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Aug. 26, 2009
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Politicians aim for shooters' votes

Clark County Shooting Park dedication triggers assertions of gun rights support

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Video

PARK FEATURES

The Clark County Shooting Park is a $61 million facility funded through the sale of public land under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. The 148-acre facility, ensconced in 2,900 acres of land, includes these features:

24 combination trap and skeet fields with a pro shop and cafeteria

An archery range and building with a 30-seat classroom and restrooms

A public rifle and pistol range with a pro shop and convenience store

A hunter education center with a 90-seat classroom with archery, rifle, pistol and shotgun ranges and a simulated hunting course

A shotgun center with 80 spaces for recreational vehicles that will house safety officers on-site.


Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., tells of shooting a jack rabbit in his youth at Tuesday's dedication of the Clark County Shooting Park in the northern valley. Reid, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons and Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Harry Reid progeny Rory Reid all took turns declaring their support for gun rights in Nevada.
Photo by John Locher.



U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, left, and John Ensign chat at the dedication ceremony, with state Sen. John Lee sitting between them.
Photo by John Locher.



Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., poses for a photo Tuesday with Nathan Taylor at the Clark County Shooting Park. The first phase of the 148-acre public shooting facility, on Decatur Boulevard about five miles north of the northern Las Vegas Beltway, is expected to open to the public in the next few months.
Photo by John Locher.





Everyone knows Sen. Harry Reid is tough on political foes, but he's even tougher on jack rabbits.

Wielding an antique .22- caliber rifle Tuesday, Reid, D-Nev., told an audience of Nevada gun enthusiasts how he once used his final bullet to bring down a skinny hare for his grandmother to make into rabbit stew.

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    • "In my childhood mind that was the best thing I had ever eaten, and it probably was," Reid said at a dedication party for the Clark County Shooting Park. In reality, "it was an old, beat-up jack rabbit," he said.

    Although the event was billed as a community celebration, the political overtones were clear.

    Reid, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons and Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Harry Reid progeny Rory Reid all took turns declaring their support for gun rights in Nevada, a wide-open Western state where Democrats and Republicans love shooting.

    It was the elder Reid who came loaded with the biggest political weapon, a flattering speech from Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association, a gun rights organization with 3.5 million members and a $120 million annual budget.

    "He is a true champion of the Second Amendment," LaPierre said of Reid.

    Recent polling suggests Reid can use all the help he can get.

    Although Reid's job as Senate majority leader makes him the highest-ranking politician in state history, his approval rating with Nevadans is just 37 percent, according to a statewide poll last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.

    His opponents also are saying Reid's status among the most powerful politicians in the country has undermined his relationship with everyday Nevadans. They say Reid is more interested in pleasing President Barack Obama and liberal Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., than doing what's best for the state.

    In the Mason-Dixon poll, voters also said they preferred Republican Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian of Las Vegas to Reid, 49 to 38 percent.

    Tarkanian consultant Jamie Fisfis says Tarkanian is as pro-gun as Reid and doesn't have the political baggage of unpopular government spending and an expensive health care reform proposal weighing him down.

    "I don't want to minimize the fact that most of the people who are strong Second Amendment supporters object to just about everything else (Reid) does," Fisfis said. "It is not going to be enough."

    Reid says that he doesn't care about polls and that Mason-Dixon's sampling of 400 registered Nevada voters was inadequate.

    But by showing up at the gun range, introducing LaPierre and boasting of an emotional connection to firearms, Reid might have bolstered his appeal with an everyman and everywoman demographic.

    "These weapons become our friends. This weapon is my friend," Reid said of his 75-year-old rifle.

    Reid was just one of several politicians who used the dedication of the park as a platform to support gun rights.

    Ensign, Gibbons and Berkley talked about how they helped park supporters assemble the 2,900 acres needed for the $61 million park and a surrounding buffer zone. The first phase of the 148-acre public shooting facility, on Decatur Boulevard about five miles north of the northern Las Vegas Beltway, is expected to open to the general public in the next few months.

