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The Rebirth of the
Huntington Town Range
by Tony Giammarino
Built in the early 1960s, the Huntington Range has served shooters from New York City's five boroughs, Long Island and as far away as Westchester County. Over the years, the Huntington Range has offered hunters sighting in their rifles and competitive shooters a safe environment in which to practice and enjoy their sport. It also offered individuals concerned with self-defense a place to learn safe and competent use of a firearm and youth groups a place to learn gun safety. In fact, it has also served as a place where police officers can, and have, developed and practiced their shooting skills.
During its long and proud history, the Huntington Town Range maintained, at the dismay of many seasoned shooters, a reputation as a range with excessively strict safety rules. In 1998, after reports of a youngster being struck by a stray bullet in a public park located north of the range, Town of Huntington Officials decided to close the range pending a police investigation.
Reportedly, the closing of the range was intensely upsetting and disappointing to many Huntington Town residents and sporting organizations. Several town meetings were held at which Town Officials heard from dismayed sportsmen.
After a lengthy investigation, from which no conclusive evidence was discovered confirming that the stray bullet ever came from the range, the facility was reopened. On Oct. of 1999, the gates of the Huntington Town Range opened under the optimistic and watchful eye of Chief Range Officer and Acting Director Michael Bianchi. Mr. Bianchi is a retired NYC Detective with 23 years of investigative experience, an NRA Certified Instructor, NRA Counselor and an avid hunter and shooter. In an interview with Mr. Bianchi, he detailed the present status and future plans for the facility. He also responded to a few common concerns of local shooters. Mr. Bianchi explained, "a number of structural safety precautions have been added to our facility: 'eyebrows' have been placed at the top of all our shooting berms, sand bags have been installed downrange and all steel target stands have been replaced by wood. In addition, an overhang has been installed just over the shooting benches. This ensures that no rifle can be fired at an angle that would allow a round to travel over our berm." He continued, "In addition to many new safety improvements, we added 8 new cement shooting benches and new adjustable shooting stools. A series of new programs including NRA Courses and a number of admission discounts for adults and youth groups have been added for our patrons. I am extremely proud of our new enthusiastic and talented staff of 46 range officers. Of the 46 member staff, five are NRA Counselors, twenty-five are NRA Certified Instructors and the rest are Certified NRA Range Safety Officers. We have fifty-five shooting points: forty rifle (25, 50 and 100 yards) and fifteen pistol (7, 15, 25, 50, 100 yards). What most people don't know is that we now have a number of new programs and shooting opportunities for adult clubs and youth groups. We are also attempting to rebuild our junior program, which offers youngsters the opportunity to learn safe and responsible firearm usage for sport. Any one wanting additional information about any of our programs can call us here at 631-531-8474."
In a series of interviews with local shooters, a number of questions seemed to surface concerning on-going excessive safety rules, new higher admission cost and the inability to shoot in the kneeling and prone positions (a requirement for competitive rifle shooters) at the newly rebuilt facility. When confronted Mr. Bianchi agreed to respond to each of their concerns. He stated, "I appreciate the opportunity to address each of their concerns. First, the cost factor, I researched the cost of other ranges and found that many charge as much as $8.00/hour and sometimes more. For example: a resident of Nassau County pays $6.00/hour and a nonresident as much as $12.00/hour. If you do the math for both a Huntington Town resident and a nonresident, it places things back into perspective. For an entire day at our facility, a resident pays $9.00. That is three dollars less than a Nassau County resident pays for two hours of shooting at their range. A nonresident pays $13.00 for an entire day of shooting here - that is nine dollars less than two hours at the other facility. We operate this facility based on decisions made by a 'Range Advisory Committee' formed by the Town of Huntington, which consist of representatives from the Town, resident sportsmen and me. We all have input into the operation and admission cost of the range. In taking a very detailed look at the cost of running the range, we all agreed that the fees were in line with current admission cost at other shooting facilities. Our fees are also well in line with the actual cost of operation here at the Huntington Range. In fact, we offer our shooters a number of money saving opportunities not offered by other facilities. For example: we have an annual junior/adult, resident and nonresident annual rate that will save a frequent user a great deal on admission cost. We also have a parent/child discount rate that allows the child (18 or under) admission at a rate as low as $4.00. For clubs we now have a discount rate for standard open hours and we will even open (at a higher rate) to clubs in our off hours (please note that clubs must supply their own insurance)." He continued, "next let's deal with additional shooting positions for competitive shooters such as kneeling and prone. We are in the process of developing a method of shooting from these positions. Soon we will have a system in place that will meet our safety requirements for restricting the angle of fire. This will be similar to our bench location overhang, which limits both bench and offhand shooting angles in order to prevent accidentally discharges over our berm. Next, The question of one round loaded at a time. This is only a requirement from Sept. through the end of Nov. Why? This is our busiest time of the year when hunters or 'seasonal shooters', that shoot only once a year, come to 'sight-in' their hunting rifles. We are so busy at this time we must increase our staff of range safety officers and our safety precautions. The entire balance of the year shooters are allowed up to five rounds. Our other rules, such as un-ceasing and casing all firearms at the bench, are basically standard procedure at all formal shooting facilities."
Mr. Bianchi continued, "I would like to add one thing! I am very optimistic about our future here at the Huntington Town Range. We have a great facility, which is very conveniently located. Our very talented and dedicated staff of 46 range officers is willing to help shooters, new and experienced alike, learn more about safe recreational shooting. Twenty-five of our range officers are NRA Certified Instructors, which enabling us to offer formal training courses such as: NRA Basic Pistol ($130.00), One-on-one Instruction ($18/hr.-minimum of 3 hours), Ammo reloading course ($50.00), NRA Personal Protection Course ($40.00), Seminars on Silhouette and Black Powder Shooting ($25.00) [Please note that all fees listed are subject to change without notice}. Our staff is continuously growing. If anyone is interested in joining us as a range officer they can call us at 631-531-8474."
Editor's note: During our visit to the Huntington Town Range facility we watched as range officers diligently guided new shooters that either required or requested assistance in fully understanding all aspects of safe operation of their firearm(s). This facility, its director and staff are to be commended for their dedication to the shooting sports and for promoting firearms safety. We also commend the Town of Huntington Officials and Residents for continuing to offer local residents of Long Island and the surrounding area, a place to learn the safe operation and responsible ownership of a firearm.
The Huntington Range is centrally located on Spagnoli Road in Melville, LI (exit 49 South off the LIE - route 110 1 1/2 miles and make a right on to Spagnoli road, go 1 mile and make right by sign for range. For more information, call 631-531-8474.
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