissolve lead. Without any management plan it would likely just oxidize and remain inert, but belt and braces approach would mean using a berm to catch the lead bullets from handguns and rifles and remove them, then using steel shotgun pellets in an open environment. Pretty low chances of contamination.
Just a point of accuracy – steel shot is often used in hunting shotguns rather than lead to protect the environment, and lead is predominantly used in handguns and longarms. In most properly designed outdoor gun ranges, there is a berm or backstop which receives all projectiles anywhere near the target, and these can be collected and re-cycled. Shots that go high can end up in the local environment, but they should not be that many in reality. To my mind, the everyday oil and coolant waste from motor vehicles is a much greater danger to Cayman than the tiny hazard of a properly managed gun range located in a remote location.
I would’ve expected better decision making considering the high profile membership make up of the CISSA to consider all angles of relocating to the eastern district agriCULTURAL zone, the only remaining bread basket of Grand Cayman. Especially considering you guys and gals have your pick of better sites scattered around the island IHMO. Isn’t steel a metal same way that will breakdown eventually? I wonder what is the current method in use to retrieve all spent casing and shells for proper disposal. Its also gonna be a pretty long day for your west bay members at the proposed location…..But inquiring minds wanna know is who going foot the 1.5M bill ?
International shooting competitions are not a bad idea. It would bring some additional spenders.
They shoulda moved it a long time ago, as you get off the plane all you hear is gunshots.
How about a trade school and better schools.
If the plan is to open this facility to tourists on a commercial basis it’s a great idea. I was in Vegas a while back and the shooting ranges there were packed with visitors spending money.
The way the club is currently managed and the way our firearms and ammunition laws are written would make this virtually impossible
In order to get onto the currently you have to be a member or a guest of a member, it is not open to the general public
In order to be a member you have to have a clean police record and then apply for membership which can take a while, tourists are basically going to be unable to do it
Unless
1) they get special treatment from the government and CISSA
or
2) Unless the laws and requirements t the Association are changed drastically
One of the last places where anyone will want to visit a shooting range as a tourist is in Cayman. Good for local enthusiasts though.
A glorified country club that closes membership applications for most of the year
I’m sure they’ll be begging for members now that they need some capital
Caymanians join up
Huh?
What planet do you live on?
I’m not into guns, I am very close friends with many of the CISSA members, but have always turned down the invites to come out and learn to shoot, but I can say for certain, tourists being able to shoot while here will attract a significant amount of people.
Just because you don’t like something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, wrong, or no one else will like it either.
Secret to getting approval for anything in Cayman, just say it’s for tourism
“The project would also pave the way for Cayman to host shooting competitions in the future as well as opening up the possibility of a new arm of sports tourism”
1 Assuming people around the world want to come here to shoot guns, which they can easily do in their own countries ( if they want to shoot guns in warm weather they will just do it in Florida or Texas or literally any other state in the south, much easier, much less hassle, much cheaper)
2. It’s going to be easier for foreigners and visitors to come here and shoot than it is for Caymanians to shoot here
If you aren’t familiar how it works the general gist is, it is a private club, members only basically and in order to join you have to apply be, checked by their board if you pass that portion you are then eligible to be considered for entry and can become a provisional member and even then you are not necessarily guaranteed membership
Read up here:
http://cissa.ky/
Millions of people around the world come here to do many things, this weekend there were many here eating, I’m sure they can eat wherever they come from but they chose to come here to do it, this weekend!
BTW – I’m against guns, and not a member of CISSA, but I can see the vision for the future.
Instead of finding reasons why we shouldn’t, why don’t we see if we can figure out how to? Just this once!
Bullet
In the Brac the shooting range (police/custom practice etc. range) should be moved some where else, for people is in the bush looking Mangoes etc, and houses are near with children.