Illustration by Cody Angell

In May of 1997, when Pima County voters went to the polls and supported a bond question to improve county parks, how many realized they would be sending nearly one million taxpayer dollars to build a shooting range near the Pima County Fairgrounds?

Many probably envisioned remodeling county swimming pools, improving trails in Tucson Mountain Park, adding basketball courts to south side parks, renovating the entrance to Colossal Cave or building a new senior center as the projects covered by the bond question. While some undoubtedly voted for it while fully aware, many voted in favor of this question without any idea that they were sending taxpayer dollars to subsidize a shooting range.

Not only is this a flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars in a time when budgets are tighter than ever, it is a slap in the face to Pima County voters who support improving parks and recreation but do not favor firearms.

This proposed shooting range is finally making some news in Tucson, but only because its construction is behind schedule. It's actually still in the planning stages, despite its planned completion this month. Otherwise, the media has curiously ignored the issue.

Kendrick Wilson

People who like guns are quick to say that teaching children about them will bring an end to gun violence. While it does help to reduce accidental gun deaths, it does little to stop intentional ones. And who's to say a child who refuses to listen to a parent who says, "Don't touch a gun," will listen to one who gives more specific instructions as to how to handle it?

Interestingly enough, regardless of the arguments for or against teaching children about guns, this shooting range provides no money for gun education programs and would cater to a largely adult gun-owning clique.

In the days of generations past, guns were a part of everyday life, and they continue to be for people who live in rural areas. Before telephones, people could not call 911; thus self-defense took on a different meaning.

Hunting was a way of life, and children needed to learn about guns in order to follow in their parents' footsteps.

Countless gun supporters cannot seem to grasp that times have changed. For better or worse, most of us don't live on farms or ranches anymore, and the wild game that used to be hunted has been driven to faraway places where hunting is carefully managed and the animals are hardly wild. Dialing 911 is how we deal with emergencies now, and survival of the most armed no longer applies to those who accept the concept of law and order.

I have been fighting urban sprawl since I knew the meaning of the words, but we live in a city now, and that will never change. The time has come for us, as city dwellers, to realize that guns no longer serve the purpose they once did and that semi-automatic weapons, assault rifles and handguns are not the guns that were used to ward off the farm intruder or keep coyotes away from the chickens. In fact, many guns nowadays are good for nothing but killing people. Some of those guns will be used at the county's shooting range.

So why do city dwellers, who have no practical use for guns, need a shooting range paid for with precious taxpayer dollars? Some people believe these shooting ranges provide training for those who intend to use guns for self-defense. That they may, but anyone who believes a pistol under a pillow does more for self-defense than a dead bolt lock and 911 on speed dial is having a fantasy.

UA itself is a weapons-free zone and has relatively low levels of violent crime as a result. It may not be possible to guarantee that everyone on campus is not carrying a gun, but making it a crime has certainly deterred some. Simply giving students the option of reporting people carrying weapons to police is an advantage we don't have over criminals in other parts of town. Similar weapons-free zones should be considered for parts of downtown, especially after Rio Nuevo is completed.

If Pima County wanted to do something productive, it would replace the gun shows at the fairgrounds with gun buyback fairs, and then melt down the guns they collect rather than sell them to potential killers.

But they should not use taxpayer money to fund a shooting range.