    Berkley spoke about how, in 2003, she and Gibbons, then a congressman, co-sponsored a bill that helped in the creation of the park.

    Berkley didn't claim to be an avid shooter but said her constituents wanted the park built.

    "If it is good enough for my constituents, by gosh, it is certainly good enough for me," she said.

    Ensign told a gun story of his own, albeit a much darker one than Reid's.

    He talked about a gun accident that occurred while he was living with his grandparents after the divorce of his parents. According to Ensign, his then 12-year-old uncle and a friend "got to messing around with their guns."

    "My uncle's best friend ended up pointing the gun at him and shot him in the chest and killed him," Ensign said.

    After the incident, Ensign said he, "grew up a little bit afraid of guns," adding, "that is one of the reasons shooting parks like this are so important is to educate people on gun safety."

    Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.

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    Ann wrote on August 30, 2009 07:44 PM: Five miles north of the 215 Beltway...my ass. It's maybe three and less than a mile from Shadow Ridge High School.

    Great thinking, put it on the edge of a neighborhood. Why wasn't this placed out in the middle of NO WHERE?? It's in my backyard, I can see it from my patio. Brilliant politicians!!! You don't have to live next to this thing. There are lots of places in the desert that this place could have been set up, but they put it near schools and neighborhoods. I never understand the logic of you stupid people.


    Lou wrote on August 30, 2009 07:14 PM: As for the title of this article. "Wont work" From a Shooter!!!!


    Big Ugly wrote on August 27, 2009 12:59 PM: {Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on August 26, 2009 06:49 PM:
    All you cons be consistent and stay away from the socialist shooting park, hear?} Yes, you do sound "fair & balanced!
    Don't worry, I won't be coming to the Gun Park - soon, that will be the only place that libs will allow weapons to be kept!
    Over my dead body!


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on August 26, 2009 09:59 PM: "Rodman wrote on August 26, 2009 05:53 PM: Hay, with all of those politicos showing up there its to bad there wasn't any actual shooting events. They all would have been great targets and the shooters could have made a hell of a dent in cleaning up the national political scene."

    You guessed it: another right-wing domestic terrorist.


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on August 26, 2009 06:49 PM: All you cons be consistent and stay away from the socialist shooting park, hear?


    Rodman wrote on August 26, 2009 05:53 PM: Hay, with all of those politicos showing up there its to bad there wasn't any actual shooting events. They all would have been great targets and the shooters could have made a hell of a dent in cleaning up the national political scene.


    Sooo funny...... wrote on August 26, 2009 04:24 PM: @The definition of firearms...."

    That post is hilarious in that you included that video link. Isn't that the nonsense that those tax protestors were selling? Ole Irwin in in the jailhouse and your buddy, Kahre isn't far behind.

    You guys are sooooo funny,, a barrel of monkeys.

    HaHa HeHe

    /s/
    The boys at the I _ _


    NEPA Issues wrote on August 26, 2009 04:18 PM: Does anyone know how this park was developed so close to residential?

    The lead from the bullets leaching into the soil is a biohazard for the residences in the area.

    I guess the very lowest poverty level citizens don't get much consideration. If someone attempted to build this park built in even a low-middle class neighborhood the proposal would be "shot down" (no pun intended).



    A broken window already wrote on August 26, 2009 04:15 PM: It is already around the neighborhood. Someone's window was cracked by a stray bullet!

    Could have been from one of the many street gangs in the neighborhood. The entire area surrounding the park is real rough NLV hood


    JeffBinTX wrote on August 26, 2009 01:42 PM: "These weapons become our friends. This weapon is my friend," Reid said of his 75-year-old rifle. You can tell a lot about Reid's REAL attitude towards firearms when he calls his "best friend" a weapon. He probably woudn't call his 75-year old hunting knife a weapon, nor his 75-year old baseball bat. But boy, that .22 sure is a weapon! The liberals allow their western members to seek political shelter by pretending to be pro 2nd amendment as long as the gun control legislation ultimately gets passed.


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