Cross-posted from Texas HTF in case there are any that might miss it there.





PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT





TL;DR : STAY AWAY





Background:


When we first got to Texas, we were approached by a local range, and the owner Derek that wanted to do an event.


They were just getting started, but the intent was to allow drawing from holster, movement, full auto, and suppressed guns.


Cool; Happy to help any small firearms business. With very short notice (IIRC like 2 weeks) we posted and invited folks to attend, plus we set up a tent and brought a bunch of guns for shooters to try.





Attended the event. Not much of a "range" there. but some land and a few berms. We helped set up, set up our own tables, and brought along ammo for attendees to shoot for free. They did charge an entry fee, sold food tickets, and had a number of "raffles" going on.





What they did not have was a big prize, so we were asked if we would sell them one of our ARs at dealer cost, so they could sell tickets for this prize during the event. We agreed, and they paraded the rifle throughout the day, selling tickets for this prize.





At the end of the day, they picked a winner, and the plan was to mail the rifle to the winners FFL, and Derek would make payment directly to us.





The winner promptly sent us his FFL, and we were ready to ship, but days went by and Derek made no payment. I explained via email and phone that he needed to pay so we could get this prize off to the winner, all while stalling the winner so the range wouldn't look bad. Well, after a few WEEKS we decided to ship the prize to the winner, since he was not involved, and there was no reason to impact him (an ARFCOM member by the way).





Derek was informed of what had happened, and he continued with his empty promises to make payment immediately. I was soon contacted by other volunteers from this event to let me know that Derek kept a number of the prizes that were donated and supposedly "raffled" or won. That those who worked the event were not paid as promised, and that there was a long list of others ripped off by Fusion Gun Range and Derek in other businesses. Many of these are veterans.





So I attended a Gun Show where I knew Fusion would be set up (Big Town). I saw Derek, and watched him try to sneak away. Caught up to him outside his booth and said hi. He promised to get payment immediately! That was approximately a year ago. Many attempts have been made since, and all are met with either ignoring emails, or promises to pay, or blaming staff who should have followed up on this.





Present:


So follow up to now, still no payment. But it seems that Derek has had a visit from Karma. Supposedly his range got flooded, and he's holding a GoFundMe fundraiser to raise $40k to fix it up.





He's also opening another range down the street with a 1000yd lane and trying to raise funds for that through memberships.





He's also partnered with Larry Vickers to hold an event this Saturday, December 19th:


Come Meet and Train with Larry Vickers with Guest of Honor Allen West.





So this is a warning for any of you that might be considering attending or going to this event, and especially anyone that might be thinking about buying raffle tickets at the event.





Perhaps this is free publicity for the range, but it is an essential warning to any locals that might be tied up with this individual. I'm all about helping anyone out, and sometimes I get burned in the process, but I will not allow him to burn others on my watch. I feel I have given him enough opportunity and time to make things right.





If anyone has any questions, feel free to post, email, or IM me directly.



[ETA - Added "TX" to subject to clarify location - Z]

As a professional courtesy I sent him an email to his "official" address as well as one he had written to me on back when the whole "copier repairman/spongebob" deal went down.
No response. No surprise.

More accurately, he sounds like a fucking thief.  

Damn. You know this guy is a complete scumbag if Ed is dropping knowledge personally.

THIS!

Interesting.

Above.