User Panel
Posted: 9/23/2004 11:40:06 AM EDT
I'm in the process of starting up a rifle club at the Univ of Ga and need some help, information, suggestions etc. I have to come up with a constitution for it stating the purpose and bylaws. Any help and suggestions would be appreciated. Need a good statement of purpose and what could be some requirements for admission into the club.
|
|
Posted a link to this in the wisconsin HT, one of those guys is involved with a student gun group just can't remember who
|
|
You need 2 things -
1. You NEED to get NRA certification as a range safety officer / instructor AND you need NRA affiliation for your club. 2. You NEED to make it as safe, structured, organized, and legitimate as possible. Enhances credibility. NOW go call the NRA. I applaud your efforts. But do it the right way so that **** I *****don;t have to explain to some anti gunner why guns AREN'T bad just because someone got killed in YOUR organization. |
|
+1 |
|
|
How difficult is it to get certification? |
|
|
I used to be the President of the Armament Club at the University of Minnesota (Extremely Liberal College).
First, I must ask you these questions before you start: 1.) Is your college very Liberal / Anti-Gun? 2.) How much $$ are you willing to spend out of pocket each month toward this club? 3.) Is there anywhere off-campus (but VERY CLOSE to campus) that your club can meet? 4.) How many HOURS per week are you willing to devote to this club? 5.) Is there a decent rifle range nearby (within ~30 minutes drive) that students can use for training/practice? 6.) Do you have any ideas on acquiring funding for your group? I ask these questions for specific reasons. 1 - If your college is EVEN HALF as liberal/anti as the University of Minnescrota, then you're going to be fighting ONE HELLUVA DIFFICULT UP-HILL BATTLE! I've had to face threats from the campus Police Department, I've had to deal with the University turning down our re-application processs (to continue the club into the next academic year) on many times due to it being "Too Controversial" meanwhile the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender group (and La Raza [the rise as in against the US, and the local muslim/islamic group, and many others...] always gets approved, and gets over $15,000 of the taxpayer's money per year... 2 - To start, each college usually requires a minimum of 3-5 students that are interested, and these people will have to be registered as club "Officers" such as President, Treasurer, Secretary, etc... I asked the funding issue because the brunt of the cost of starting your own campus group/club WILL COME OUT OF YOUR POCKET! (Unless you have some sort of funding miracle) The officers and you will have to pay for $$ to make up fliers, posters, etc... You will have to use these materials to acquire members. You're going to have to start up BOTH AN EMAILING LIST, and a WEBSITE. Usually the College will appropriate website space, and an Email account for your group/club. Then you're going to have to formulate a "Constitution" for your group that outlines its purposes, its activities, practices, goals, and regulations. Usually the Constitution is required to be sent in with the application for processing. If they see something they do not like, you're not approved. Write it carefully! 3 - You're also going to have to find some place to hold group meetings. Campuses usually have rules/regulations regarding the possession of firearms on campus. Read these to a "T", and know them like the back of your hand. Most student groups have the opportunity to request a classroom or some space on campus for weekly or bi-weekly meetings, etc... If you plan on teaching basic firearm safety (which was the goal of my past group/club), you're going to need to use examples... YOU CANNOT USE CAMPUS SPACE if you intend to bring firearms on campus in violation of school rules. Do not violate these rules, because it's just not worth the threat of getting kicked out of college. 4 - You must determine how much time per week will be spent with this group/club. THIS WILL AFFECT YOUR GRADES! If your group meets ONCE per week, for only an hour, you will then have to spend about 2-3 hours per week planning what you're going to do or accomplish with that meeting! Make sure you can deal with these time committments. If you cannot, this isn't for you! (Trust Me) The way my group did it was we had weekly meetings (until we were "shafted" by the University) at an on-campus location where we would discuss firearms, their activities (competitions, practice, etc.), how to pick out a good firearm for yourself, popcorn & movie nights (usually out of your pocket if you can't get funding), and other things... Then when we needed to do safety training we would hold that at an off-campus location (usually someone's apartment), and then we would proceed to the shooting range to blast a bunch of ammo through paper and instruct them on decent, basic shooting form and safety. Then we'd refer them to professional institutions (such as Defensive Edge, NRA, DNR, etc.) for certifiable training. They would then come back and join the group for competitions, and events that were held. Generally the group would go shooting ONCE OR TWICE PER MONTH. Any more than that, and students likely won't be able to afford it... TRUST ME when I say that this could get expensive for not only you, but for other members as