Council Delays Action in Shooting Range Controversy

Kevin Brooks, who says he is a longtime member of the National Rifle Assn., stood before the City Council on Monday with his wife, Linda, and two daughters to urge officials to close the police firing range until safety improvements are made.

The rear door of the Brooks’ home on Ford Drive was struck in January by a bullet that apparently escaped from the range.

“Thankfully, no one was injured,” Brooks said, but “if there are unsafe conditions, this range should be closed down until improvements are made.”

The council postponed any action on the gun range, operated by the Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Assn. on city-owned property, until later this month, though some council members have said the facility on Gothard Street near Talbert Avenue should be closed for good.

The police union shut down the range last month pending a safety evaluation, then reopened it after the study found that the facility posed no imminent threat to public safety. A number of improvements were recommended though.

The issue has stirred sharply divided public comment.

More than 60 people from the NRA Members Council of Huntington Beach were at Monday’s meeting to turn in petitions signed by more than 200 people who want the facility opened to the public for gun safety classes and recreational use.

The range is now open only for law-enforcement agencies, including Huntington Beach police who train there.

Manny Rothstein, founding president the NRA Members Council, said there is strong support in the community for the firing range and that, in the more than 25 years of operation, it has an excellent safety record.

“It can be safer,” he said, but “there’s nothing in the range operations that should cause the public concern,” Rothstein said.