Were you selling or growing for personal use? Getting to year 3 and beyond looks a little tough, thanks for the beetle pointer.
St. Mary's Indoor Range First of Its Kind
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glhs837
Power with Control
A number of years ago, lots on the point of land forming the opposite side of the cove we are on were bought up by some "out of towners" and large fancy homes put there. I'm sure that when we discharge a firearm on our place, it probably sounds like it was right in their yard, despite being several hundred yards away.
There is a road and four lots that are on the GIS but never built behind me. If they ever do build it, I would most likely have to not shoot anymore. Still safe to do so, but complaints might be a thing. That road and the lots were bought and platted back the 80s, but the land was never touched. Given that the 75 acres south of me sited for 25 homes has been for sale for maybe 10 years now with no bites, and the smaller parcel to the north with five lots has only two houses on it, I'm not worried about it too much though.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
And looking at their bio's on their website, they make no mention of any prior military service. Maybe that's why?
That, is my opinion.
In totality? No. What they are asking is not being unreasonable. The unreasonable part I find irredeemable, is that only the 'anointed few, blessed by the State' get fees waived. Leaving out all the men, and women, that serve, and have served, this Nation, that in an ostensible, or most direct life threatening way, or returned disabled, by swearing, or have sworn, "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States", that guarantees them, the inalienable right to even own and shoot firearms, let alone build an indoor facility for such practice. Now, if they had no such waived fees, for any one group, I most likely wouldn't have gone off on a rant. But to give this one group a pass on fees? Because, it is a rare occurrence that the 'anointed few, blessed by the State to wear a costume and a shinny badge' actually enforce the Constitution, (even though they took an oath [fingers crossed?] as well), and, in actual practice, violate its provisions against the Citizens on a daily basis, is a huge slap in the face of those service members that were/are Soldiers, Seamen, Marines, Airmen, Coast Guard, past and present, that live, breathe, and take to heart, the tenets of the Constitution.
And looking at their bio's on their website, they make no mention of any prior military service. Maybe that's why?
That, is my opinion.
black dog
Free America
Every Marine is a rifleman, That doesn't mean they are safe on the range.
glhs837
Power with Control
Much less Sailors
But note the real objection is the fee, police get it waived while vets do not. I dont have an issue with that waiver, even as a retired vet myself. Some places give me discounts based on that status, some dont. I dont get free or even discounted coffee, which officers do in some places, I dont begrudge that. There are perks to every job in the world. I also dont mind "professional courtesy" amongst officers, properly applied. And, LR, you would be wrong about a lack of prior service, I'm pretty sure Steve is a Navy veteran himself.buddscreek
Active Member
your young marine came by Tuesday.. looking good
black dog
Free America
Yes he told me, he has hardened up for sure. I will see him in two weeks in Vegas. Then he deploys to Japan.
Glad to hear about Elvis. I'll call you my friend.
glhs837
Power with Control
I wonder what the Navy charges them to use the indoor range on base. I also wonder what the usage rate is of the indoor range on base.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
If I may ...
As is every Soldier. There have been many an instances, at Myrtle Grove WMA, where I have taken it upon myself, (taken command), upon looking across the lanes, and shouted, "Cease Fire! Cease Fire! Cease fire!", "Lanes clear!" And/Or. "Firing Lanes hot! Firing lanes hot! Firing Lanes Hot!"; Until I was finished sighting in, or just punching holes in paper. We, as you know, Marine, know what is, or what it takes, to make safe, the situation. And, as prior service members, even in the absence of leadership, we know, and are situationally aware, of any possibly unsafe stupidity. And take, the appropriate, and necessary, steps, to ensure the safety of those close to us. Do we not? "Semper Fidelis". And, "This We'll Defend", circa 1775. Regardless of posture, I do honor you, and your son's, keeping with, and protecting America's covenant.
My wife and I home brew.
We were growing them as flavor/aroma hops, used purchased hops of known assay for bittering.
