MatthewVanitas
Member
For those of you following the ongoing revival of the UT Rifle and Pistol Club at the on-campus ROTC range:
Business is brisk, though we've scaled back on the flyers for the time being, mostly getting new folks by word of mouth. We've added about 15 new dues-paying members in the last 25 days, and had about 150 first-visit shooters come through the range. Approximately 2/3 or better of the first-visiters are first-time shooters, and only a tiny portion of the remainder have significant shooting experience. We're getting maybe four shooters on the slowest days of the week, and 15 on the busiest days. Fifteen about fills up our range, so we're peaking right under reasonable capacity.
Demographics have been interesting, though I'd have to check out the overall UT demographics to figure out how we do/don't follow general demo trends for the university. The vast majority of our shooters are 18-22, understandably. Only a handful of grad students, and just about nobody over 30 except those already affiliated with the club.
Ethnic mix has been pretty interesting: white shooters have been far in the minority on many nights. We tend to get groups of South Asian and East Asian shooters coming together, so that really shifts the demographics. I'm fine with teaching whoever shows up, but it's heartening to see that a wide variety of folks feel welcome at the range.
Genderwise: we've had at least one or two nights where female shooters outnumbered male shooters, but mainly on the slower nights. The majority of female shooters come in a group of two or three females, occasionally alone. There's been a surprising lack of boyfriends bringing girlfriends to shoot, which is perfectly fine by me, as such seems an akward training environment.
At least on the shifts I've seen, just about everyone has had a really enjoyable time, and no injuries or close-calls whatsoever. Had a handful of folks that needed pretty close supervision (too nonchalant), but not so egregious as to be ejected from the facility.
Had quite a few shooters who came in very afraid of guns who ended up really enjoying themselves. Several were females who "just came to watch my friend shoot" who ended up being great shots.
This has been pretty much my most-rewarding RKBA experience so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops next fall, particularly in terms of trying to build up enough student-body momentum that their dependence on older "Non-traditional" students like myself and MacPelto is diminished.
The range coaches and RSOs have really been great at providing institutional memory for the range, and particularly in helping us get all the legal details crystal clear so that the range won't be subject to the whims of bureaucrats.
Will have to take some photos on a busy night and post them: a bunch of grinning sophmores with Ruger MkII is highly motivational. If you know anyone at UT who's interested in shooting, send them our way.
-MV
Business is brisk, though we've scaled back on the flyers for the time being, mostly getting new folks by word of mouth. We've added about 15 new dues-paying members in the last 25 days, and had about 150 first-visit shooters come through the range. Approximately 2/3 or better of the first-visiters are first-time shooters, and only a tiny portion of the remainder have significant shooting experience. We're getting maybe four shooters on the slowest days of the week, and 15 on the busiest days. Fifteen about fills up our range, so we're peaking right under reasonable capacity.
Demographics have been interesting, though I'd have to check out the overall UT demographics to figure out how we do/don't follow general demo trends for the university. The vast majority of our shooters are 18-22, understandably. Only a handful of grad students, and just about nobody over 30 except those already affiliated with the club.
Ethnic mix has been pretty interesting: white shooters have been far in the minority on many nights. We tend to get groups of South Asian and East Asian shooters coming together, so that really shifts the demographics. I'm fine with teaching whoever shows up, but it's heartening to see that a wide variety of folks feel welcome at the range.
Genderwise: we've had at least one or two nights where female shooters outnumbered male shooters, but mainly on the slower nights. The majority of female shooters come in a group of two or three females, occasionally alone. There's been a surprising lack of boyfriends bringing girlfriends to shoot, which is perfectly fine by me, as such seems an akward training environment.
At least on the shifts I've seen, just about everyone has had a really enjoyable time, and no injuries or close-calls whatsoever. Had a handful of folks that needed pretty close supervision (too nonchalant), but not so egregious as to be ejected from the facility.
Had quite a few shooters who came in very afraid of guns who ended up really enjoying themselves. Several were females who "just came to watch my friend shoot" who ended up being great shots.
This has been pretty much my most-rewarding RKBA experience so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops next fall, particularly in terms of trying to build up enough student-body momentum that their dependence on older "Non-traditional" students like myself and MacPelto is diminished.
The range coaches and RSOs have really been great at providing institutional memory for the range, and particularly in helping us get all the legal details crystal clear so that the range won't be subject to the whims of bureaucrats.
Will have to take some photos on a busy night and post them: a bunch of grinning sophmores with Ruger MkII is highly motivational. If you know anyone at UT who's interested in shooting, send them our way.
-MV
