Shooting range emphasizes safety

Open 365 days per year—366 days this year—Eagle Peak Shooting Range in Leander is the closest outdoor shooting range to downtown Austin. Members from throughout the metropolitan area and beyond travel to the longtime shooting haven to safely exercise their Second Amendment rights. In fact, a six-and-a-half-minute video preaches to new shooters how much of a priority Eagle Peak places on safety.

The range was originally founded in 1984 and acquired in December 1993 by owner Jim Day, who now runs the business alongside his son-in-law, Randy Hebert. Eagle Peak provides gun enthusiasts and newcomers alike the chance to shoot in a safe environment, Day said, even on holidays.

"We've got to be here for those little kids who get guns for Christmas, and dad wants to take them out," he said.

Newcomers pay $10 for a lifetime membership card.

"The card is good as long as you are," Day said. "We always say it expires when you do."

Each additional visit costs $10. Those prices have not increased in nearly 15 years, Hebert said, largely because of a drastic increase in membership, with more than 65,000 card holders total.

"In the last four years, [the number of] range card holders has doubled," he said, crediting the population surge for the increased membership. "We issued as many range cards in the last four years as the previous 15. It's showing no signs of slowing down, either."

Anywhere from 100 to 400 people frequent the range each day, Hebert said. Those figures remain consistent because the family-run business has successfully created and maintained a constant sense of safety, he said.

"We make sure folks feel there's never something they have to be worried about," he said. "From the moment they arrive to the moment they leave, they should feel confident we have a very firm handle of everything going on."

Longtime shooting instructor Julianna Crowder echoed that sentiment. She's frequented the range the past six years, and her husband, John, has shot there since he was a kid, Crowder said.

She even started the first chapter of "A Girl and A Gun" at Eagle Peak Shooting Range. On the second and fourth Monday evenings of each month, women of all skill levels hone their shooting skills.

"The reason I picked [Eagle Peak] is because I can control the situation there as far as safety because they have the great stations set up, and it allows for a lot of socializing," she said. "It's hard to socialize and shoot at the same time in an indoor range, so Eagle Peak is perfect for that because it allows us to do both."

Eagle Peak Shooting Range, 20026 Lindeman Lane, Leander, 267-1400, www.eaglepeakshootingrange.com