It usually takes into the 3rd year for the hop yield to get good.
I built a 20' tall trellis on the west side of the house, used those tubes that reinforce the top edge of chainlink fencing.
Some of the newer varieties are being bred to be more bushy than viney.
We grew mostly English, German and Czech descent hops (3 each): Willamette, Northern Brewer, Kent Golding, Tettnanger and Saaz.
Did have 2 Cluster vines as it is an older American hop that is not overly grapefruity.
Here's another story about the range:
By Cody A. Wilcox
LEXINGTON PARK — It all started with a sketch on a napkin in a hotel room following a few drinks at a bar in Frostproof, Florida.
Competitive shooter and former Navy flight engineer Steve Thomas and former Navy parachute rigger Cindi Thomas were attending a shooting competition in 2015 and decided to doodle some building layouts.
Those sketches officially came to fruition on Aug. 5 in the form of Flat Broke Shooters Range — an 11,000-square-foot, indoor gun range in Lexington Park, Maryland.
The owners understand that their business is in the heart of a community that was once broken by a high school shooting.
But Steve and Cindi Thomas believe that their public indoor range is a needed, secure environment for the community to practice and learn about firearms.
"We want to provide a safe place for people to come and shoot year round," Steve Thomas said. "(But) it's Southern Maryland. Just like most places around the country right now, people are running out of places to shoot their gun (safely)."
"We have not had that (indoor) option for — it's been at least 20 years that we have the ability to shoot anywhere indoors around here," said Southern Maryland resident Bill Kitchens.
The owners of the barn-look-alike range, the Thomases are both members of the United States Practical Shooting Association, which is the largest dynamic shooting organization in the United States. Dynamic or practical shooting competitors maneuver through courses and score as many points as possible with a firearm in the shortest amount of time.
The Thomas' fully functioning gun range, which cost the couple "a lot" according to Cindi Thomas, has steel ceiling baffles and is lined with ballistic rubber to deflect and catch a bullet in the event of an accidental discharge.
The rest of the facility includes a lounge, retail area, kitchen, an electronic target retrieval system and an instructional classroom.
"We want to step in and help with the education to help stave off the accidental tragedies," Cindi Thomas said.
Flat Broke Shooters Range is just over eight miles away, and four turns if you're traveling by car, from Great Mills High School.
On March 20, 2018, a Great Mills student produced his father's Glock 9-millimeter pistol and shot two fellow students, Jaelynn Willey, 16, and Desmond Barnes, 14. Willey was pronounced dead two days later, while Barnes made a full recovery, St. Mary's County Sheriff public information officer Jason Babcock told Capital News Service.
School resource officer Deputy Blaine Gaskill fired one round, which hit the shooter's hand, according to Babcock.
Austin Wyatt Rollins, 17, shot himself in the head approximately the same time as Gaskill fired and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Babcock.
The St. Mary's Planning Commission approved the gun range in March 2017.
One year later, their son, a junior at the time, was in Great Mills High School during the shooting, the Thomases said. He had undergone active shooter training with his father when he was 16 years old.
"Now I'm not saying that every kid out there needs to get active shooting training, but he's — again — he's been exposed a little bit more than everybody else," Steve Thomas said. "And there's a lot of good that can come from somebody that understands what's taking place."
Great Mills High School principal Jake Heibel said that he has not received any negative feedback on Flat Broke Shooters Range and its proximity to the school.
"No students or parents have had complaints brought to me," Heibel said. "It's a little too far away."
While Flat Broke Shooters Range, which is the only public shooting range in St. Mary's County according to Cindi Thomas, is approximately 13 minutes away from Great Mills, a private range, Sanner's Lake Sportsmen's Club, is roughly 1.3 miles from the school.
Sanner's was established in the 1950s as a chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, which promoted outdoor activities for adults and kids, according to club Secretary Gary Faller.
Sanner's features ranges for pistol, archery and rifle shooting for its members, and welcomes the public to shooting competitions and other special events.
