Every third Saturday of the month, the Warner Robins Police Department opens their firing range to the public.
13WMAZ's Paula Rotondo went out to see why the department and the public think it's a good way to safely get practice in.
Gunshots are all you hear every third Saturday of the month at the Warner Robins Police Department's training facility, but the shots aren't coming from police officers.
Captain John Clay is the training commander for the police department he says, "We open our firing range, both the pistol and the rifle side for citizens to come out and shoot."
Clay says there's not many firing ranges around central Georgia, so, they offer their facility to the public once a month from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"It costs $5 to shoot," he says, "they have to provide their own eye ear protection, their bullets and their ammo, we provide them with targets, and they just come out and work on their shooting skills."
Clay explains why it's so important to know how to use your firearm, saying, "Number one is for safety so they don't shoot themselves or somebody that they don't intend to shoot, but also if they're going to carry a gun for self defense, they need to know how to use it, how to put it into action, and what they need to do in order to defend themselves."
He makes clear it's not a class, but says they have at least two instructors there each Saturday if you do need help.
Dillon Rountree has come to the firing range for a couple of years now.
He says, "I come out here to get a little practice in. I go to school down at Valdosta State, so I only get a little bit of time to come out here and practice my skills and stay sharp."
Rountree says he encourages all firearm owners to practice.
'If you're going to carry a gun, if you're going to work with firearms at all, it's best that you know exactly what you're doing, because you've seen a lot of incidents happen recently, most anything either and accident, accidental discharge can be prevented if you have practiced with your firearm," he says.
The next open firing range will be May 16th, and Clay says they also offer a free firearms training class.
For more information, you can go to their website at: http://www.wrpolice.org/training.htm
