Background: In 1943 the Navy acquired the land and constructed the Defense Fuel Support Point (DFSP) along Gaffey St. in San Pedro located at Agajanian Way. They implemented a general-use multi-station firing range and from that era forward it was open to the public and we all shared this scarce resource with law enforcement easily. We all paid ‘range fees’ for upkeep, maintenance, electricity and the usual expenses. No one complained and all had equal access on a first-come-first-served basis.
The problem as it evolved: Many of the petitioners’ recall using the range including the Elks Lodge Pistol Club nearby, several Boy Scout troops, 4-H, high schools, college ROTC, NRA, CRPA members and more. Then in recent history the Los Angeles Police Dep’t (LAPD) inked a private pact with Navy Real Estate (NRE) to assume full control of the range and subsequently closed it to the public as evidenced by the sign above. This naturally created quite a hardship on all of the organizations above so after visiting DFSP and then Seal Beach Naval Weapons our calls were directed to San Diego NRE for discussion.
When contacted; NRE stated LAPD provides them with zero compensation and merely an indemnity document to ‘hold Navy harmless’ for any potential issues and that satisfies NRE but after discussion NRE stated that it was open to proposals provided proper information was provided to reopen the conversation.
Based on this, here are the conditions petitioners seek to remedy:- The petitioners take note of the fact that upon monitoring the activity on a daily basis shows the range is rarely if ever occupied on weekends nor holidays. Further; the LAPD is not consistently there; days and sometimes weeks go by with little to no activity leading to the conclusion that the single-user facility could be restored to what it once was with minimal or no impact to LAPD when properly managed.
- Petitioners further note that the LAPD has no overarching and demonstrable need to exclude the everyone from entry and use of the facility they do not own and were always welcomed at previously thereby denying the public access to formerly open government owned facilities.
- Worth noting is that Navy openly and generously permits the local clubs to have access to immediately adjacent baseball fields and leases out property at the DFSP to commercial users based upon common agreements with public and private entities so NRE is no stranger to proper sharing of facilities.
- It should come as no surprise that the exclusionary pact with LAPD actually prohibits NAVY-related persons and entities from use including but not limited to NROTC, trainees, class members, enlisted personnel and more. This problem is extended to all military and other branch ROTC attendees as well as they are all summarily excluded. This in and of itself is fully just cause to rescind and renegotiate the pact as it directly impacts Navy for recruiting and training which Navy is paying upwards of $40,000 as a signing bonus due to reduced enlistment as shown on the Navy website.
- Further, the popular organizations that require training in correct firearms handling and use are numerous including but not limited to Scouting, 4-H, Elks Lodge Pistol Club members, high school target shooters, security guards desiring to qualify for a “Guard Card” are required to be properly trained in the use of firearms as are guards for armored truck transport of valuables, cash and more all need such training at the very few locations remaining none of which are nearby.
- The area suffered a loss of the last locally available public shooting range recently (Sharpshooter in Torrance) and that leaves no proper training facility nearby. This imposes a severe hardship with the cost of fuel to travel the distances, traffic and the like making access difficult if not entirely impossible.
- We request the Navy further consider the difficulty and hardship it places on a Scout attempting to attain the rank of Eagle who is virtually required to obtain a Shooting Merit Badge due to the scarcity of mentors and other available badges to reach the requisite minimums and qualify in the relatively short timeframe allocated to meet the rank requirements.
- There are other agencies that should be accommodated as well and these include the local Customs and Border Protection who are removed from duty protecting the vulnerable infrastructure often for a full day so they too can drive the long distances to meet their qualifying requirements. They are not alone as many cities have police departments that have no place to go and must take an entire day off to meet their obligations. They too must be served so they may serve US. Our energy production, electric grid, ports and rails are all vulnerable infrastructure and armed personnel risk their lives daily on the front lines protecting it for our benefit. We believe it is time to provide them what consideration we can afford to help their departments and personnel maintain qualifying requirements balanced with the demands of the job by restoring the range availability.
Petitioners suggest proposed solutions offered for Navy consideration: We respectfully request that the NRE reconsider the decision to exclude all of these deserving entities and replace the single-beneficiary (LAPD) with a proposed committee of Navy-approved NRA certified Range Masters, certified trainers and personnel plus the California Rifle and Pistol Assn (CRPA.org) along with 4-H mentors, Scoutmasters and other qualified leaders to form a coalition of Range Masters to make the range available once more to all who request it. The need is demonstrably great and now is the time to take action.
Compensation: Currently Navy receives no compensation from LAPD but beyond the common goal of site enhancement and maintenance this proposal does have the opportunity to increase Navy revenue included if that is a condition of restoral to public use status. We see this as minimal but nonetheless may be included.
The petitioners respectfully propose to Navy that range USE fees be charged and a portion remitted to Navy above the costs of basic maintenance, electricity and the like. Law enforcement entities outside of LAPD would then be granted no-charge access as well as all military, veterans and ROTC of all services at no charge as it is now. The range has never been a revenue-bearing entity but there is still room for income.
Public users would be charged a nominal fee to use the range to defray costs and an agreement would be drawn up between Navy and the previously outlined Joint Range Master Committee members to determine the appropriate costs and expenses accordingly.
Proposed days of access per type of user: Petitioners suggest that the prime weekdays of Monday, Wednesday and Friday be offered with right of first refusal to LAPD and/ or other related law enforcement to support their mandatory qualifying needs leaving Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and any mid-week holidays during the year as open for general public use as outlined above. Further; since LAPD assumed control, the range is vacant from their end-of-day until the following morning so this ‘dark time’ could easily accommodate public users as there are certainly good lights inside and if not then it would be provided and improved upon at no cost to NRE.
Options available: Should LAPD decline to use any of their exclusive days outlined above then upon proper notification the Rangemasters would have the opportunity to increase the public use and related fees on those specific dates. Naturally the reverse is also true in that if LAPD or other law enforcement entity occasionally required more than the allocated 3 full prime workdays in a week then with proper notification to the Range Master Committee, they could agree on increased sporadic use to accommodate the need.
Alerting and Notification: Upon restoring the public use as it previously was, the public representatives (NRA, CRPA, 4-H, etc.) would be tasked with creation of a community sponsored website with appropriate notification methods outlining the fees, times of use and any specific restrictions, regulations and other alerts such as range maintenance or outages at no expense to Navy. Naturally all CA regulations apply.
Navy full indemnification: The need for this is obvious however petitioners maintain that this exclusionary document unfairly targets the taxpaying public that pay for it and can be easily remedied with a simple insurance binder with equal or greater force and effect as is common in any industry or business.
NRA, CRPA, 4-H and others all maintain full insurance coverages for all of their events which would be extended to and provided as Accord Policy type of Named Insured to Navy as a component of this proposed agreement.
Conclusion; Based upon the above, we request a meeting (in person or virtually at Navy convenience) to openly discuss the options and conditions Navy feels would be put in place to accommodate the requests outlined. The favor of a reply with Navy suggested times and dates when such a meeting can take place is hereby requested.
Thank you to all who signed the petition, we no longer need additional signatures and appreciate your support!