Faller says the club has a maximum of 700 members. Last year the club acquired 130 new members from its 180-person waitlist, and this year the club accepted approximately 110 new members, according to Faller.
Liz Banach, the executive director of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, said that the organization has not determined gun ranges as a risk, and instead turns its attention to block or update state legislation.
"Our organization is based on evidence," Banach said. " (There's) no compelling evidence that a shooting range puts anyone at risk. (It's) not somewhere we would allocate attention."
"It's the latest design specs -- every aspect about it is safety," Kitchens, a member of Flat Broke Shooters Range, said. "Everybody I talk to, even the people that belong to the competing range think that it's a good idea."
Located on a 4.5-acre farm that is home to 11 horses, Flat Broke Shooters Range has five full-time employees, according to Cindi Thomas.
The range has 10 shooting lanes with technology that allows targets to rotate and be placed at a distance up to 25 feet away. Members and visitors can shoot pistols, rifles and shotguns.
Memberships are $35 per month for individuals after a $50 initiation fee, and $40 per month for families — including spouses and adult children living at home — with a $75 start-up fee.
Children 7-17 can shoot for free with an adult chapone but must be accompanied by a parent on their first visit.
Non-members pay $15 for an annual safety card, $25 per hour for the first shooter and an additional $10 for every person in the same lane.
At the first visit, and annually, all participants much watch a training and safety video.
There are about 84 ranges in Maryland — 30 indoor and 54 public, according to National Shooting Sports Foundation Director of Public Affairs Mark Oliva. This number includes Sanner's, but not Flat Broke.
Participants who want to shoot at the Flat Broke range can bring their own ammunition or buy some on site.
Steve and Cindi Thomas are federally licenced firearms dealers and can sell guns out of their business, but recommend their customers purchase them at a local gun retailer.
When purchasing a firearm at a local retailer, customers are not typically granted access to a trial with the gun, Cindi Thomas said.
Flat Broke Shooters has 23 types of guns for rental, according to Cindi Thomas.
"If somebody really wants us to get a gun for them...we're more than happy to help them," Steve Thomas said. "But that's not why we built the place — we built the place to educate, train and shoot."
The state's General Assembly is majority Democrat, and Maryland has the fourth-strongest gun laws in the country, according to gun-control advocacy group Giffords Law Center's annual gun law scorecard.
Attorneys at Giffords track and analyze gun legislation in all 50 states, ranking the states based on strength or weakness of bills passed.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Repbulican, received an "A-" grade by the National Rifle Association when running for office in 2014, according to the Baltimore Sun. In 2018, Hogan signed measures including banning bump stocks and rapid-trigger devices, and the gun-rights group lowered his grade to a "C", the Sun reported.
The National Rifle Association would not confirm or comment on Hogan's grades.
After Hogan's ban of bump stocks, Giffords' ranking of Maryland jumped from sixth- to fourth- strongest in the nation.
Cindi Thomas said that the couple was not influenced by the contentious political climate within the state and country surrounding gun rights and gun control.
"We focus on doing what we know a lot of people are interested in doing in this part of the state," she said. "If you go out to Western Maryland — go out the Eastern Shore — there's certain pockets of Maryland where firearms are very common."
"We just happen to be in a county where they're quite popular and for lawful sporting purposes," Cindi Thomas said.
Steve and Cindi Thomas say that they expected 20 percent of their business would come from families. But at nearly seven weeks in, they approximated families make up about 70 percent of their income.
"If there's questions about firearms, if you're hesitant about firearms, we want a place where you can come — where maybe you're on the fence," Cindi Thomas said. "This is meant to be a family-type environment where you can come in, try it out, see if you like it."
"I have a family membership for my 24-year-old daughter, (she) is the other member on the membership," Kitchens said. "Both my kids have done shooting with me and we plan to do more (at Flat Broke Shooters Range)."
Along with offering basic classes, including pistol cleaning, ladies' basic pistol training and youth courses, the couple aims to establish competitive shooting teams within the area.
