LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Several Fort Simpson residents are setting their sights on creating a formal gun club in the community with the goal of improving the rifle range in the village.

Chuck Blyth, a member of the newly founded club, aims a rifle down the Fort Simpson gun range. - photo courtesy Chuck Blyth

Ian Coates said the paperwork to create a club has been submitted to the GNWT.

It all started after he ran into Chuck Blyth at the rifle range, which is halfway from the village core to the airport along the highway.

They said it would be nice to have a proper range with shooting benches and a warm-up hut.

"It would be a place where people could come to shoot and learn about guns safely," Coates said in a recent interview about the club.

Having started as a young man in shooting sports, he said he enjoys getting the chance to fire off a few rounds.

"All of us are just really excited at the prospect of hopefully getting a proper shooting facility in Fort Simpson. We're hoping we're fortunate enough to get it on the go," he said.

Coates envisions the club becoming a venue for people to get out of their homes and do something for fun.

"To give people in the community another resource, a safe resource to use, so there are more things to do in town and more things to attract people to Fort Simpson," he said.

"I think we'll get a ton of responses from people," Blyth said.

After talking about the challenges creating a club would involve, both said they wanted to continue.

Coates' approached several other members of the community to see if they'd be interested in signing on to create a society.

The first meeting was held at the end of February with another expected in late March.

"We're just at the very start of a long process," Coates said about the road to forming the club.

Once incorporated with a constitution and a board of directors, the attention will turn to the existing range.

"After that, we're going to have to figure out who controls the land and we're going to have to redraw the land lease. Once that's done, look into the appropriate regulation for safety requirements for earth-works and range design. After that, then going out to secure money."

In the long-term, they're aiming to hold shooting competitions and have a friendly turkey shoot.

Beyond that, Coates said there's interest in offering programs to people who have never shot a gun in their life.

Gun clubs exist in other territorial communities including Fort Smith, Inuvik, Yellowknife and Hay River, said Coates.

A similar club existed in the late 1990s, said Blyth, but after some of its organizers moved away, it essentially fell apart.

"Hopefully we can keep it going now," Blyth said.