well. 5 - Is there a nearby firing range that can be used for safety training, target practice, and competitions? If not, then this club will be going NOWHERE! Where are you guys going to go shooting? A once-per month field trip is expensive for a club. YOu've got to check college regulations for student organizations. My University had rules about INSURANCE, AND TRANSPORTATION OF STUDENTS. Getting INSURANCE for your group (if required by the school) IS GOING TO BE IMPOSSIBLE. We were unable to get ANY group insurance, and as such all students that wished to attend needed to sign liability waivers. IT WOULD BE SMART TO HAVE THEM SIGN WAIVERS EVEN IF YOU HAD INSURANCE! As far as TRANSPORTATION, my school also had regulations about transporting students around for activities. My school said ALL STUDENTS MUST be transported in UNIVERSITY OWNED VEHICLES that were RENTED to the group (for a decen price though), and were driven by UNIVERSITY CERTIFIED DRIVERS (meaning some group members would have to take a University headed driver's safety course for driving high-capacity 15 passenger vans) for the event/practice! HOWEVER, if you cannot get insurance, you cannot get access to such vehicle rentals, and you cannot go... WITHOUT A WAIVER. They will likely have to sign a transportation waiver as well to keep liability issues down. Then you will have to have members personally drive/commute others to the events in their own vehicles... 6 - What do you intend to do in order to get funding for your group??? We were *NEVER* approved for EVEN THE MOST MINIMAL FUNDING for a student group because we were "Too Controversial," and some administrators even went so far as to say that we were "Promoting Gun Violence..." WTF!? We were teaching gun safety, and introducing people into the sport of shooting? That's promoting gun violence??? You're going to have to register this group as a Non-Profit student organization as well. Here is what I suggest for funding ideas: 1.) Dues. You're going to need to charge dues for each member... Generally something like $35 per semester should work out okay... You're going to have to budget this to figure out what is best. 2.) Advertising. Your student group's website can rent out some space for advertizing. Use this $$ to help pay for movie nights, ammo, range fees, etc... But before someone will invest in ad space on your website, they've got to see that it's getting exposure (a "Hit" counter will be needed). 3.) Fundraising. Your school can suggest some fundraisers that you can do to get $$... Here it varies greatly. Anything from classic door-to-door sales of Candy & BS, to telemarketing for donations from Alumni (donations for the school, not your group, which will be paid an hourly wage), or working at a food stand at the nearby football stadium or something... 4.) Competition Funding. Get your members into competitions A.S.A.P.!!! Make sure they get so good that they keep winning. If you're REALLY lucky a gun-related company can give you massive funding for sponsorship! One of my group members was so good that H&K sponsored him in rifle competitions, AND they paid his way through college! 5.) Anything else you can think of to get funding just shy of armed robbery. J/K! It's A TON OF WORK, but it SURE IS FUN! Good Luck! (You're gonna need it!) |
|
Oh, I forgot to add a +1!!! You're going to likely need this for the sake of Credibility. One of our officers was NRA certified. Get that taken care of A.S.A.P.!!! |
|
|
There is a range about 10 miles away from campus. It's a private range though that requires membership. I was going to check and see if we could get a student/group rate. I went by the Student Activities place today and picked up the packet that explains the rules and regulations. I've also already met with the University Police Chief and cleared everything with him. So that area is covered. I was going to get a list of people that would be interested in joining/founding it. I was hoping to get 15-20 people interrested. that way it wouldn't be completely funded by me at first. The university does provide a spot on their servers for the website and i believe they'll actually design it if you give them everything they need. Right now I'm in the planning phase of things. I haven't taken any actions towards anything just yet. I just thought it would be a good idea to promote firearm safety as well as have fun with other college students. It seems that UGA has a club for every other sport except for the ones dealing with firearms, except for paintball. I'm going to try to find a few faculty members who would be interested in helping to help me with the founding to get someone else involved other than just a "college student". Thanks for the input. Funding is available through the university, but I doubt we'll ever see any of it.
|
|
That's a good point about checking for group discounts!!! My college group would bring in between $4000 to $7000 per year in money for the shooting events (depending upon frequency of shoots). This is because it was an indoor range where you had to rent each lane, and pay a certain amount per person who would share the lane. Usually we got 3-4 lanes every time out, and some people rented guns, some people brought their own, etc... It adds up quickly to say the least! They should give you SOME kind of discount. If they don't even try to bargain they suck, and you should look into another range.
