[Braden]

This may not belong in this forum, but I know a lot of folks on here shoot at DFW Gun Range on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas.

I went down there with a buddy of mine to shoot this afternoon only to discover that the roof over the pistol range and the wall on the parking lot side had collapsed about an hour earlier. There were only minor injuries from what I understand, but several cars in the parking lot were literally crushed by the heavy CMU bricks that made up the wall.

Obviously, they will probably be closed for a while. I'm just thankful that there were no serious injuries. Anyone walking from their car to the door at the time could have easily been killed. They got lucky.

[nvshooter]

Under the Kelo Decision handed down by the Supreme Court this past summer, the City of Dallas can now declare the gun range "blighted" and tear it down so a wealthy developer can put up high-rise condos. Just watch and see it if doesn't happen...

[telomerase]

Walls don't kill people, shoddy engineering kills people...

Thanks for posting this, I actually made the mistake of shooting there a couple of times!

[Braden]

Shoddy engineering combined with old age and heavy, heavy rains. High water everywhere just getting TO the range. Lots of stalled cars in intersections with drivers crawling out the doors. I don't think that there's any doubt that the heavy rains will get the blame for the collapse. We've gotten a LOT of rain in a very short amount of time.

[Fly320s]

Bummer about the roof collapsing.

Is Dallas catching up on it's rain needs? I know that the area is way behind on rain.

BTW, Braden, is that your first or last name? I know some folks who live around there named Braden.

[HighVelocity]

Whaaaaat?! :what: I have several friends that use DFW Gun as their home range. I hope nobody was hurt too bad.

[aguyindallas]

Wow, thats bad news! I shoot there pretty often with my wife. Now that I think about it, I drove right past there this morning when I took my father in law to Love Field.

Darn it!

[Herself]

....See, they said this stuff would happen whan S&W brought out the .500!

Seriously, that's unfortunate and I join in hoping no one was hurt.

A typical range building doesn't need to be any sturdier than a pole barn; whatever kind of backstop and penetration-stopping they use on the other walls and ceiling, it's usually not structrual, since it has to be replaced regularly. So a heavy rain or strong wind could take one down, just like it would take down a warehouse or stripmall.

--Herself

[Azrael256]

Is Dallas catching up on it's rain needs? Oh yeah. I'm showing a little over 5" in my gauge here in Richardson. We're just North of the stripe through Garland that really got hit with it. I wouldn't be surprised to hear they had 8" this weekend. So far we haven't heard anything about serious injuries or fatalities. Here's hoping it stays that way.

I haven't been up to Plano in a few days, so if somebody wants to check to make sure The Bullet Trap is still standing, that'd be really cool. I'm a little worried. :uhoh:

[Braden]

Is Dallas catching up on it's rain needs? I know that the area is way behind on rain.

We received a LOT of rain this weekend (some places over 10 inches), but we're still behind where we normally are for the year. Hopefully west Texas got some of it too. Rain is badly needed out there.

BTW, Braden, is that your first or last name? I know some folks who live around there named Braden.

Neither. ;)

Whaaaaat?! I have several friends that use DFW Gun as their home range. I hope nobody was hurt too bad.

I was told by someone who was there when it collapsed that a couple of people were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. They got lucky. One person standing in the wrong place at the wrong time could very well have been killed.

A typical range building doesn't need to be any sturdier than a pole barn; whatever kind of backstop and penetration-stopping they use on the other walls and ceiling, it's usually not structrual, since it has to be replaced regularly. So a heavy rain or strong wind could take one down, just like it would take down a warehouse or stripmall.

I could be wrong, but judging from the look of the building and some of the equipment that was on the roof, I'm guessing that it's a former restaurant that was converted to gun range...or possibly some sort of store. It definitely didn't start out as a gun range though.

I hope they rebuild. I didn't shoot their often because they were kind of pricey, but I like having options. It was also very visible so it sort of acted as a constant reminder to folks driving by that some people still believe in the 2nd Amendment.

So far we haven't heard anything about serious injuries or fatalities. Here's hoping it stays that way.

Unfortunatetly, there has been one fatality. A woman on Turtle Creek Blvd. in Dallas was swept away by flood waters. :(

http://www.dfwgun.com/

[TechBrute]

Thanks for posting this, I actually made the mistake of shooting there a couple of times!Mistake? What mistake was it to shoot there?

[RPBrown]

Just heard from a member of another forum that works there. The roof collapsed due to water. ( I had 8.4" since friday, 6.1" today alone). I do shoot there quite often.

[Greybeard]

Yep, instructor friend at www.texaschlforum.com recently posted no one hurt, range is ankle deep in water - and the building is "secured" for the night by ARs ...

Burglar alarm at our little range went off about an hour ago and I had to hot foot it out there. False Alarm. Verizon phone lines in that area are evidently so soaked that our alarm system sensed that phone line had been cut ...

And the radar indcates that more is on the way ...

[Walter]

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Azrael256
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Quote:
Is Dallas catching up on it's rain needs?
Oh yeah. I'm showing a little over 5" in my gauge here in Richardson. We're just North of the stripe through Garland that really got hit with it. I wouldn't be surprised to hear they had 8" this weekend. So far we haven't heard anything about serious injuries or fatalities. Here's hoping it stays that way.

I haven't been up to Plano in a few days, so if somebody wants to check to make sure The Bullet Trap is still standing, that'd be really cool. I'm a little worried.
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Azrael256 is offline

I'm in south Arlington and I've recorded 8 inches from Friday afternoon until
4:30 Sunday afternoon. If this doesn't "break the drought", I don't know
what will.

