The Prince George Rod and Gun Club will soon host an open house aimed at introducing locals of all ages to sport shooting.
The event will take place Saturday, June 7 at the Hartman Clubhouse, located at 944 Hartman Rd. Both members and non-members are welcome to attend.
Even those without a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) are invited to participate.
“You’ll be supervised by people with a PAL or an RPAL already,” said Andrew Tomlinson, president of the Rod and Gun Club. “A lot of our instructors are range safety officers or firearms instructors themselves — they’re very experienced. They’ll be teaching the gun or helping with the firearm that they’re proficient in.”
For a small fee of $5, attendees will have the opportunity to shoot pistols, rifles and shotguns under the supervision of qualified instructors. Participants can try their hand at metal silhouette targets, steel targets and clay pigeons.
Tomlinson told The Citizen that his favourite part of the event is seeing locals gain hands-on experience with firearms for the first time.
“It’s definitely seeing people coming in that have never been to the range or never even shot a gun before,” he said.
“Especially people that have never been around them, or never had that experience. People bring their families, their kids to try things out for the first time, or even just watch. A parent might shoot and the kid just watches — or sometimes it’s the other way around.
“There are definitely adults that don’t want to shoot a firearm and we don’t push anyone to do anything they don’t want to. Or they’ve shown up because they’ve never shot a firearm and want to try it for the first time. It’s a little cheaper than going to Vegas, that’s for sure.”
The open house is part of National Range Day, an event that celebrates Canada’s firearms community. The Prince George event coincides with the national date.
Tomlinson, who has been with the club since 2011, said the Rod and Gun Club has been hosting events like this for more than 40 years. He hopes visitors come away with a deeper understanding of the club’s role in the community.
“There’s a lot of positive and negative light around firearms and the use of firearms in Canada. We are part of the positive side,” he said. “We’re part of the community — we’ve raised money for charity and things like that. We obviously self-fund ourselves as the club with the two sites we have in Prince George and the area. We want people to take that away, see we are a part of the community, and see that the sports are available for all age groups and every type of person in Prince George.”
