InterestedBystander Posted July 15, 2019 at 11:37 PM Share Posted July 15, 2019 at 11:37 PM full story at link http://senategop.state.il.us/News/7995/Exemption-for-Sparta-World-Shooting-Complex-signed-into-law/news-detail/ ...Events at the Sparta World Shooting and Recreation Complex will have new protections to allow them to continue to attract large events and vendors, due to legislation co-sponsored by State Senator Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) that was signed into law on July 12th. This is the result of Southern Illinois leaders coming together and working to protect an important local economic driver from over-burdensome state rules, said Schimpf. This new law will help protect the future of the Sparta complex by ensuring that it will be able to continue to draw world-class events. Senate Bill 1139 provides specific exemptions for businesses and firearms sales at WSRC events that would have been severely effected, limited, or outright banned by the Gun Dealer Licensing Act. Without the exemptions, the Gun Dealer Licensing Act would have increased costs and administrative burdens for many of the vendors that typically set up during events at the World Shooting Complex in Sparta. These new regulations could have led to national shooting events choosing a different venue. Senator Schimpf voted against the Gun Dealer Licensing Act. In addition, the legislation also updates concealed carry regulations and allows current and retired police officers to carry while hunting. I would like to thank Governor Pritzker for recognizing the importance of the WSRC to the area and signing this legislation into law, said Schimpf.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Flag Posted July 15, 2019 at 11:57 PM Share Posted July 15, 2019 at 11:57 PM Thank goodness we protected the temporary business of selling elite shotguns to elite out-of-towners while running the bread-n-butter gun shops, the ones serving the voters, right off the table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chislinger Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:06 AM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:06 AM Boycott the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriots & Tyrants Posted July 16, 2019 at 01:08 AM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 01:08 AM So every little special interest big enough to line politicians pockets is gonna get an exemption, swell. This is exactly the precedent Springfield Armor and RRA started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbacs Posted July 16, 2019 at 02:22 AM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 02:22 AM If an exemption is cool with JB, then why sign the original bill?Why not just ask FFL’s to pony up say $3500.00 each year to a slush fund for these politicians and be done with it?Then there shouldn’t be a dealer license bs law! Sounds like the souther boys are gonna be just like Crook County soon, slicing out their own pie...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmannd Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:08 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:08 PM I believe this is still a state owned facility, so they don't want to loose any revenue. It is a huge multi million dollar place that includes many many pistol bays, camper hook-ups, nature preserve, and shotgun areas. IDPA, USPSA, Trap, and other major events have been held there. The exemption is a good thing. The fact that any such exemption is needed however, is tyrannical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmannd Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:09 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:09 PM https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/recreation/WSRC/Pages/default.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottFM Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:23 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 12:23 PM So every little special interest big enough to line politicians pockets is gonna get an exemption, swell. This is exactly the precedent Springfield Armor and RRA started.That is our system of government. Pay to play! To paraphrase: Government of the special interests by the special interests for the special interests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbrownrifle Posted July 16, 2019 at 02:54 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 02:54 PM IMO no exemptions. We are a large, dis unified group of gun owners. We all need to be in the same boat. It's too easy for too many to feel "safe." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikew Posted July 16, 2019 at 07:39 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 07:39 PM We are a large, dis unified group of gun owners. We all need to be in the same boat. It's too easy for too many to feel "safe."See? We are all in the same boat. We're all gun owners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmyers Posted July 16, 2019 at 09:19 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 09:19 PM Would this give an FFL grounds to sue because of unfair business practices by the State? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chislinger Posted July 16, 2019 at 10:05 PM Share Posted July 16, 2019 at 10:05 PM IMO no exemptions. We are a large, dis unified group of gun owners. We all need to be in the same boat. It's too easy for too many to feel "safe." Exactly! We should put pressure on groups that use the facility to go elsewhere (out of state) since they are presumably pro-2A. Challenge them to stand with us. And wake up the FUDDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted July 19, 2019 at 02:40 PM Share Posted July 19, 2019 at 02:40 PM Because anybody coming in from out of state has a lot more invested in the state than a dealer that has been in IL for a while!