Florida Shooters Network

Like the title says, I just wanted some info.

Many moons ago, I got together with a few friends and we rented out the combat range at Trail Glades for several hours. We were required to pay the hourly fee for it and have a range officer there with us to make sure we didn't do anything too crazy. It was also expected that we'd tip the range officer.

Some time later, I looked into renting it out again and was told that now they'd only rent to organizations that had a $1 Million insurance policy. That was years ago though. In fact, I think that was before they switched the pistol and rifle sides around.

Anyway, I checked on their website and they do list an hourly price for renting out the combat range but it doesn't have any info on whether it's available to the public again. Does anyone know if it is, or is it still only for organizations?

BTW, I know they have a phone number but have had a hard time getting through and haven't had time to pass by recently, though I may try doing so next week if I can't get any info.

Well, if anyone is curious, I was able to pass by this weekend and ask. Apparently to rent the combat/practice range you do not have to be an organization or corporate entity but do have to have the $1Million insurance covering everyone at the range and list Miami-Dade county as an additionally insured party.

Beyond that, you have to have a range officer there and hire the range out in advance for an hourly fee for a minimum of two hours. The info is available at the front desk but they didn't have any information about what insurers offer that type of policy, nor were they allowed to give out info about which organizations currently have such an arrangement so I could ask them.

I guess the question now is, does anyone here know of an insurer would offer this, or of an organization/person who has this arrangement that I can contact to see who they're using? I was thinking of contacting Tactical Firearms Academy who'd rented it out in the past but they don't seem to be using that range anymore.

If you are a casual shooter and want to bring your friends to the range, a personal liability insurance policy will not cover them nor is it portable. There might be some esoteric underwriter that could write something, but mention firearms and amateurs, and I doubt your going to have any luck finding someone to assess that sort of risk and assign a premium. The range would have to provide safety protocols and not act like you have to provide this coverage in a vacuum as it is on their property. It seems someone wrote this rule to eliminate any private group from using their facilities.

Edited to add: There is something called Event Insurance which is something promoters need to buy for concerts, or couples for certain wedding venues. This might be something that would work in this case. Theres a few vendors for it, but once again, not sure if they would embrace the idea of a "shooting event".