Purdue University Rifle and Pistol Club getting evicted from range

[Thrash1982]

I am a former member of the Purdue RPC and received the following from another former member this afternoon:

Hello to all of our followers, club members, and alumni. It is with great regret that I write this post. A little over 2 weeks ago, Purdue University chose to evict the Purdue Rifle and Pistol Club and the rifle and pistol teams from use of the Armory on campus. While they claim it is about lead contamination, we have heard opposing stories from Purdue facilities, REM, and others that points to the Club and teams being an unproven symptom where our expulsion won't fix the problem.

We have written a letter to President Daniels. In it, we explained our Club’s rich history, the success of the teams on the national stage over the last 8 years, and that taking away our facility will virtually end a 120-year old club sport. We don’t use the Armory for convenience nor do we use it because we can. We use the Armory because it is the only place we can practice our discipline and sport. We have asked the President to help us find options and to allow us to use the Armory until an option can be found.

To our current club members that missed the Club meeting on Sept 25: The Advisor, Coaches, and Club leadership are searching for options for us to be able to temporarily use other facilities or rent range time off campus. While this is in no way ideal, we plan on working out transportation, etc. Times for Club practice will also likely change but that depends on a group/facility that accepts us.

Rec Sports has currently stated they think we should be considering building our own building. We will explore this but only after we are sure of the University’s sincerity to allow us to continue to exist as a Club and teams. We have seen our banner removed from the gym in the Co-Rec, our account briefly frozen at SAO, and coaching contracts misplaced. We honored the University’s request to keep the lead issue quiet for a time however we were informed the memo for our expulsion in essence made it public.

We thank you all for your past and future support. We will fight to keep the oldest club sport running on Purdue’s campus. We know it is an uphill battle and can use all the support from within our organization and outside to assist us to continue our mission of teaching firearm safety and marksmanship.

Link to the FB post: http://bit.ly/2xeH5uY

I wanted to post this here in the hope that somebody in the Lafayette/West Lafayette area might be able to help find a place for these students to practice. If anyone is able and willing to help them out please get in touch with them through their Facebook page as I am no longer in contact with anybody in the club (and not on Facebook anymore).

Update 10/6/17: I got in touch with the president of the PRPC and she said she has been in contact with Applied Ballistics in Lafayette. Good on them for helping out! I asked if I can be of any help and at this point they'd just like to spread the word that this is happening.

Update 10/11/17: Great news! Saw this posted on page 4 by ol' poke but wanted to get this up on the front page to get some more exposure. This is from the club's Facebook page.

"It is with gratitude and joy that the club informs all alumni, members of
the club, and members of the community that the Rifle and Pistol Club will be
moving back into the Armory for its practices and competitions. The president of
the Club sent a letter to President Daniels requesting assistance and our
request was heard, and answered. We will be allowed continued use of the Armory,
granted that we continue our lead-containment procedures as a club. We want to
thank Purdue University’s leadership for this decision.
Thank you to all of our followers and alumni that have been so supportive
of our group. We greatly appreciate all the support and help we received to be
able to move back into our long standing home. With this however, we would in
the future like to be able to accommodate all the shooting needs of Purdue. We
hope to augment the Trap and Skeet’s facility, accommodate the various ROTC
shooting programs, and of course find a permanent and safe home to the Purdue
Rifle and Pistol Club. It has been suggested we make it easier to donate to the
club. The following link is set up to do exactly that. https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1461...pealcode=10091,
or it is possible to go to the Purdue Support a Club Page to Deposit Directly
into our Purdue account Purdue University
If neither of these options are feasible, please message us and we will try to
accommodate. Further, we have appointed an officer to be our communications
officer to try to engage our alumni and followers in a more active way and let
you all know what is happening with the organization. We hope you follow along
for this year’s Club and Team activities.

Thank you to all of our members for your patience and help through this.
When we met in September, we asked that everyone conduct themselves
professionally and take this opportunity to learn about adversity and overcoming
it, and we thank you all for doing so. We will resume Club activities on Monday
night, 10/16 in the Armory with a short meeting prior to making the line hot.
We look forward to seeing everyone Monday night!

Pistol Team travels on Friday to compete at Ohio State this weekend. Good
luck!! If you’re in Columbus on Saturday, stop by and say hello!"

 

[Spyco]

No surprises really. The school has a massive liberal lean and is even more crowded than ever. I think they were looking for any excuse to remove the club at this point.

 

[Mgderf]

If the university will allow the club to exist, I know several area sportsmen that would contribute to a GoFundMe page for such a purpose.
I know I would kick in what I can.
We also have a couple of legal eagles that may be coerced into backing said venture.

 

[Kutnupe14]

If the university will allow the club to exist, I know several area sportsmen that would contribute to a GoFundMe page for such a purpose.
I know I would kick in what I can.
We also have a couple of legal eagles that may be coerced into backing said venture.

+1
Id contribute

 

[Classic]

That is sad news indeed. My youngest daughter started there this year and was planning to join after her first furious year of engineering school. She will be as disappointed as I am. Letter to admin to follow.

