Some residents voice concern about indoor shooting range
Some McCandless residents are concerned about an indoor gun range that is set to open in the spring in the McCandless Crossing shopping and entertainment complex at McKnight Road and Duncan Avenue.
Since March, Sam Rosenberg, owner of INPAX Academy of Personal Protection, has been presenting his case for approval to McCandless council. And while community members at subsequent meetings spoke both for and against the enterprise, the business plan was approved following two planning commission reviews with both the owner and McCandless Crossing developer Kevin Dougherty of Adventure Development of Selma, N.C.
At the July meeting, town manager Tobias Cordek said the mission of INPAX makes ita permitted use in McCandless because it is a training facility as well as a gun range. The town’s legal counsel advised the administration and council members that gun ranges are a permitted use and cannot be locally regulated.
Mr. Rosenberg, who has owned and operated INPAX since 2003, said he has never had a safety issue at any of his studios in the city or in Marshall. He is moving his business to McCandless for both the location and because he needs more space. He invites anyone with concerns to visit his new facility, take a class and have their concerns addressed.
“I understand guns are not for everybody. Come take a training course and see what we’re all about,” he said.
However, some residents said they were not given enough time at the two summer meetings to speak and ask questions.
Donna Brett of Ross recently sent a letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, expressing her concerns about the indoor gun range and its proximity to nearby businesses: “Were those who opened restaurants, a bookstore with children’s nook, Trader Joe’s, etc., told that a gun range would be their neighbor when they signed leases,” she asked.
Sister Mary Traupman of the Sisters of Divine Providence in McCandless also sent a letter to the editor, stating, in part: “Allowing a shooting range in easy walking distance of five worship sites, an elementary school, a college, residences, stores, restaurants, movie theaters, care facilities, is a decision that impacts negatively on a community, whom the councilis sworn to serve.”
She and Ms. Brett questioned whether McCandless council took proper stepsregarding zoning, public notification and hearings, and safety and health concerns.
At the July 17 council meeting, Sister Traupman said the sisters support more gun control because of recent national incidents involving peoplewith mental illness. At the Aug. 25 meeting, she presented papers signed by the sisters, asking that the facility be moved to a more secludedarea.
In her letter to the editor, Sister Traupman wrote there should have been morepublic notice and more opinionssought by council.
“Public notice would have had to be posted in the vicinity for a bar,” she wrote, “but for the business that involved guns and shooting, no notice was posted, because the facility is termed a ‘training facility,’ a term that misleads.”
According to the July and August council meeting minutes, some residents supported the shooting range and some opposed it. McCandless resident Cindy Waeltermann said at the July meeting that the majority of people responding on the Access McCandless Facebook page supported INPAX. Most of the negative comments cited safety and noise concerns.
Surrounded by more than 50 stores and restaurants as well as two hotels, INPAX will be in an office building at Babcock and Providence boulevards. When asked about their new neighbor, managers and employees of thebusinesses said they were notpermitted to talk about it.
INPAX is currently operating from a temporary location on Convenant Avenue, but no shooting occurs there. The new facility is scheduled toopen in the spring.
As a training facility, the mission of INPAX is to empowerpeople to protect themselves, according to Mr. Rosenberg, a former U.S. MarineCorps officer and professionalbodyguard.
Safety is the primary concern of INPAX, especially self-defense. Mr. Rosenberg said he spent many hours addressing the concerns of council and its citizens and his door remains open. “I’ve offered to meet with anyone needing reassurance and answerquestions.”
He said he can be reached at 724-759-7571 and via email at info@inpax.net.
Although instruction in proper use of a firearm is among the skills taught at INPAX, he stressed there will beno noise.
“It’s not an outdoor range so there will be zero noise. It is a state-of-the-art facility built to contain both bullets and contaminants. There will be zero environmental impact.In fact, the air leaving our facility will be cleaner thanthe air coming in.”
He said his staff are all trained security professionals. “Our staff is welltrained in recognizing people who should not be handling a firearm.”
Many of INPAX programs teachpeople of all ages how to protect themselves. One class, scheduled for Dec. 9, teaches how to think under pressure,negotiating with an attacker, using body language to communicate strength and defensive tactics.