OK Gun Range Plans To Sell Alcohol On Site

Set to open later in the spring, Wilshire Gun is still bare bones. There will of course be retail and gun ranges, but there will also be a cafe where alcohol will be served.

Thursday, April 17th 2014, 7:43 pm

By: News 9


Set to open later in the spring, Wilshire Gun is still bare bones. There will of course be retail and gun ranges, but there will also be a cafe where alcohol will be served.

No matter where you're at in this facility, safety precautions will be at every turn. Shooting straight, you have indoor gun ranges and then you have General Manager Jeff Swanson's Wilshire Gun.

Forty thousand square feet, 10 archery lanes, 24 shooting lanes and a cafe that will offer a different kind of shot. But this isn't a recreation of the old Wild West.

"A lot of this technology in here wasn't even available even 5 years ago," said GM Jeff Swanson.

Swanson and his team have implemented their own safety measures. All staff will be trained for sobriety testing. There will also be a point of sale system.

You access the range, your driver's license is scanned. If you want to go into the cafe, your firearm must be secured. You buy a drink, your ID is scanned again. This time, it's flagged.

"And not allowed into any of the facilities for the remainder of the day either as a shooter or spectator," said Swanson.

Swanson calls that zero tolerance.

"We will be one of the safest retail environments in the country and if there's a safer one I don't know which one it will be," said Swanson.

Gun ranges with alcohol already exist in Georgia and Texas. And Capt. Fairchild with the ABLE Commission says he doesn't know why it can't work in Oklahoma. Swanson's confidence is locked and loaded.

"I don't see where the potential is for danger. Not with all the safety measures we have in place," said Swanson. 

The liquor license has yet to be approved by the city council, but it did pass the planning commission. It will go to the council in May.

The range is in Councilman Ed Shadid's ward. To get his vote, Shadid says there must be zero tolerance and no margin of error when participating in shooting after drinking.

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