- MORE LAST MINUTE GIFT GUIDE!
- Make it a homemade holiday: Look like a thoughtful gift giver with a handmade creation
- Fun fitness gifts: From equipment to supplements, find a gift for your favorite athlete
- Fine wines at Christmastime: Holiday gift giving is easy when you live in wine country
The talk of guns is a sensitive subject, especially in the wake of a mass shooting. But the facts remain: The right to bear arms is a fundamental right, and guns are legal to own (albeit highly regulated).
Although California has some of the toughest firearm regulations in the U.S., it’s not impossible to own one here. There are an estimated 33 million guns owned by average citizens in this state alone, according to numbers compiled by Movoto.com, a real estate blog.
Owning a gun carries a huge responsibility. Luckily, you don’t necessarily need to own a gun to learn how to use one. That’s what ranges are for. Most shooting ranges in Santa Barbara County are private, although there are some public ones that offer training classes for newbies who’ve never shot a gun, as well as experts who need a refresher or two.
For Tacti-Cool Guns and Gear owner Brian Anton, training is paramount when it comes to gun ownership. He believes it should be a necessary prerequisite.
“Owning a gun is a responsibility much like owning a vehicle,” Anton said. “Responsible gun ownership is a high owner priority.”
Tacti-Cool is a gun shop, and it also houses an indoor shooting range and offers training classes. For $75 (not including rental and ammunition), one can attend the Friday pistol class and learn the basics of using semi-automatic pistols and revolvers. The class focuses on safe handling, pistol parts, ammunition, proper grip, sight, alignment, and stance.
All of the training culminates with the student shooting down the range with the direct supervision of an instructor. The classes start at 2 p.m. and are available to adults and kids 8 and older with a parent.
Two four-class training courses, Women’s 101 and Women’s Advanced Pistol, are offered at $25 per class for a total of $100. The 101 course is much like the Friday pistol class.
The advanced course requires the 101 as a prerequisite and teaches how to draw from a holster, reload, shoot on the move and from cover, marksmanship, and mindset.
Each course is four months long, and the cost covers use of a gun, ammunition, and safety equipment.
General rates for the firing range rental run $17.50 per hour, however a year membership of $125 waives that fee. Tacti-Cool also sells gift cards for any amount. For more information, call 346-2501 or visit tcgng.com.
North County is home to many other shooting ranges. The Santa Maria Gun Club has an indoor pistol range that’s open to the public for a fee of $10 per session ($5 for members; yearly memberships run $125). To use the range, you have to bring your own gun.
The club also hosts several firearm training courses by instructor and range master Brian Wells, including introduction to handguns, family gun safety, and concealed carry training for San Luis Obispo County. For more information, call 925-6673 or visit santamariagunclub.org.
And then there’s the Winchester Canyon Gun Club in Santa Barbara. In addition to the $125 yearly membership, the club offers a 200-yard range that’s open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays for a $20 all-day fee. For more information, call 964-5606 or visit wcgc.net.
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 10-17, 2015.