Skip to main content

Tag: APC

Auckland Pistol Club – shooters who get stuff done

Geoff Leave a comment

We all heard about the noise complaints at Auckland Pistol Club (APC). We were all instantly worried about our own clubs, and the directions our shooting sports could take if established venues such as this one could get shut down. Well, the news, for once, is good.

It should be clarified, APC was never shut down. They entered into a voluntary closure of 3 months, to get out in front of what could have been a messy situation. The club and its members took proactive measures to ensure their pistol shooting range would not be in danger of having its doors closed by anyone else.

Substantial effort has been put in, to ensure Aucklanders have a safe place to train and compete. Image credit: APC
Substantial effort has been put in, to ensure Aucklanders have a safe place to train and compete. Image credit: APC

Their club secretary had this to say to The Gun Rack;

“We closed voluntarily for 3 months at the time of the first complaint to allow us to engage with the complainant and council. Needless to say the complainant has never engaged with us. We are in frequent contact with the council and working with them on the issue. We have been opened ever since that initial 3 month closure.”

The club has put substantial effort (and $$$) into making sure shooters in Auckland have a safe place to train and compete. The 16-bay turning target ISSF range has been sound-insulated and has proven to be very effective at containing noise, with sound dampening material at the mound and down the walls of the range.

The Auckland Pistol Club has great facilities and is open for business! They’re busy making sure all of the ranges capture as much escaping sound as is reasonably possible, in order to ensure the club can continue to operate at full capacity. Image credit: APC

Also fully approved by the club for use, is the large IPSC range which is used by members for casual practice, and weekly competitions. There is more soundproofing to be done on this range, so there is a restriction on ported handguns and magnum calibres until this is sorted.

So, how can you help Auckland and national shooting sports? Well, you can do two things:

  1. Always obey the instructions of the range you are shooting on, to help protect the ongoing use of that land, especially if your range has a resource consent in place or fussy neighbours.
  2. Chip in. Lend a hand, gift some materials or donate a few bucks to help the cause. APC has a ‘Give-a-little’ page, helping them to fund work such as the IPSC range soundproofing – that’d be a good place to start.

Auckland Pistol Club no longer closed

Geoff Leave a comment

[Editor’s note: Auckland Pistol Club has reopened after their three month voluntary closure. Members are welcome to enjoy their old range with added improvements, and new members are being taken on. You can contact APC at this link]

Members of Auckland Pistol Club (APC) will face the unfortunate situation of having to find somewhere else to shoot as their local club has been shut down for allegedly breaching its resource consent.

A noise complaint from a nearby property led to an environmental health officer measuring noise at the property boundary, which revealed noise in excess of the constraints of the resource consent under which the club operates.

Without any prior warning of an action against them, the club has been shut down until further notice – which is to say, shut down until appropriate measures have been taken by the club to bring it back within its resource consent’s parameters.

This not only means other clubs will have a tough time accommodating an influx of pistol shooters, but also that new pistol shooters will have their training interrupted. Those members of the club that need to shoot elsewhere to complete their mandatory 12 shoots for the year should use a ‘shooter’s diary page’ to log their activity. You can get these from the PNZ website.

APC is currently doing all they can to have access to the range restored, and are working with members, acoustic engineers and the council to remedy the situation.

It’s an unfortunate situation, but a strong reminder to all shooters to obey their club rules, stick within resource consents and operate their firearms in a safe and controlled manner. Sticking to ‘the rules’ not only ensures the safety and well-being of yourself and those around you, but also ensures that you and your club can continue to enjoy shooting sports without interruption.

[Editor’s note: Auckland Pistol Club has reopened after their three month voluntary closure. Members are welcome to enjoy their old range with added improvements, and new members are being taken on. You can contact APC at this link]