The Clark County Shooting Park will officially open its doors Saturday to Southern Nevada’s first public shooting park, a facility designed to increase public safety.

“The shooting park has been a long time coming,” said Commissioner Tom Collins, in whose district the park is located. “I am excited that sports enthusiasts and shooters will finally have a safe place to practice.”
The shooting park will operate for the next three weeks on weekends only and transition over to full-time hours when the park officially opens in mid-January. Collins will fire the opening shots at 8 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19 at the Shotgun Firing Range, Field 1. Temporary hours of operation will be as follows:

Dec. 19 and 20, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dec. 26 and 27, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jan. 2 and 3, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The park is located at 11357 N. Decatur Blvd., about five miles north of the 215 Beltway. Rifle rentals and ammunition are not yet available and it is recommended that park users bring their own firearms, ammunition and hearing and eye protection before coming.

The facility features the following venues:

Combination trap and skeet fields;
An archery range;
A public rifle and pistol center where targets will be sold; and
A shotgun center with 80 recreational vehicles spaces for shooter.

The opening Saturday represents the first phase of the 178-acre, $61 million public shooting facility, paid for by money made available by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. The site is located
on 2,900 acres of land. When fully built out, the park is expected to draw competitive shooters from around the world and provide training facilities to law enforcement officials.

The land for the shooting park was transferred to the county from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in November 2002. Since that time, more than 265,000 new firearms have been registered in Clark County, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The growth in firearms underscores the need for residents to have a safe, affordable place to shoot.

“This project comes at the request of a lot of citizens who wanted a safer place for shooters,” Commission Chairman Rory Reid said. “This public facility will do a lot to end indiscriminate desert shooting and give tourists a new reason to come to this valley and bolster the local economy.”

Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, along with Congresswoman Shelley Berkley and Governor Jim Gibbons, then a Congressional representative, sponsored the act that provided the land.

Congresswoman Dina Titus, who was elected last year, lent her support to the shooting park saying, “The opening of the Clark County Shooting Park represents the tireless efforts of many in our community over a number of years. As the only public shooting park in Southern Nevada and a source of great pride, it will offer ample space for training and recreational activities for gun owners and enthusiasts from beginners to sportsmen and everyone in between.”

The county hired Don Turner, then manager of Arizona’s successful Ben Avery Shooting Facility, in 2003 to start the planning process for the park. Turner is now the county’s Shooting Park manager. More information about the park is available on its Web pages at www.accessclarkcounty.com/parks.