Keene gun range to host 'build your own AR-15' classes, drawing some concern

Jul. 13—Amid renewed national discourse on guns in the wake of recent mass shootings, a Keene range is offering a pair of clinics this summer allowing a handful of people to build their own AR-15-style firearms.

"Build it, shoot it, then take it home!" is the tagline for the classes that the Cheshire County Shooting Sports Education Foundation's Ferry Brook Range will host in partnership with Critical Dynamics, a Henniker-based company that will provide training and instruction to attendees.

Organizers of the classes say they will be educational and promote firearm safety. But others, including one former member of the range who resigned over the clinics, say their timing is tone deaf after another rash of mass shootings in the U.S. They were all carried out by people brandishing guns similar to the ones the classes will help attendees build.

The courses in Keene, which are limited to eight participants, are scheduled for July 30 and Aug. 13. Keith Hanson, director of law-enforcement training at Critical Dynamics, said attendees will choose from three different packages of AR-15-style firearms, ranging in price from $850 to $1,325.

Critical Dynamics offers tactical and firearm training programs to law enforcement, private security and citizens, according to its website.

Those interested in attending a course don't need to be a member of the Ferry Brook Road range, but will need to complete a firearms transaction record and pass a background check, conducted on the morning of the course by a federally licensed firearms dealer, Hanson added.

According to Critical Dynamics' website, all firearms at the clinics will be constructed using legally transferred and serialized parts.

Peter Crowell, the Keene range's general manager, said students will be able to assemble their firearms according to their preference.

The assortment of components to assemble includes the scope, trigger, stock, magazine lock and release, as well as the barrel. Hanson said customization is ideal for guns so that people are more comfortable with their firearm. For example, he said "older shooters" or others with lower dexterity might prefer a gun with lighter parts.

Once instructors check and ensure the firearm is properly assembled and safe, Hanson said people will be able to test fire their newly built rifle and leave with it.

An AR-15 is a semiautomatic firearm, meaning the shooter must pull the trigger to fire each shot from a magazine that typically carries 30 rounds.

Hanson said the rifle has a variety of applications, including self-defense and sport, and some livestock farmers also use it on their property to ward off predators.

But the man who canceled his range membership over the clinics said no one should have access to this type of firearm. He asked that The Sentinel not use his name for fear someone could retaliate against him for his complaints.

"They have the audacity to promote building the weapon that [expletive] killed those people," he said, speaking on the recent mass shootings in Highland Park, Ill., and Uvalde, Texas. "No one needs a gun that eviscerates a body when it hits it. That weapon should be off the street, no one should have that."

According to NPR, the Uvalde gunman used an AR-15-style weapon in May when he shot and killed 21 people, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported the Highland Park shooter also used a similar weapon earlier this month when he killed seven.

In an email, the former range member added that he fears something similar could happen anywhere, even in Keene.

Hanson countered that the concern shouldn't be on the gun, but on whoever might be wielding it.

"To blame the weapon and not the mentally defective criminal behind the weapon is emotionally dishonest and immature," he said.

"Unfortunately, a lot of unstable people get access to weapons, mostly legitimately but some illegitimately," Crowell said. "This class is the same as going to the store and purchasing a firearm except now you're building it but it's customized how you want it."

According to news reports, the guns used in the mass shootings in Uvalde and Highland Park — as well as in Buffalo, N.Y., when 10 people were killed in May — were all purchased legally.

N.H. Rep. Joe Schapiro, D-Keene, said weapons similar to an AR-15 should not be available for sale.

"I don't by any means believe that everyone with an AR-15 would use it with malicious intent," Schapiro said Tuesday. "But that they're in such great supply makes them available to people who are really unstable or hateful that would want to do serious damage. I'm saddened this is happening in Keene."

Critical Dynamics will host a similar clinic in Candia on July 16, according to Hanson. He said classes for people to build their own firearm are in high demand.

Hunter Oberst can be reached at 355-8585, or hoberst@keenesentinel.com.