chinalfr
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Massachusetts Rifle Association - Woburn, MA
- Thread starter PMD
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Enough of the bickering b.s.
Massman and Dragon2115 if either of you continues down this shit show road you're going to get a vacation from here.
Massman and Dragon2115 if either of you continues down this shit show road you're going to get a vacation from here.
LuvToGoFast
NES Member
More drama in this club than a sewing circle. Glad I avoid them all.
agreed...
I have been a member at MRA for 3 years now and throughly enjoy it, but I keep to myself. Other than dealing with a brass rat and some FUDDs, it has been great. Jerry who does the 50 yard and 100/200 yard qualifications is a really nice guy and bends over backwards in my opinion. There is so much steel plate and concrete I am not sure exactly why we need to qualify, but if you look at the target carriers, walls and ceiling of the Loeb range you will know why!
I brought the same friend every other Saturday for the better part of a year since we were in business school together in Boston and he lived in Maine, no reason for him to get a membership and we never had a problem. He was a very experienced shooter and we always shared a lane.
I think Mike and others made some good points earlier, if you read the club rules literally they are pretty restrictive. Although the MRA motto is "When it doubt, don't do it!" whereas my motto is, "Don't be a dumbass and people will leave you alone!"
Chris
I tend to just shoot at pictures of moonbats. Works for me and people leave me alone.
Kidding, I shoot at Shoot N See targets.
Wait I only shoot at NRA baby inspired targets per the old rule board, sorry.
![[rofl2]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/035.gif "ROFL2 [rofl2]")
Aren't you worried about a sudden fine or something ridiculous for violating the 3 times per year policy? I have a couple of friends at work who want to get into shooting, but aren't committed enough to join a club or get their LTCs yet. And I'm worried about running afoul of the rules by having each of them more than 3 times per year. Whenever I bring one, we always share a lane and they always follow instruction and I would never hand a firearm to someone I didn't trust to not be an idiot. However, there is so much filming going on, I feel like I'm being watched constantly and that someone will actually pore through the log book to find my guests. So far I've only had guests a couple of times, so no rules broken.
Da_lucche
NES Member
Do the BOD really scour through pages of log ins and hours of video footage to make sure a specific member doesnt bring a guest more than 3 times in a year?
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
I have no idea. Why make it a rule if you aren't going to enforce it?
Do the voices in my head count as guests? Can the BOD hear them too?
![[tinfoil]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/tinfoilhatsmile.gif "Tinfoil Hat [tinfoil]")
![[horse]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/026.gif "Beat a dead horse [horse]")
![[rules]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/034.gif "Rules [rules]")
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You make a rule hoping that people will follow the rule, even if they know they could get away with breaking it. I think it probably works most of the time too. I bet a lot of people sit waiting for a red light to turn green, even at 3 a.m. when they are the only car on the road.
And as for the scouring the log, I really doubt it. It's far more likely someone would have to notice that a member continually brought the same guest over and over, and that someone to have an axe to grind with member in question in order for a complaint to be filed.
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^ That ^
Not really. I think it is a questionable rule, but I see its value in preventing local groups of friends only buying one membership and shooting together.
In the course of a year, he came with me probably 12-15 times. He lives 150 miles away, why would he get a membership? As a member is good standing, I don't see the problem bringing a guest as long as it doesn't prevent other members from shooting.
Chris
Recently I was there and I noticed a sign by the kitchen that lists violations that result in expulsion, one of them was violation of guest policy.
Exactly.
Billsail
NES Member
mikelawtown
NES Member
me too, when we going?..LOL
Some are more reasonable than others, that's for sure. I've been a member of 4 different clubs over the past 10 years, and none of them with the exception of one have these kinds of policies in place, outside of basic things like members must be responsible for guests, or guests cannot commandeer lanes that the member isn't using during busy times, which is pretty typical. One of them has a donation box where you plonk in $5 for each guest you bring, which I think is pretty darn reasonable. There are a lot of people who can't justify full memberships at a lot of clubs, particularly the more expensive ones.
I'm not bashing MRAs policy here, to be direct. I think it is something, though, that any prospective member should look at before joining ANY club. Most "club butthurt" and "buyers remorse" can be avoided by doing a little research up front before joining. It also helps to find current and past members and talk to them about "the way things work". Some clubs have problems which are not revealed by the
rules.
-Mike
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What I find most distressing about these posts (not the posters, or their perfectly reasonable behavior) is that it looks like members are discouraged from participating. These all read to me like, "keep your head down, don't make waves, don't draw attention to yourself, and you'll be fine." I expect that's not their intended message, but it's what their own description of their behavior says pretty clearly.
I don't want my club ("my" to mean "I'm a member", I'm not asserting ownership) to be like that. I want my club to me made up of *members*, not customers. I want every member to feel that if they have a good idea, a complaint, an observation or a question; they can bring it up without fear of retribution, shaming, being dismissed as "just an occasional shooter", or being treated as "less important" because they don't put in 1,000 hours of volunteer work. I've experienced some, but not all, of the above; it's both infuriating and frustrating, and I can see why some would take a non-involvement route.
Rob Boudrie
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Westfield has a strict "no guests except for formal club events" policy, and this pre-dates the machine gun accident.
Wow, that sure sounds like my marriage.
I am one of those who shows up to shoot and pretty much keeps to myself. It has nothing to do with trying not to make waves or anything of the sort. For me the reason is simply that my time is limited. I am on the board of directors for another private club that I belong to, I work a lot of hours, and I have plenty of family obligations. When it comes to the MRA, I just want to be a member who shows up to shoot and goes home. You can't characterize everyone who doesn't get involved in the politics of the club as being scared.
Saw it yesterday. The rule makes sense to an extent, but on the other hand it's kind'a dumb if someone is being punished if he/she has an out-of-town guest and they already had their 3 guests, to not allow an additional one. So certainly not for abuse, but definitely flexibility and common sense.
The rule is "A member is allowed to bring an individual shooting guest to any range not more than 3 times within a calendar year". The way I've read that is you can bring an individual to the range up to 3 times, not you can only bring up to 3 guests a year. The rule is meant to stop people from riding on others memberships.
I'm also one of those shoot and go home people, I wish I had more time to become involved and comprehend whats going on. Given what I've read on this thread, I think I'll stick to my SOP.
I read this posted material at the club yesterday myself. There was only one item listed specifically involving violation of the club's guest policy. The resolution was not expulsion.
I'm sorry, that wasn't my intent.
I've seen nearly identical wording at multiple clubs, and I'd bet my membership that your interpretation is correct.
e.g. I can take Sam three times a year, Janet three times a year, Josephine three times a year, Eustice three times a year, but I can't take any of them four times a year.
The other club I'm a member of has a spouse/child exception, so I could take my daughter or wife as many times as I wanted, but they'd still be my guest and would have to follow all the guest rules. I thought MRA had a similar rule, but it's never come up for me so I've never confirmed it.
