Toms River, New Jersey Mayor Daniel Rodrick calls the corner of Hooper Avenue and Fischer Boulevard an “eyesore,” and says he welcomes a multi-million dollar project to turn the land into a multi-use sports complex featuring everything from batting cages and pickleball courts to an indoor gun range. A former mayor who’s now the town historian, however, is crying foul over the development; particularly the proposed presence of a bar and lounge slated to be located above a driving range.
Mark Mutter says he’s not opposed to gun ownership or even the idea of an indoor gun range. As he told JerseyShoreOnline, ” “We all have Second Amendment rights. But there is a legitimate concern regarding one property having guns and alcohol combined.”
It’s a concern that should be relatively easy to address. There are several ranges around the country that have restaurants, lounges, or cigar bars located inside the premises, and none of them allow patrons to shoot after they’ve imbibed.
How do they know? It’s pretty simple, really. When you visit the restaurant or lounge and order an alcoholic beverage, your ID is scanned, and you’re essentially locked out of visiting the range itself for a set period of time. When Gun Club 82 (now Unlimited Ammo and Range) opened in Gilbert, Arizona in 2019, the range’s chief development officer Mark Johnson, described how the system works.
“We have incorporated strict policies, procedural controls, human and electronic surveillance and a proprietary automation system that records and logs every single bar patron in the facility,” he said. “This system will then flag that customer to all Gun Club 82 employees and will electronically deny that person’s access to any and all live-fire gun range facilities for 24 hours. No exceptions.”
Johnson said the club also will bar those in a party that buys alcohol from using the range, even if they aren’t drinking, because they “can’t be 100 percent certain someone isn’t going to hand a drink over to someone.”
Like I said, it’s pretty simple. And I can assure Mutter that a similar system will be in place if and when the sports complex opens up and folks can enjoy an intoxicating beverage after they’ve finished shooting. No range operator wants to take on the liability of having intoxicated gun owners at the firing line, and it would be utterly insane to open up a business with both a lounge and a gun range on the premises while having no way of knowing if a customer had been imbibing on-site before they started shooting.
Mutter, though, is convinced that something needs to be done. And Mayor Rodrick sounds like he’s fed up with Mutter’s meddling.
Mayor Daniel Rodrick dismissed those concerns when asked for comments. “Toms River welcomes the investment to upgrade what has been a rundown corner and an eyesore,” he said.
He added, “I don’t have a problem with the shooting range,” and referred to Mutter as “a pretty liberal Republican who doesn’t like guns.”
When asked specifically about the combination of alcohol and firearms, Rodrick said, “You have my comments. Stop trying to drag me into something with a ‘has been’ who never will be.”
The site plan has already been approved, but the new development still needs to have its liquor license approved by the Toms River Township Council, and Mutter is hoping to hit the brakes on the project. He recently told the council that the multi-use facility would be “unique in New Jersey,” which may very well be true. Still, that’s no reason to deny a liquor license.
He also noted that materials submitted as part of the application did not include substantive input from law enforcement regarding the combination of firearms and alcohol. “There were no witnesses from any law enforcement agency presented at the hearing to address safety issues,” he said.
Maybe because there aren’t any safety issues that need to be addressed?
If I were the developer of this project, I’d simply put out a statement detailing the security measures that will be in effect to prevent customers from accessing the gun range after they’ve had a cocktail or beer at the lounge above the driving range. That should be more than enough to mitigate Mutter’s concerns, as well as address any qualms the Township Council might have about providing the liquor license to the facility.
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