"It would be neat to be able to educate, train and if we can somehow turn that into a team competition — whether it's high school age, junior high school. That would be the ultimate (goal)," Steve Thomas said. "But with (school shootings) happening, there's a lot of negative thoughts toward that."
Steve Thomas grew up shooting recreationally and led the 2017 Senior Open USA team to a silver medal at the International Practical Shooting Confederation World Shoot in France.
Cindi Thomas began shooting in 2008 to spend more time with her husband but developed a passion for the sport. In 2014, Cindi Thomas placed fourth at the United States Practical Shooting Association nationals.
Along with running the range with her husband, who works there full-time, Cindi Thomas is employed with the Navy as a financial manager.
Prior to the opening of Flat Broke, some of Cindi's female coworkers approached the couple about an instructional course.
Using their private range behind their house on the farm, Steve Thomas developed a course outline of sorts and began teaching them shooting basics.
The Thomases then took a few National Rifle Association instructional classes and began teaching individuals with varied experience in firearms.
"We found that we had a knack for it," Steve Thomas said. "And it really helped as a couple because in some instances, the man would prefer to go to Cindi, or the woman may prefer to come to me."
Over the past 10 years, Steve and Cindi Thomas said, they have trained nearly 2,000 people in their garage and backyard, relying on word of mouth for their marketing.
Babcock, who worked over 17 years with The Enterprise news organization prior to his current work with the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, covered the shooting range's development and said that there was widespread support for the project.
"The reaction of the community and the board members themselves were very positive. Folks were looking forward to having the facility open because there are no (public) shooting ranges in St. Mary's County," Babcock said. "It was definitely supported, it was not a controversial project that came through."
"A lot of people try to make a world champion shooter in one day, and you can't do that," Steve Thomas said. "You just need to teach the fundamentals to people and teach it to them right."
By Cody A. Wilcox
Competitive shooter and former Navy flight engineer Steve Thomas and former Navy parachute rigger Cindi Thomas were attending a shooting competition in 2015 and decided to doodle some building layouts.
Those sketches officially came to fruition on Aug. 5 in the form of Flat Broke Shooters Range — an 11,000-square-foot, indoor gun range in Lexington Park, Maryland.
The owners understand that their business is in the heart of a community that was once broken by a high school shooting.
But Steve and Cindi Thomas believe that their public indoor range is a needed, secure environment for the community to practice and learn about firearms.
"We want to provide a safe place for people to come and shoot year round," Steve Thomas said. "(But) it's Southern Maryland. Just like most places around the country right now, people are running out of places to shoot their gun (safely)."
"We have not had that (indoor) option for — it's been at least 20 years that we have the ability to shoot anywhere indoors around here," said Southern Maryland resident Bill Kitchens.
The owners of the barn-look-alike range, the Thomases are both members of the United States Practical Shooting Association, which is the largest dynamic shooting organization in the United States. Dynamic or practical shooting competitors maneuver through courses and score as many points as possible with a firearm in the shortest amount of time.
The Thomas' fully functioning gun range, which cost the couple "a lot" according to Cindi Thomas, has steel ceiling baffles and is lined with ballistic rubber to deflect and catch a bullet in the event of an accidental discharge.
The rest of the facility includes a lounge, retail area, kitchen, an electronic target retrieval system and an instructional classroom.
"We want to step in and help with the education to help stave off the accidental tragedies," Cindi Thomas said.
Flat Broke Shooters Range is just over eight miles away, and four turns if you're traveling by car, from Great Mills High School.
On March 20, 2018, a Great Mills student produced his father's Glock 9-millimeter pistol and shot two fellow students, Jaelynn Willey, 16, and Desmond Barnes, 14. Willey was pronounced dead two days later, while Barnes made a full recovery, St. Mary's County Sheriff public information officer Jason Babcock told Capital News Service.
School resource officer Deputy Blaine Gaskill fired one round, which hit the shooter's hand, according to Babcock.