 

[Restroyer]

That sucks that Purdue evicted the Rifle & Pistol Club. I have twin sons who are Sophomores in High School and one of the top colleges they have been looking at is Purdue. Not that they would select a school based on a Rifle & Pistol Club but I know they have pointed that Club out as a benefit several times to me when discussing colleges. My sons are already getting some college credits during high school in math, science, and engineering and thought they would fit in good at Purdue and would have joined that Club if they decided to attend. Maybe not, if Purdue wants to lean all Liberal now. Might be time to look harder at (gulp) University of Kentucky since they have an actual NCAA Shooters Team and several Gun Clubs and seem to be more gun friendly than my home state. Does anyone really think Mitch Daniels will do anything?

 

[Skullglide]

The range is closed to law enforcement as well.

 

[Classic]

If indeed, it is about the lead, then I would think a highly respected engineering school would be able to develop a solution. If only we knew of such a school.

 

[churchmouse]

If this can be worked out I and several I know would contribute what they can.

 

[VERT]

Bit of related history. I was an officer with the Purdue RPC in the mid nineties. At that time we were very active and had a nice little indoor range in the basement of the Co-Rec. That range was shut down due to lead contamination. In 1996 the RPC essentially existed only on paper. Apparently the club survived that ordeal and my guess is it will survive again.

 

[LCSOSgt11]

Daniels being the schmuck that he is, probably won't do anything affirmative to help. Lead contamination can be removed and mitigated with the correct equipment, however, it does take the commitment to do so. With all universities unfortunately laden with left leaning liberals not only instructing but in positions of administration, having this type of recreation is diminishing more and more.

 

[QB 45]

I wanted to post this here in the hope that somebody in the Lafayette/West Lafayette area might be able to help find a place for these students to practice. If anyone is able and willing to help them out please get in touch with them through their Facebook page as I am no longer in contact with anybody in the club (and not on Facebook anymore).

Applied Ballistics is willing to help you out! We can give you a place to shoot, if you need one. We're not incredibly far away from campus, either.

Personally, I really hope Purdue doesn't get rid of the club. I think it is a unique opportunity for students to have a safe shooting experience, and I understand that members of this club have done well representing the school. It seems a shame to do away with it; although I'm not entirely surprised, especially given what happened in Vegas.

I don't know if you will need to use a place like ours, but if you do, give me a call, and we can work out an arrangement

-Dan

 

[tacticalmaster45]

As a current Senior at Purdue I am deeply disappointed to hear this. I'm the VP of the Trap&Skeet Club and we may be facing our own battle in the years to come with the Purdue Airport due to its proximity to our range. We are very fortunate to have a nice range on South River Road only a couple miles from campus. If anyone has any questions about our club or the school generally, I'd be glad to help.

 

[87iroc]

Sorry to hear this. Unfortunately not surprising in today's environment, though. Hope it can survive again.

 

[Skullglide]

Tactical master45, have you spoken with anyone at the university about the closure? It is my understanding the range has been closed due to safety issues, some involving the proximity to the airport and the construction of the berm. If I were a bettin man, in 15-20 years the area of the range will be academic or research area.

 

[dnurk]

Tagging for future interest. I shot bo h RPC and Trap/skeet for IU back in the early nineties and loved every minute of it. I too would be willing to support the cause if possible.

 

[Clay]

they kicked us out of the CoRec when I was there for the same reason and moved it to the Armory. You would think that if the CoRec was an issue then they would have made it so the Armory could deal with the 'issue'.

 

[tacticalmaster45]

Tactical master45, have you spoken with anyone at the university about the closure? It is my understanding the range has been closed due to safety issues, some involving the proximity to the airport and the construction of the berm. If I were a bettin man, in 15-20 years the area of the range will be academic or research area.

I had initial contact with the Rifle&Pistol Club's advisor a little over a month ago and learned of the university's push towards removing the team from the Armory due to environmental reasons. The school's Recreational Sports Department lead the charge apparently because of a couple air quality tests they had completed and found unusually high levels of lead....go figure. The Naval ROTC quit using the range a year ago due to insufficient backstop construction and the Army ROTC quit using the range a few years ago due to lead contamination I think. These timelines could be slightly wrong but it is something along those lines. My father(attorney) is currently working with the advisor and multiple other partys' to help potentially battle the university's decision.
As for the Trap & Skeet Club, I was recently notified that someone from the airport called either West Lafayette PD or Purdue PD over the weekend due to "unknown concerns". We are a responsible group of guys and stringently follow university guidelines for all actions - hopefully we will be a vibrant shooting club for many years to come.

 

[rhino]

This is unfortunate, but I'm surprised the club still exists. Rose-Hulman's current administration eliminated both the gun club and the competition rifle team (for whom a range was built underneath the current stadium).

 

[WanderingSol07]

Dan, I forwarded your willingness to help to the current club president. I sent her A.B.'s contact info.

Thanks,

Tim.