Walter

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Here's a photo from WFAA.

It's a mess. Reports indicate it was limited to only the range, on the outside wall of the street side of the building.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[gulogulo1970]

Wow, that is much worse than I imagined! That will take awhile to fix.

Crap, that is my the range I go to sometimes on my lunch break when I'm at work in Carrollton. I don't mind that range. I was always treated well there. I took several co-workers there, two of my bosses, and one who never shot a gun before, now he bought his own Makarov.

BTW, anybody know of any other ranges in the northern Dallas area? I need another place to spread my firearms evanglism.

[Azrael256]

I sure hope their insurance was paid up, although I suspect it was.

While the rain seems to have quit, NWS says the Trinity is 10' above flood stage. I'd like to see a picture of that if anybody can find one. It must be quite a sight.

Walter, I hear you guys down in Arlington had some evacuations. We didn't get hit too bad up here where I live, but Duck creek just to the South was quite swollen with runoff. I hear that Garland got hit pretty hard, which would explain it. White Rock got it pretty hard, too. I remember that spillway being pretty active after a hefty summer afternoon downpour (dad was the Division Commander at Northeast just across NW Highway), but the pictures I saw on the news were really something. The big problem in that area is that the lake dam and spillway are all fixed, so once it overcomes the capacity of the lake, all they can do is block everything off and wait for it to drain.

I don't mind a storm breaking the drought. I would have prefered a month of .5" every afternoon, but I guess we'll have to take what we can get.

gulo, the next closest ranges I can think of are either The Bullet Trap in Plano at K and Park or Target Master in Garland at Jupiter and... uh... Miller, I think. It's across the street from E-systems. I don't know what's off to the West.

[hotpig]

I have a back order of Ranger 45+P that should be shipped there any day. I guess I have better call Daphne before I ship.:(

[El Tejon]

MEMO TO SELF: bring canoe and helmet to Dallas this summer.:D

[Double Naught Spy]

nvshooter said, Under the Kelo Decision handed down by the Supreme Court this past summer, the City of Dallas can now declare the gun range "blighted" and tear it down so a wealthy developer can put up high-rise condos. Just watch and see it if doesn't happen...

I don't think you understood the decision of the Supreme Court. It was not that blighted property could be seized by the city for new private development. The property did not need to be blighted at all. There is a long history of seizing blighted property by municipalities.

In this case, the Supreme Court simply upheld municipal "eminent domain" whereby cities can condemn and then seize property for new development even if the property was not in bad shape. Property can be condemned and seized regardless of its condition.

Relevant to DFW Gun Range, the City of Dallas could seize the property regardless of whether the roof has collapsed or not. This has already been demonstrated in the DFW area in the seizure of lands for a new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, the stadium being privately owned.

A typical range building doesn't need to be any sturdier than a pole barn; whatever kind of backstop and penetration-stopping they use on the other walls and ceiling, it's usually not structrual, since it has to be replaced regularly. So a heavy rain or strong wind could take one down, just like it would take down a warehouse or stripmall.

Please, you have to tell me where it is written that a typical range building does not need to be any sturdier than a pole barn. Somehow, I am not seeing Dallas approving a building for occupancy and of that size if it was to have a flimsy sheet metal roof.

gulogulo1970 said, BTW, anybody know of any other ranges in the northern Dallas area? I need another place to spread my firearms evanglism.

Check out the Dallas Pistol Club. It is close to you. It is located about a mile west of I-35E on Beltline. Here is a link to their site...
http://www.dallaspistolclub.com/

[Selfdfenz]

That is a shame.
Hope everyone is OK and and they found all the licenses.

They could rebuild but there are other building in that area they might be about as well off to move to as rework what's left of that.
S-

[Reacher]

I know this thread is old news, but while doing a search I ran accross it and wanted to post. That's my red durango you see in the pic above. The one with the word "Roofing" in the back window. ;)

I was in the range when the roof collapsed. I had just put my target in the clips and right as a touched the switch to run it down-range, the roof started collapsing. It sounded like thunder only much closer. The collapse stopped about 8' in front of me. Luckily, I hadn't taken anything out of my range bag yet and just picked it up and walked out the door. As I walked out of the range, I noticed that a couple of bricks had fallen away from the wall. When we got outside, I saw all the crushed cars. Including mine! We all left the building and huddled under an awning to keep the rain off. There was one minor injury. A man was trapped in his SUV when the bricks fell and he had to climb out through his sunroof. He had a minor cut at his temple.

After looking at the pics, I am convinced that the substructure at the firing line is what saved our lives.

Anyhow, I just thought I would share my experience. I am glad to have found this forum. Lots of great stuff here!

Here are some pics...

[nswtex]

Good to hear everyone walked away from that one. I have been using the Bullet Trap in Plano, ever since, for my indoor range exclusively but being that I live in Anna I may check out the Texoma gun range.

[HighVelocity]

Who's insurance pays for the damaged vehicles? The Building owners, the lease holders or the individual vehicle owners?

[Reacher]

Who's insurance pays for the damaged vehicles? The Building owners, the lease holders or the individual vehicle owners?

Sadly, the individual owner's insurance is paying for the damage. The whole situation was called "act of God" so that lets the range owner off the hook. For the range owner it's good because if it was due to neglegence or anything else, then the damage to the range is not paid for by their insurance. It does suck for the individuals though.

[spooney]

I guess we can add "What caliber for falling roofs?" to the list now. I hadn't heard about this when it happened, glad everyone made it out ok.

[HighVelocity]

Updates on the status of DFW gun?

[hotpig]

I shipped a bunch of ammo to them so I guess they are open.