Austin Wyatt Rollins, 17, shot himself in the head approximately the same time as Gaskill fired and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Babcock.
The St. Mary's Planning Commission approved the gun range in March 2017.
One year later, their son, a junior at the time, was in Great Mills High School during the shooting, the Thomases said. He had undergone active shooter training with his father when he was 16 years old.
"Now I'm not saying that every kid out there needs to get active shooting training, but he's — again — he's been exposed a little bit more than everybody else," Steve Thomas said. "And there's a lot of good that can come from somebody that understands what's taking place."
Great Mills High School principal Jake Heibel said that he has not received any negative feedback on Flat Broke Shooters Range and its proximity to the school.
"No students or parents have had complaints brought to me," Heibel said. "It's a little too far away."
While Flat Broke Shooters Range, which is the only public shooting range in St. Mary's County according to Cindi Thomas, is approximately 13 minutes away from Great Mills, a private range, Sanner's Lake Sportsmen's Club, is roughly 1.3 miles from the school.
Sanner's was established in the 1950s as a chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, which promoted outdoor activities for adults and kids, according to club Secretary Gary Faller.
Sanner's features ranges for pistol, archery and rifle shooting for its members, and welcomes the public to shooting competitions and other special events.
Faller says the club has a maximum of 700 members. Last year the club acquired 130 new members from its 180-person waitlist, and this year the club accepted approximately 110 new members, according to Faller.
Liz Banach, the executive director of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, said that the organization has not determined gun ranges as a risk, and instead turns its attention to block or update state legislation.
"Our organization is based on evidence," Banach said. " (There's) no compelling evidence that a shooting range puts anyone at risk. (It's) not somewhere we would allocate attention."
"It's the latest design specs -- every aspect about it is safety," Kitchens, a member of Flat Broke Shooters Range, said. "Everybody I talk to, even the people that belong to the competing range think that it's a good idea."
Located on a 4.5-acre farm that is home to 11 horses, Flat Broke Shooters Range has five full-time employees, according to Cindi Thomas.
The range has 10 shooting lanes with technology that allows targets to rotate and be placed at a distance up to 25 feet away. Members and visitors can shoot pistols, rifles and shotguns.
Memberships are $35 per month for individuals after a $50 initiation fee, and $40 per month for families — including spouses and adult children living at home — with a $75 start-up fee.
Children 7-17 can shoot for free with an adult chapone but must be accompanied by a parent on their first visit.
Non-members pay $15 for an annual safety card, $25 per hour for the first shooter and an additional $10 for every person in the same lane.
At the first visit, and annually, all participants much watch a training and safety video.
There are about 84 ranges in Maryland — 30 indoor and 54 public, according to National Shooting Sports Foundation Director of Public Affairs Mark Oliva. This number includes Sanner's, but not Flat Broke.
Participants who want to shoot at the Flat Broke range can bring their own ammunition or buy some on site.
Steve and Cindi Thomas are federally licenced firearms dealers and can sell guns out of their business, but recommend their customers purchase them at a local gun retailer.
When purchasing a firearm at a local retailer, customers are not typically granted access to a trial with the gun, Cindi Thomas said.
Flat Broke Shooters has 23 types of guns for rental, according to Cindi Thomas.
"If somebody really wants us to get a gun for them...we're more than happy to help them," Steve Thomas said. "But that's not why we built the place — we built the place to educate, train and shoot."
The state's General Assembly is majority Democrat, and Maryland has the fourth-strongest gun laws in the country, according to gun-control advocacy group Giffords Law Center's annual gun law scorecard.
Attorneys at Giffords track and analyze gun legislation in all 50 states, ranking the states based on strength or weakness of bills passed.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Repbulican, received an "A-" grade by the National Rifle Association when running for office in 2014, according to the Baltimore Sun. In 2018, Hogan signed measures including banning bump stocks and rapid-trigger devices, and the gun-rights group lowered his grade to a "C", the Sun reported.
