I was just looking at a Scouting handbook on the shooting sports (dated 2015), and it was quite clear that no shooting activities could happen at BSA events unless they were either held at BSA camps with their own permanent shooting ranges on the property, OR, held on private property if (and only if) the following conditions were met (and I'm paraphrasing):
1-- Land owner gives BSA access anytime, no notice. BSA can come and go as they please and use the land whenever, without the landowner being present.
2-- Land owner allows the BSA to build structures on the land-- shelters, benches and chairs, a covered firing range, etc. (For some property owners, that may be a nice thing. But others, who just want to host a Boy Scouts group shoot a few times a year in the bean pasture, shooting at paper targets placed on plywood backers in front of a hill, this would be bad. The farmer may not want any permanent structures in his field).
3-- *********** EDITED . I was wrong about this. BSA promises to maintain liability insurance, not the land owner. ************
4-- As stated in posts above, the size of the berm, the construction of the target frames and backers, the requirement to fence-off the area of the range forward of the firing line, etc. are all OVERKILL, quite unreasonable.
I want to see more young people get exposure to the shooting sports. But BSA isn't helping. They let their kids have a tiny little sample of shooting, for just a few rounds per year, once a year for most Scouts.
1-- Land owner gives BSA access anytime, no notice. BSA can come and go as they please and use the land whenever, without the landowner being present.
2-- Land owner allows the BSA to build structures on the land-- shelters, benches and chairs, a covered firing range, etc. (For some property owners, that may be a nice thing. But others, who just want to host a Boy Scouts group shoot a few times a year in the bean pasture, shooting at paper targets placed on plywood backers in front of a hill, this would be bad. The farmer may not want any permanent structures in his field).
3-- *********** EDITED . I was wrong about this. BSA promises to maintain liability insurance, not the land owner. ************
4-- As stated in posts above, the size of the berm, the construction of the target frames and backers, the requirement to fence-off the area of the range forward of the firing line, etc. are all OVERKILL, quite unreasonable.
I want to see more young people get exposure to the shooting sports. But BSA isn't helping. They let their kids have a tiny little sample of shooting, for just a few rounds per year, once a year for most Scouts.
