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Fort Devens Rifle & Pistol Club members engaging popup targets. (Photo courtesy of the Fort Devens Rifle & Pistol Club).By Lee Williams
A small civilian gun club located just 50 miles northwest of Boston has won a “landmark” lawsuit against nearby Fort Devens for violating their rights and federal law by denying them access to military rifle ranges at reasonable rates.
The Ft. Devens Rifle & Pistol Club, Inc., filed suit in 2022 claiming that Fort officials were charging range fees in violation of federal law, according to club treasurer Jim Gettens, a retired attorney who assisted with the legal fight.
Gettens said Monday that his club’s victory was a major “David vs. Goliath” event.
“They were running an illegal profiteering racket,” he said. “That’s the best way to describe it. This was a landmark case.”
Gettens and other club members noticed that their problems with the range began only three days after Joe Biden took office in 2022, which they said would never have happened under President Donald Trump’s Administration.
At issue was a little-known section of U.S. code that requires the Army to make rifle and pistol ranges available for civilian use as long as it does not interfere with military training, and it prohibits officials from charging exorbitant fees for range access.
Another federal statute requires the Army to provide logistical support to the Civilian Marksmanship Program. The Fort Devens Rifle & Pistol Club, Inc., is an affiliate of both the Civilian Marksmanship Program and the National Rifle Association.
For decades prior to the 2020 election, club members had been using a wide array of rifle and pistol ranges at Fort Devens free of charge. Club members supplied their own targets, ammunition, Range Safety Officers and other supplies. They even policed their own brass. Most of the club members are veterans, so they are intimately familiar with range safety protocols and other best practices. To be clear, in terms of taxpayer dollars, the club cost the Fort very little, which is why club member were so surprised when the Fort began charging them.
Just days after the 2020 election, the club was notified in writing that they would have to start paying a minimum of $250 per range, and that the fees would increase based upon the total number of shooters.
The bottom line was that Fort Devens tried to charge personnel costs for Range Safety Officers and technicians who were never there. In addition, a range staff member admitted in a memorandum that the range was unable to prove maintenance, supply and repair costs because the Fort never kept any such records.
“The odds were certainly stacked against us,” Getten said Monday. “As it turned out, the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Devens croaked themselves with their own administrative records. A range officer filed a memo for the record admitting they kept no maintenance, supply or repair records—one of the most egregious abuses. We detailed all of this stuff in a memorandum in support for summary judgement. We just destroyed them.”
While the gun club won and can stop paying fraudulent fees, hundreds of civilian police officers are still charged for their time at the range, which Getten said is a legal problem for their agencies.
“Non-DoD law enforcement officers, state police and municipal police departments are still paying out the wazoo for all of those costs,” Getten said. “Non-DoD law enforcement agencies should not be getting hosed the way they are. Also, ICE, FBI, U.S. Customs and other federal law enforcement agencies pay out the wazoo for their range time and pass the costs onto taxpayers.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julian N. Canzoneri, who defended the government against the gun club’s lawsuit, did not return phone calls or emails seeking his comments for this story.
Fort Devens Rifle & Pistol Club members working the long-range rifle pits. (Picture courtesy of the Fort Devens Rifle & Pistol Club).
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Breech loading pistol?
Not the best advertising for the Sigs P-320 Grumpy
Attack drones credit: Shutterstock
Has the IDF learned the lessons of the wars in Ukraine and Syria in which FPV (first person view) attack drones changed the face of the campaigns? The Ministry of Defense Department of Production and Procurement is currently publishing the terms of a tender to procure 5,000 FPV drones from Israeli companies, which are usually used in drone races.
But in war these drones can squeeze through the narrow opening of an armored personnel carrier or tank, crashing accurately and fatally into a group of soldiers in an ambush, or homing in on the tail of an enemy drone. FPV drones carry much smaller amounts of explosives than UAVs, but the ability to quickly crash into weapons or fuel depots can increase collateral damage by several dozen times.
Unlike the standard off-the-shelf drones that the IDF already uses today, manufactured by companies such as DJI or China’s Autel, FPV drones cannot stay in the air for long, and are not autonomous, but are fully controlled by the pilot, who must be skilled with remote control of the drone, which can easily crash to the ground, if the pilot loses control. Therefore, learning skills and many hours of training are required, involving increased costs and greater selectivity in the number of soldiers who can operate them.
The tender could expand
The estimated price of an FPV drone is lower than an autonomous drone, costing up to NIS 10,000 each at most, but it is possible that the Ministry of Defense will choose the cheapest alternative, drones that cost NIS 3,000. In such a case, the tender is expected to cost the Ministry of Defense no more than NIS 35 million, but it may also be expanded to 10,000 drones, and allow entry of a second supplier, so the cost could rise to over NIS 70 million. Senior figures in the drone industry are counting on expanding the tender to 20,000 drones in the long term.
Globes reported last year that the tender would be issued in August. However, the nature of the tender has changed, and will now it focuses on attack drones only. According to specifications sent to suppliers, this is a small number of drones. The tender requires the immediate procurement of 5,000 drones, which experts say is insufficient. For comparison, Ukraine manufactured 2.2 million FPV drones last year alone.
Others in the drone industry also warn about the issue of security information in the tender, since the required components are analog, and can be easily hacked and located by enemy forces. For example, the video transmitter detailed in the tender is manufactured by Chinese company Team BlackSheep based in Hong Kong.
The industry has been surprised by the unusually detailed requirement of the procurement administration to include items manufactured by certain companies, let alone a company from China. The Ministry of Defense opposed the move, after encouraging the development of a digital communications infrastructure for drones. Cost considerations are apparently behind the request for Chinese equipment, even though Israeli companies know how to offer an alternative communications solution, with a price difference of tens of dollars per unit.
Bat versus Rooster
So far, about 25 Israeli drone suppliers that work with the Ministry of Defense have registered for the tender, including Xtend, Robotican, Tehiru, CopterPix and Dronix. The favorite to win the tender is considered to be The Bat, attack drone made by Petah Tikva-based Dronix. The Bat, a four-bladed drone, can fly a distance of up to 5 kilometers or up to 15 minutes, wth a payload of a thermal camera and explosive charge weighing up to 2.7 kilograms.
Another favorite is Xtend from Ramat HaHayal in Tel Aviv which has already equipped the IDF and the US Pentagon with its Scorpio attack drones. Xtend achieved the feat by becoming the first company in the US to receive approval to operate an armed suicide drone. The company has an existing training and feasibility demonstration system to reduce the training time for drone pilots – from months to a few hours.
However, winning the Israeli tender will require it to remove the secure digital communications infrastructure it developed and install analog communications instead, based on the Chinese equipment requested by the Ministry of Defense.
Another company that bid for the tender is Tehiru, which has made two proposals; one taking into account the analog communications dictated by the tender, and the other with encrypted digital communications in an Israeli format. Another Israeli drone in the category is Omer-based Robotican’s Rooster. The drone can carry 300 grams of cargo and hover for up to 12 minutes at a time, and Sapir also intends to compete by downgrading its advanced drone, the Viper 300, which can fly 5 kilometers and stay in the air for 20 minutes, to meet the tender’s terms.
The tender requires the companies to not only provide the drones, but also travel bags, ground stations, a training systems, service and maintenance, and the establishment of a local production and assembly line. Some Israeli companies, such as Xtend and Dronix, already own such facilities. The deadline for submitting bids was last week, and a supplier conference for the 25 bidders was supposed to take place on Monday of this week, but was postponed for an unknown reason.
No response was forthcoming from the Ministry of Defense and any of the bidders.
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The S&W Model 65 in 45 ACP