The National Rifle Association would not confirm or comment on Hogan's grades.
After Hogan's ban of bump stocks, Giffords' ranking of Maryland jumped from sixth- to fourth- strongest in the nation.
Cindi Thomas said that the couple was not influenced by the contentious political climate within the state and country surrounding gun rights and gun control.
"We focus on doing what we know a lot of people are interested in doing in this part of the state," she said. "If you go out to Western Maryland — go out the Eastern Shore — there's certain pockets of Maryland where firearms are very common."
"We just happen to be in a county where they're quite popular and for lawful sporting purposes," Cindi Thomas said.
Steve and Cindi Thomas say that they expected 20 percent of their business would come from families. But at nearly seven weeks in, they approximated families make up about 70 percent of their income.
"If there's questions about firearms, if you're hesitant about firearms, we want a place where you can come — where maybe you're on the fence," Cindi Thomas said. "This is meant to be a family-type environment where you can come in, try it out, see if you like it."
"I have a family membership for my 24-year-old daughter, (she) is the other member on the membership," Kitchens said. "Both my kids have done shooting with me and we plan to do more (at Flat Broke Shooters Range)."
Along with offering basic classes, including pistol cleaning, ladies' basic pistol training and youth courses, the couple aims to establish competitive shooting teams within the area.
"It would be neat to be able to educate, train and if we can somehow turn that into a team competition — whether it's high school age, junior high school. That would be the ultimate (goal)," Steve Thomas said. "But with (school shootings) happening, there's a lot of negative thoughts toward that."
Steve Thomas grew up shooting recreationally and led the 2017 Senior Open USA team to a silver medal at the International Practical Shooting Confederation World Shoot in France.
Cindi Thomas began shooting in 2008 to spend more time with her husband but developed a passion for the sport. In 2014, Cindi Thomas placed fourth at the United States Practical Shooting Association nationals.
Along with running the range with her husband, who works there full-time, Cindi Thomas is employed with the Navy as a financial manager.
Prior to the opening of Flat Broke, some of Cindi's female coworkers approached the couple about an instructional course.
Using their private range behind their house on the farm, Steve Thomas developed a course outline of sorts and began teaching them shooting basics.
The Thomases then took a few National Rifle Association instructional classes and began teaching individuals with varied experience in firearms.
"We found that we had a knack for it," Steve Thomas said. "And it really helped as a couple because in some instances, the man would prefer to go to Cindi, or the woman may prefer to come to me."
Over the past 10 years, Steve and Cindi Thomas said, they have trained nearly 2,000 people in their garage and backyard, relying on word of mouth for their marketing.
Babcock, who worked over 17 years with The Enterprise news organization prior to his current work with the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, covered the shooting range's development and said that there was widespread support for the project.
"The reaction of the community and the board members themselves were very positive. Folks were looking forward to having the facility open because there are no (public) shooting ranges in St. Mary's County," Babcock said. "It was definitely supported, it was not a controversial project that came through."
"A lot of people try to make a world champion shooter in one day, and you can't do that," Steve Thomas said. "You just need to teach the fundamentals to people and teach it to them right."
glhs837
Power with Control
So skip two game purchases and go take a class with them. I watched them teaching folks who had never held a firearm before and they are both very good instructors. And I say that as a guy who has been teaching weapons loading onto aircraft for most of my adult life.
Xbox360
Major Nelson is my hero
Thats my plan. I'm going rent a rifle and test my skills out at the range.
glhs837
Power with Control
Note I said "take a class", not just rent a rifle
Like riding a motorcycle, you can teach youself, but you'll be leaving a lot on the table if you do so.That's good that you have a farm. You don't have to meet the insurance requirements that the owner's of these facilities have to meet.
Being a member, I'm glad that they offer the safety class. I've received training from them and am a member. I'll ask for the safety class/review as I don't practice nearly enough in an enclosed environment.
Thank You Steve and Cindi for offering this service to the community!