HUNTINGTON BEACH : Gun Owners Urge City to Open Public Range

More than 50 local gun owners appeared before the City Council to urge that the city’s shooting range be reopened.

The Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Assn. operates the range at Huntington Central Park for police officers and other law enforcement professionals. The public portion of the range has been closed for nearly two years because of safety concerns.

The association plans to rebuild the outdoor range, built more than 25 years ago, to make it safer and minimize noise concerns raised by nearby residents.

However, the city and association have not yet agreed on a new lease.

Community Services Director Ron Hagan said the city and association are at odds about the period over which improvements would be made.

“The Police Officers’ Assn. needs a long-term lease to do improvements--and the city wants assurance improvements will be done in a certain amount of time,” Hagan said.

Hagan said that a lease agreement is expected to be reached soon.

Manny Rothstein, a co-founder of the local chapter of the National Rifle Assn., said gun owners need a facility at which to practice. He said more than 2,000 NRA members live in the city.

Rothstein said the range “promotes gun safety and proficiency for members of the public who own guns.”

“I think it’s a valuable asset. People are going to own guns, no matter what, and they should have a supervised place to shoot and instruction available to them in the interest of safety.”

Rothstein said gun owners attended the council meeting this week to show the council and the Police Officers’ Assn. that the public is interested in the range being reopened.

“The public’s interest in this matter has been ignored by both the Police Officers’ Assn. and the City Council,” Rothstein said. “We want to remind them there are a lot of constituents out there who think this is an important issue.”