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raw Power Posted July 19, 2019 at 02:48 PM Share Posted July 19, 2019 at 02:48 PM So every little special interest big enough to line politicians pockets is gonna get an exemption, swell. This is exactly the precedent Springfield Armor and RRA started. Exactly what I thought when reading this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onytay Posted July 19, 2019 at 09:06 PM Share Posted July 19, 2019 at 09:06 PM Because anybody coming in from out of state has a lot more invested in the state than a dealer that has been in IL for a while!! I agree. The members of the state legislature should be focused on working for the citizens of IL they represent, not to benefit interests from out of state. I don't believe the Sparta complex has paid for itself, let alone become an economic boon to the area as promised. While the facility may not have paid for itself yet, and that is because the state underutilizes it. Come down here during any one of the big shoots and then try to tell me that the local economy isn't benefiting. Being a dealer from the area and having paid the extortion fee required by the state I find it appalling that the complex got an exemption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onytay Posted July 20, 2019 at 02:04 AM Share Posted July 20, 2019 at 02:04 AM I've been to the complex several times during the Grand. I know dozens of trap shooters who attend every year and they bring most everything with them in their big RV's. It seemed to be the norm for most people less than a day's drive from the complex. https://herald-review.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/sparta-shooting-complex-remains-budget-target/article_a00efd1e-9069-5a8a-ba8f-7c347195e7c1.html The sprawling 1,600-acre complex was borne largely out of a desire by anti-gun politicians, led by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to curry favor among pro-gun voters in the southern part of the state. Of course, they didn’t need to build the largest shooting range in the nation to do that, but the quest to score points with downstate voters coincided with the opportunity to attract one of the country’s largest shooting events: the Amateur Trap Association’s Grand American. The state spent more than $2 million buying a former coal strip mine and started building. By the time it was over, the estimated $30 million price tag had ballooned to $50 million. What it was supposed to do was generate as much as $100 million annually in economic impact for the region, but from the start, it drew criticism as being little more than a pork project. A decade later, the facility doesn’t come close to meeting those economic predictions that accompanied its construction. The trap association’s events are, by far, the biggest activities taking place at the range, with an estimated $27 million in economic impact. Other events are much smaller, often with shooters only staying around town for the day. Operationally, it’s a money-loser as well, costing about $3 million a year, including debt service, to run. It brings in about $1.1 million a year in revenue, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Supporters, however, are quick to argue that the range isn’t all that different from a convention center, designed to boost the surrounding the economy, even as it loses money. And for Sparta, a town with 4,300 residents, there’s a clear benefit, according to Rheinecker, the city manager. I don't care what that biased report says. I have lived in this area my entire life and have worked in Sparta for the last 20 years. It is obvious when the big shoots are going on. Every hotel for miles is booked and restaurants are thriving. Traffic increase is obvious and easily identified with the abundance of out of state plates. Sparta is not the only town that benefits and because it cant handle the need for hotel rooms many shooters are forced to go as far as O'fallon and Fairview heights for rooms. The complex could make so much more money if they would manage the grounds correctly and bring in more events beside shoots. While many shooters camp onsite there are many who stay in hotels, B&Bs and I know of several people who rent there houses out and go on vacation during grand week. I am a shooter and have shot thousands of clays at the complex since it opened, I would rather see the state sell it or allow private management to run the place, then it could become what it should have been from the start. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onytay Posted July 20, 2019 at 03:45 AM Share Posted July 20, 2019 at 03:45 AM I would rather see the state sell it or allow private management to run the place, then it could become what it should have been from the start. . Yes, your part of the state is reaping benefits off the rest of the state's back. The complex isn't paid for and it costs IL taxpayers almost 2 million a year to keep it open. I agree, the communities that benefit should buy it and pay the tax payers back. Wow.... I'm sure all the tax dollars collected from the southern part of the state are actually spent there. Again, mismanagement by the state just like most other state parks. When the state shuttered the complex a few years ago a private firm offered to buy it and run it. The state refused, if its such crappy money pit why wouldn't the state sell it and be done with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chislinger Posted July 23, 2019 at 01:05 AM Share Posted July 23, 2019 at 01:05 AM I never understood that argument. If the goal is to get back what you sent then why send it at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glock23 Posted July 23, 2019 at 02:08 AM Share Posted July 23, 2019 at 02:08 AM Based on my county getting back 200%, coupled with the fact that there is virtually nothing in this county, I'm guessing a lot of it is for farm subsidies or something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glock23 Posted July 23, 2019 at 03:45 AM Share Posted July 23, 2019 at 03:45 AM 72.5% of my county is harvested farmland per the IL Soybean Assoc.. Pretty rural I'd say. So, using the agriculture argument, we're probably not getting our "fair" share.Ours is 84.6% cropland according to the 2012 Ag census. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glock23 Posted July 23, 2019 at 04:47 AM Share Posted July 23, 2019 at 04:47 AM What county, I'm curious. It's tough to find a county the size of mine that isn't heavily wooded. Grundy is a smaller one at 69th in size at 419.9 sq miles https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/illinois/land-area#chart 27th in population with just over 50K. Also, my town, the biggest in the county at just under 15K received re-certification from the USDA this winter as eligible for rural development loans and grants. So, we're rural.Macoupin. 84.6% cropland 7.9% wooded 7.5% other uses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chislinger Posted July 23, 2019 at 04:48 AM Share Posted July 23, 2019 at 04:48 AM I never understood that argument. If the goal is to get back what you sent then why send it at all? I never made that argument. Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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