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Taking aim in Anniston: Civilian Marksmanship Program plans firing range in Anniston

By Dan Whisenhunt Star Staff Writer

12-05-2007

A new firing range planned in Anniston may blow the cover off of a nonprofit quietly doing business in the city.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program teaches marksmanship and gun safety to America's young men and women.

It sells restored World War I and World War IIera weapons to qualified buyers to pay for it.

The firing range will become a regional hub for the program, hosting

Jim Cullins works on a gas cylinder that will go in a rifle at the Civilian Marksmanship Firing Range workshop. Photo: Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

regional air-rifle

tournaments for Junior ROTC members and other member groups.

President Theodore Roosevelt started what became Civilian Marksmanship in 1903 as the National Matches and the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice.

Today Civilian Marksmanship operates as a nonprofit group providing training programs and tournaments for high-school students around the country.

The program is based in Port Clinton, Ohio. The plan is to turn an old cotton products factory on Sentinel Drive into the new tournament space.

The City Council approved zoning for the project at its last regular meeting.

"It's going to bring a lot of people into Anniston who will be coming in for events, a day a weekend, a week at a time," Civilian Marksmanship Director Gary Anderson said. "It will be bringing people into Anniston who will be staying at motels, eating at restaurants."

But Anderson said Civilian Marksmanship benefits from Anniston, too.

Its 55 employees at the plant off Commerce Boulevard polish, test and sell old weapons. The guns are lined neatly on shelves and stacked in boxes.

Some are as heavy as timber, their stocks made of walnut and birch. The weapons, which sell for $500 to $2,000 apiece, are the program's bread and butter.

When Civilian Marksmanship finishes selling all of them, it will pay for the

program indefinitely, chief operating officer Orest Michaels said.

"Our job is to put us out of business and let the Anniston operation fund the endowment," Michaels said.

Anderson said Civilian Marksmanship was once under fire. Before Congress made it a nonprofit in 1996, gun control advocates had it in the crosshairs.

Orest Michaels, left, and Mark H. Johnson stand in the building that will eventually house the Civilian Marksmanship Firing Range in Anniston. Photo: Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

a target," Anderson said.

"People who are concerned over the gun control issue and want to see increased regulation typically see anything that would support positive uses of firearms as something they felt taxpayers shouldn't be supporting, so it became

Congress gave Civilian Marksmanship rights to sell old weapons which they get free from the U.S. Army. But the group must reimburse the Army for shipping and other costs.

It got many of the guns through the Anniston Army Depot and started there before moving to the current location.

On Tuesday, metal clicks filled the factory as workers took weapons apart, inspected them and put them back together.

In the 16-ton trailer for weapons testing, armorer Ricky Newel put an M1 Garand into a test-firing machine. Even with a thick headset, the gun blast creates a gut-shaking sensation.

From the outside, it sounded like a thump against a washtub.

Mark Johnson, business development officer, doesn't want to cause confusion. Even though the factory sells guns, it's not a walk-in retail store. He doesn't advertise locally.

When people tell him they've never heard of the place, he cracks a smile.

People who buy guns must be a member of a group affiliated with Civilian Marksmanship and have firearms experience.

"It's a niche market within a niche market, simply because the rifles we sell appeal to collectors and marksmen," Johnson said.

Anderson said once the range the non-profit is building in Ohio is up and running, it will become a model for the one in Anniston. He doesn't plan to start work on the range here until the next fiscal year.

But while the program has kept a low profile in Anniston until now, the community will hear more about it when the firing range opens up.

"Once we do start training it's going to be local (at first)," Michaels said.

About Dan Whisenhunt Dan Whisenhunt covers Anniston and Calhoun Co. for The Star.

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