The University of GA is likely a lot less liberal than this cesspool I attend. You should be in pretty good shape. As far as memberships and funding go... It WOULD be wise to get some of the University's Faculty/Staff/Professors in on it if you can! They *WILL* add to the club's demographics! During our march at the Homecoming parade it was funny because some anti-gunners were shouting at us things like "Baby Killers!" or "Racist Psychos!"... That's something I simply cannot fathom... RACIST? Where the hell did they get that!? My club had AT LEAST ONE PERSON from ever "Generic" ethnicity you could think of... We had people in our club from around the world, and we all got along GREAT! Then they called us Racist when there's multiple ethnicities & skin colors marching together? WTF? Thankfully you've gotten a chance to talk to the local PD. The one here is VERY anti-gun, and if you lived on campus, you had to store your firearms in the local PD's gun vault, and had to fill out paperwork to pick up or drop off your gun. There were only certain hours of the day when you could do this as well. The guns always had to be inspected for legalities, modifications, and whether or not they were loaded, blah blah blah. All the while you heard such things as, "Why on earth do you need such guns like that anyway?" It's just a Post-Ban AR-15, and a 10/22 in a bullpup stock! I had to deal with a shitload of hassles all the time up here in Northliberalville Minnesota, but in the end it really *WAS* worth all the time & money I put into it over those years. If I really stop to think about it, I can honestly say that I have introduced over 50 people to shooting! About 30 of which now own their own firearms and shoot recreationally, hunt, or shoot competitively. Some are still pretty good friends, and I've brough them with to local AR15.com shoots as well. You may have some bad times, but overall, you'll have some GREAT fun, and you'll get to meet new people...
And THAT is what it is all about! You're going to have fun if you can persue this further! |
|
|
Check out our club in the liberal stronghold of America, Madison WI. I'll shoot you an email...
In the meantime, check out our website. -Adrian Secretary, SAFER UW-Madison Gun Club http://safer.rso.wisc.edu |
|
You Poor, Poor, BASTARD! That's ONE PLACE that I'm DAAAAAAYUMN glad I'm not going to college! And I think that the University of Minnesnowta is LIBERALVILLE... That's just WORSE... And to top it all off... YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN WINSCONSIN! I'm sorry... |
|
|
Forget it.
Seriously. What you gonna shoot? Air guns? I don't think so. CRC |
|
Oh, by the way...
It IS a lot of work, but if you have a close group of friends who can help you, it's not too bad. We are an NRA affiliated club. None of us are NRA SOs but we are working on that. Six of us will graduate LFI-I in October. We stress safety, safety, safety, and cover our asses legally. As for funding, we do our homework, fill out grant applications, and go in and defend them. We have been very successful. We received over $600 for the year, and a $1200 travel grant to go to LFI. Our group promotes multi-culturalism (gun owners on a liberal campus is definitely cultural), as well as assault/rape awareness and prevention. Campus police and anti-gun groups? Fuck em. Too controversial? Bullshit. Know your rights, make strong arguments, know the law, and don't screw up. We can't have guns on campus, so we don't. I dare anyone to come break up our meeting, then I can sue them for violating several of my rights. You do need off campus housing if you want guns (most likely GA has the same rules as UW). You will also need an off campus shooting range... there have to be some outside of Minneapolis. Go to their range meetings and sign you and your officers up. Shoot there, go to the meetings, tell them you want a sponsorship and reduced price memeberships. Sell your club, get corporate sponsorships. Insurance? Wow, even UW doesnt require crap like that, that I know of. You can be a formal campus club, and then just do your stuff in an 'unorganized' manner. We all take our own cars and stuff.. just a bunch of buddies going shooting. Money? Yeah, it will cost some money, but really not that much more if you already spends too much money on guns like I do :) Anyways, I just wrote that for anyone else reading the board who is considering starting their own club. It can be done, it is totally worth it, you WILL get recognition for it form people in the gun community, and you will get a TON of people who say "there's a gun club at ..... wow, I never knew. That's awesome, good job guys!" We have got a ton of information that we can discuss via email or by phone later on. Read the email I sent you, and drop me a line. -Adrian |
|
Imbroglio could be annoying. An Imbroglio knockoff is just insufferable. |
|
|
a 2 day class, take a test, send in you paperwork. Its a formailty, but an important one. MORe important is the RSO training. |
|
|
|
NOTHING beats watching Gopher's Hockey... NOTHING!
