Gun owners, 'peacenik' politician team up on Santa Fe shooting range push

Sean P. Thomas, The Santa Fe New Mexican
·4 min read

Sep. 6—"Where is the gun range?"

Next to, "Where is the ammo?" Bill Roney, owner of the The Outdoorsman of Santa Fe, said it's one of the questions he hears most frequently from customers and guests at his DeVargas Center gun shop.

Roney, whose store bills itself as the oldest full-time firearms dealer in Northern New Mexico, said the issue has plagued gun aficionados in Santa Fe County since the county's only functioning gun range was shuttered about two decades ago, leaving people with nowhere to practice shooting in a safe environment.

So where do people go?

"Wherever they can," Roney said.

Local shooters have been doing just this, with unofficial shooting locations in and around the 84,000-acre Caja del Rio in the Santa Fe National Forest, just south of Santa, Fe becoming popular attractions.

"This isn't a new story. ... It is frustrating," Roney said. "We are one of the few areas without a public shooting facility that is safe and convenient.

"That is the key word," he added. "Safe."

It's the key focus for Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen as well, who said she has been working to deter unauthorized shooting on Bureau of Land Management lands in the Caja del Rio since 2019, when some of her District 1 constituents began complaining about a proliferation of open shooting at the site just south of Santa Fe.

"People tried saying to me, 'I am riding my bike out there, and I hear gunshots. Sometimes it even feels like it is wizzing right by me,' " Hansen said. "This is not the idea of a multi-use BLM land."

Hansen said trails Santa Fe County has invested in, like the El Camino Real Trail, run through the Caja del Rio, but "people are afraid to use it because of all this wildcat shooting." Three to four meetings were held on the issue in 2019, but the coronavirus pandemic slowed the pace on any other stakeholder meetings.

Hansen also worked with the BLM and U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall on the issue. The federal government does make funds available for shooting ranges through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, otherwise known as the Pittman Robertson Act of 1937. The bill directs excise tax revenue from the sale of firearms and ammunition products to state Fish and Game agencies or other items related to wildlife or conservation efforts.

Lately, those discussions have been picking up steam, according to an announcement from the BLM's Taos field office last week. The office announced it is working with other entities to help create sanctioned target shooting areas in Santa Fe County, the San Pedro Mountains, Buckman-Alamo Creek and Camel Tracks, while at the same time working to construct a new shooting range.

Hansen said she see the shooting range as the first in a list of steps to protect the Caja del Rio.

In the wake of the desecration of the centuries-old La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs in January, efforts to protect the Caja del Rio amid continued threats to the land have increased. Resolutions from both the All Pueblo Council of Governors and the Santa Fe County Commission have called on President Joe Biden and New Mexico's congressional delegation to take action to provide a layer of permanent protections for the land. The Santa Fe City Council passed a similar resolution.

Hansen said it's not uncommon to find old televisions, refrigerators, couches and other discarded items that people drag out to use for target practice. She said she fears the discarded items could result in contamination.

"I 100 percent support the protection of the Caja," she said. "And I consider this a part of the protection of the Caja del Rio because we can start to take these wildcat shooting areas off the map and direct people to a real shooting range, which is really what people want."

Hansen said there are still questions to be answered, including who would manage the site and how the costs for the effort would be split, but she said she expects community meetings on the matter to be held this month.

A self-described peacenik who has an aversion to firearms, Hansen said she never expected to take up a cause championed by the gun crowd but felt it would be a win-win for everyone in Santa Fe County.

"I don't own a gun; I don't want to own a gun; it is not a sport I would participate in," Hansen said. "I am on the other side of this, but I also recognize that we have to protect the health and safety of our constituents, and that is primary."