Senate OKs bill to set aside land for public shooting range

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 | 11:14 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate today passed a bill that sets aside federal land for a public shooting range in Clark County.

The bill directs the Bureau of Land Management to convey land to Clark County to create the shooting range. It creates a 2,240-acre doughnut-shaped buffer around a 640-acre expanse of desert for the actual range. The land is about 10 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Senate, meeting in a post-election lame-duck session, passed the legislation at about 1 a.m. today after some late-night negotiating by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Reid said he cut deals with other senators on bills they wanted passed to ensure approval for the shooting range bill.

"This is going to be the finest shooting range in America," Reid said.

Gun enthusiasts likely will have to wait a year or two for the range to open, however, and it's not entirely clear exactly what the facility will offer.

A master plan and a budget for the range have not yet been worked out by the Clark County Commission. The project would likely rely on a combination of public and private funding, said Doug Bradford, county resource development manager. The cost is not known, he said.