Vi-Queens suck though... As does all football, IMHO. (Can't tell I played hockey for 9 yrs, huh?) Did you graduate??? Don't tell me that too much "Wisconsinite Common Sense" rubbed off on you, and you suddenly got the brilliant idea to commute from SD to WI every morning for class... Thank god for CCW. Nowadays I feel naked (especially on campus) when I can't carry my 1911 on my side! Minnesotans have to continue our fight to get back our CCW!!! (Maybe you should help as well... Then U can get a non-resident permit, and carry in our state as well - Write Emails to some of our politicians!) |
|
Adrian sent me a link to this thread to see if I had any advice to offer. I've been the President of SAFER for a couple of years now. I took over the club when the last Pres graduated and all of the other officers moved away or graduated. One of the masterminds behind starting SAFER spends a lot of his time on arfcom (I won't point him out unless he wants to speak up).
I can say that if you have a club with more than 4 people it will become ENORMOUSLY time consuming. If your club is also politically active and there are any gun policies being tossed around your state, you will not have enough time to take a relaxing shit in the morning. Your grades will probably suffer unless you have equally active officers helping you every step of the way. iNuhBaD' gave you a lot of great advice. I wish someone had explained all of this to me before I took over my club. Oh, it costs a lot more than Adrian realizes unless you can get some money out of the University. Before we got funding I spent far too much money keeping the club alive. Take and use every benefit that you can find through the school. There are probably services offered that you've never heard about. I (and our treasurer) have worked our asses off to get the second largest operations grant and second largest travel grant awarded to UW student organizations this year. The key is being 10 times as professional, 10 times as logical, and 10 times as dedicated than the rest of the retards trying to get money from the cookie jar. Do not give them a single reason to think that your club will be a bunch of hillbillies toting guns around school and throwing Highlife cans in the back of their rusted out pickup trucks. You have to have a correct and logical answer to each and every stupid ass question that they will ask you. Keep your cool no matter how much their anti-gun agenda shows. It becomes very political, but it's worth it. If you're uncomfortable making calm arguements with someone who doesn't know a .45 chamber from their asshole you will need to find someone who is. Be professional, be smart, think ahead. If things don't go your way at first, try a different tactic. Anyway, if you'd like to start a SAFER chapter at Ga, just drop me an email. I can give you copies of our constitution and whatever other help I can offer. Anthony http://safer.rso.wisc.edu |
|
Glad you got to this thread, I wasn't sure if it was you or Corey tht was involed with the group, at first i thought it was corey, but either way glad you found this thread so kblagg can get some good first hand info. |
|
|
Well just an update....I contacted four local businesses for possible sponsorships and have heard from two of them, with them both saying that it is probable. I just have to go meet with them and discuss it further. So we're making progress. One of the ranges offered to help with fundraising for us. Here are links to the 2 places that offered to help.
Brush Creek Farm Athens Rifle Club |
|
My brother goes to a prestigious private school in WA, and his entire Crew team is looking into renting the majority of an indoor range for the day. My brother is the only shooter on the team. Its a liberal school too.
|
|
Just an update on the club. Its definately been time consuming and hard work to get it up and running. However its paid off. I've gotten a sponsorship through a local Gun Store as well as through a range. We currently have 37 members and have yet to receive our club charter from the University. We have new people interested everyday. Thanks for all the help to those who gave advice/suggestions. Especially the guys up at Univ of Wisconsin-Madison
|
|
In addition to NRA cert you will want to seek CMP membership for the club as well.
|
|
Ayup! Garands for everyone! |
|
|
Thanks for the update. Let me know what happens in the future.
|
|
|
|
We are now an official club through my university. Just an FYI. All the hard work has paid off.
|
|
Congrats!!!
I hope some of my advice helped a little. Now just work to keep it going if you can! I'm glad that you were able to get some sponsorship, as that is truly the key to the success of such an organization. Getting the sponsorship, certified training, and then keeping it going... |
|
HOORAH! Way to go! Congratulations on seeing your efforts come to fruition. |
|
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.