I grew up in N Louisiana, Ouachita parish. We had an old army air corp range at the local airport,that was on off affair for years until the sheriffs dept took it over back about 1965. They gradually made it into a first class range, max distance 100 yards and eventally a special area with turning targets ect for law enforcement training, otherwise everything else was open to the public.
I frequented it often while in college there, and for years afterward while home on leave from the USAF. Sometimes in the mid nineties, the built a concrete block wall( I later found out was filled with fine gravel) with little windows in front of benches. You sat at bench and shot through the window. The reason was that the FAA had decreed it, after having been in existance since the late 1930's, I think, or at least early 40's as a WWII training base, that someone might shoot an aircraft either landing or taking off, as they passed right behind the berm which was rather tall. In all those years there has never been such an incident. In 1999 there was a strong wind storm that blew the concrete block wall down. I had taken my father out to shoot his rifle and he was not allowed to do so because of FAA requirements imposed at the time.
Short story was the Feds got so restrictive, they closed the range and built a much nicer range across town, much closer to my parents house which makes it a lot more convenient for me. The bad part is they brought along some of the ideas about only shooting rifles from a bench along, so thats the same.
