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Booming economy within range
(by Dave Lange - August 10, 2012)
Booming economy within range
In the wake of last month’s massacre in Aurora, Colo., where 12 innocent movie viewers were slaughtered and another 58 were injured, gun sales reportedly shot through the roof.
On one side of the equation, there are those who feel the need to arm themselves against the seemingly expanding mentally unstable segment of the population that has easy access to firearms produced for the explicit purpose of killing other people. Some might refer to that as a vicious cycle, while others might see it as a boon to gun manufacturers.
On the other side, there are those who fear that “a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state” soon could be under assault by a president who seldom mentions such a necessity. For the uninitiated, those are the seldom-mentioned initiating words to the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
At any rate, as more Americans supply themselves with guns, which tends to occur with or without the massacres that are occurring with increasing regularity, the demand for shooting ranges is increasing as well. And that could be good for the economy, not to mention the tax base, which I’m mentioning anyway.
So did Newbury Township Trustee William Skomrock last week as he and fellow trustees sealed the deal to sell 10.8 acres of township-owned land formerly known as Grange Park for $155,200 to a shooting-range entrepreneur. “It’s a win-win, not only for our tax base but the buyer as well,” he said.
It’s difficult to say how much of an impact a shooting range would have on the Newbury tax base. Townships cannot impose income taxes on those who obtain employment there, which could number in the high single digits. But it’s clear that Newbury didn’t collect a lot of property taxes from the previous property owner, which was Newbury itself.
In recent weeks, local residents have been speculating about the economic benefits of gunfire, some of them contrasting those with the recent losses of the township’s grocery and hardware stores. Although the economy generated by the 5,500 citizens who call Newbury home didn’t support such apparently unnecessary enterprises, it seems that, if you build a shooting range, they will come. Bullets beat butter every time.
While nearby Chardon has suffered a series of gun tragedies this year, including three students shot dead at the high school in February and a murder-suicide outside a local business on July 17, there is no relationship between shooting ranges and deranged shooters. In fact, James Holmes, the accused Colorado shooter, had been rejected for membership at a gun range less than a month before the movie-theater murders because of his bizarre behavior.
According to the owner of a sporting establishment in Lake County, there is a shortage of shooting ranges in Northeast Ohio, which is why he approached Bainbridge Township officials last March about establishing one in vacant space at Tanglewood Square shopping center. Unlike Newbury, which appears to be in a free-fire zone, the Bainbridge board of zoning appeals and zoning commission are handling the request like a loaded pistol pointed at their township’s regulations.
Since Ohio law now permits carrying weapons into bars, perhaps obtaining a state liquor permit could supersede silly local zoning restrictions and boost the Bainbridge tax base. There’s no point in carrying a gun if you can’t shoot it.
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