Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

What would it take to open a shooting range in Virginia? Here are my initial thoughts. Please assist with any thoughts that you have.

I will likely have to build a new facility, so I assume that zoning and all county requirements will have to be discussed with my local community development office before buying property.

Are there any State requirements that will have to be met?

Federal requirements? We plan to start without an FFL, so there will not be any firearm sales, though we would likely sell ammunition, targets and accessories. We may go the FFL route after we get established.

Insurance requirements - who would be a good insurance provider for such a venture?

Other than the above, I really have no idea - hoping to find some information here.

First place I'd go is to my local shooting range. Ask around about different things as if I were going to open something up on the other side of the state where they wouldn't see me as being competition. Might get more open and honest answers that way.

ShotgunBlast wrote:First place I'd go is to my local shooting range. Ask around about different things as if I were going to open something up on the other side of the state where they wouldn't see me as being competition. Might get more open and honest answers that way.

Thought about that. Good idea. Maybe even a couple of well-worded emails...

Just sent an email to the NRA as well. Surely they have some sort of checklist or program in place just for such things.

IANAL wrote:Just sent an email to the NRA as well. Surely they have some sort of checklist or program in place just for such things.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Seems to me I remember NRA has either a handbook or an online piece on ranges. Anyway, there is info on the net on this.

IANAL wrote:What would it take to open a shooting range in Virginia?

A ton of money.

Indoor, outdoor? Where within the state? Different parts of the state likely have different target customers, and therefore differing range design requirements to cater to those customers.

I will likely have to build a new facility, so I assume that zoning and all county requirements will have to be discussed with my local community development office before buying property.

Of course that is a requirement. and you'll spend quite a bit with your lawyer to research this out for each potential property you consider.

Are there any State requirements that will have to be met?

Specific to a range, none that I am aware of, but there are plenty of OSHA/EHS that will have to be met that can be quite expensive because of the airborne lead.

You should attend the NRA range development & operations conference. Its a week long event. I attended it in 2009 in Rhode Island.

there is a wealth of info here:
http://www.nrahq.org/shootingrange/

A local FFL was going to do this, and aim it at use by LEOs for a qualification range as well as being open to the public, but decided they just couldn't afford it. They said just the HVAC to control airborne lead was going to run way over $100,000 Sounds like a lot of money to me, but that's what they said.

IANAL wrote:What would it take to open a shooting range in Virginia? Here are my initial thoughts. Please assist with any thoughts that you have.

I will likely have to build a new facility, so I assume that zoning and all county requirements will have to be discussed with my local community development office before buying property.

Are there any State requirements that will have to be met?

Federal requirements? We plan to start without an FFL, so there will not be any firearm sales, though we would likely sell ammunition, targets and accessories. We may go the FFL route after we get established.

Insurance requirements - who would be a good insurance provider for such a venture?

Other than the above, I really have no idea - hoping to find some information here.

Alot of enviromental issues.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) may have some useful info for your research and possible grants.

http://nssf.org/research/