Fudd: In the 2A community, the "Fudd" is a derogatory term for those of the boomer generation (born between 1945-1969) or those who refuse to consider modernization within the community. Fudds can be identified by their love of 1911-style pistols, wood stock rifles, and an aversion to the AR15 platform and its standard capacity 30 round magazine.

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I have this frustrating problem. I live in a military town, not just any military town, but home to the most war-hungry units in the US Army and home to the US Army’s Special Operations Command. Because of this, you would figure finding a place to go shoot, even to check a zero, would be EZPZ, right? Wrong. And that’s my frustration.

And INB4 anyone is like: why can’t you just shoot on-post? Are there not ranges there? And there’s one, ONE, civilian-style range on post that can be accessed for $8 (last I checked) however it’s only 100 yards deep and busy as hell at all hours of its operation. PLUS, you have to register your weapons in order to bring them on post, and I’m not doing that, sorry.

But Jim, you’ll say, you’re in Special Operations! I thought you guys could just walk your guns on to your dedicated ranges whenever you wanted? And this is true, you generally can in the SOF community and this was the case when I was living in Colorado, when I was in a SOF unit. Currently, I am not assigned to a SOF unit so getting access to the compound whenever I want, especially armed with my personally owned weapons, is kinda a no-go. Plus we’re back to registering the firearms on post.

So that brings us to off-post ranges. You’d think there would be a plethora, each vying for soldiers' business, driving each other’s range fees down, all to the benefit of the shooter!

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Fucking-nope. What we have here, in my immediate area is a number of either crummy pits to shoot in on some private land where the owner is a good ol’ boy sitting in a shack and charging people $20 a-go to use the land or a super high-tech facility that’s only open to the public on the weekends (the weekdays are reserved for military and police unit training, gotta get that contract money, yo) and the fees are akin to extortion (try $30/hr, oh and time starts as soon as you sign the waiver in the range office, a 10 minute drive from the actual firing positions).

And this is the crux of it. The ranges in between, the ones with moderate pricing, are NRA-members-only ranges.

Earlier this week I looked up a local range I do a monthly 2-gun match at, to see if I could get access to zero a few of my uppers (I also got a new optic from KI Precision I want to try out and zero to my KIP DMR). The range in question is fairly close to me, about 20 minutes from my house, has a number of special use bays (where they conduct the 2-gun match I shoot) and some 300 yard ranges. Not great but it’s got what I need. When I went to the range’s membership website, this is what I saw:

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In short, I would be required to pay $250 in my first year ($150 in subsequent years) and pass a safety course put on by the range staff. I can get behind the safety course, but $250 a year, for a rinky-dink range in the woods? C’mon.

But that’s not all! New members had to be sponsored by an existing member, and pass a vote of all the members. IN ADDITION, YOU MUST BE AN NRA MEMBER IN ORDER TO BE ACCEPTED.

This is hands down the most Fudd shit ever, and I suspect many ranges have these ridiculous requirements to preserve the (literally dying) membership and boomer-fuck group-think. God-forbid someone with dyed hair, a nose ring, tattoos, trans, Black, or anything else that doesn’t conform to 1950s American societal norms, attempt to shoot at their range and challenge their fragile-as-fuck notions.

The very fact that in 2024 the NRA holds any relevance boggles my mind, especially after their Lohanian spiral after the 2016 Presidential Elections when it was discovered the organization’s leadership were eskimo brothers with a known Russian intelligence asset/case officer and laundered money for the Kremlin. Wayne LaPierre, from the security of his floating fortress/yacht, stepped down in January 2024 after over 30 years as president. He is currently under civil indictment in connection to millions of dollars embezzled from the organization.

So naturally I was curious about what benefits go to a range that mandates a 100% NRA membership. After posting about this topic in my IG Stories, a few followers mentioned that there’s insurance and legal assistance provided to ranges who side with the NRA. I reached out to the range I had considered joining to find out if they had received ANY benefits what-so-ever from the NRA, but as of the time writing this Dispatch, I haven’t received word back (will update if I hear anything).

From a 2011 Reuters article I found online, at that time the NRA provided just over $11M to approximately 22K 100% NRA Member Ranges (lets just call them “100%ers” for ease of typing and reading). That $11M was spread across approximately 13 years. So if I’m doing the math right, that’s on average about $300 per range, per year in NRA funding. Funding for what, you might ask? According to the article, most ranges used the funds to update or improve existing infrastructure or facilities.

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The NRA also provides a kick-back to 100%er ranges. For every new member that joins the organization, the club gets $10 and $5 for every renewal. So there’s incentive for the club/range ownership to become a 100%er club.

100%er clubs also get access to grant money and legal assistance provided by the NRA. However, the club from the article was denied grant money when the application was rejected due to a “paperwork error” which seems awfully convenient.

The legal assistance angle seems the most enticing. Many ranges are being encroached upon by sprawling residential developments and anti-gun local governments. Having access to high-priced, 2A-specific lawyers could potentially preserve these ranges or at least put up a fight against a town council. But, despite my two days of research, I haven’t found a single case of NRA-appointed attorneys swooping in to save the day. What I imagine happens is the club/range is given a phone number to a local 2A-friendly attorney (who’s probably also an NRA member) who will then charge the club their usual fee to take up their defense. I can’t prove this, it’s just a hunch based off of my previous experience as an NRA member.

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The year was 2011 and after having been a member and letting it lapse back in 2007, I decided to join a local 100%er range. I paid the $20-$30 for a one year membership. I liked the range, it was pretty nice for the area and they hosted monthly matches every week (prior to this I had never seen cowboy action shooting and holy shit).

Some time later, in the same year, legislation was making it’s way through the state I was living in, looking to ban AR-style rifles. While I knew the state I was living in at the time was very pro-gun and this legislation was going nowhere, I was curious what the NRA was doing about it. So I called.

The phone rang twice I think, I recall being surprised I wasn’t sent to a voicemail or automated message. A real person picked up and greeted me. I explained the nature of my call and was immediately given a sales pitch to up my donation/membership.

I politely declined, and asked again what the NRA was doing about the proposed legislation in my state.

Again, they pressed the donation/membership enhancement pitch.

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I took a deep breath and again, stated I was just calling for information. I was told to “hold please” and sat on hold for about 5 minutes or so. Someone else picked up, and the process started over.

At no time was I passed off to someone who could answer my question. Instead it was a parade of thick southern or Texan accents asking me to give the organization more money.

It was then I realized the NRA is simply a grift, bent on generating dollars for its board. That’s all. That’s it. They do not actually advocate for individual gun rights, they pad their pockets with donations, much in the same way the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and Wounded Warriors Foundation have done.

So again, it boggles my mind that any club would still associate with the NRA in 2024, except as a discriminator to keep their clubs/ranges as boomer-fuck-white as possible.

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