Packing in Memphis
They are not of one race, one gender, or one generation.
They are of one mind.
It’s time.
It’s time if they live in a gated community in East Memphis or a poor neighborhood in South Memphis.
It’s time if they’re postal workers or preachers, and it’s time if they’re retirees or entrepreneurs.
It’s time if they’ve had guns pointed in their faces while working in a neighbor’s yard during broad daylight, or while working behind the counter of a convenience store in the middle of the night.
For all of them, it’s time.
“I hate to say it,” says Scott Carroll, owner of the Bullzeye Shooting Range on Lamar Avenue, “but business is good.”
So crime pays. Or at least it does for businesses dedicated to helping people protect themselves in a place rated the second-most violent in America, according to the FBI’s national report for 2005. That report showed the Memphis metro area recorded 1,197 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, trailing only Florence, S.C.
Bullzeye is one of several shooting ranges in the metro area that offer the eight-hour training course required by state law to obtain a handgun carry permit. Classes are typically full, and at Range Master on South Mendenhall classes are booked weeks in advance.
“We’re here because of the increase in crime in the city, and for the safety of our family,” says Sheree Hester, a 29-year-old pharmacist taking the course at Range Master with her husband, Ernest.
Good to see more law-abiding folks arming themselves. There was no discussion of penis size as far as I could tell.
November 20th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
RangeMaster is where I took my training class, but I don’t recommend it unless you’re a rabidly conservative/libertarian type, because they dedicate fully two of the eight hours to a mix of scaremongering, proselytization, and high-pressure sales instead of, you know, actual gun safety stuff. (two others I know took the same class, one a conservative and the other a libertarian type, and even they were turned off by it).
The conservative type says good things about Range USA, however. I need to check it out.
November 21st, 2006 at 1:06 am
Range USA is the best in town hands down. I go there about twice a month.
Rangemaster is very customer unfriendly. Which is unfortunate since it is very close to the office. Bullseye is new but in the old SLEA location, nice guy, but I have not shot there yet. Top Brass used to be the best but too far away for me now.
Would be happy to meet anyone there, if you want someone familiar with the setup.