Father-Daughter Duo Promotes Safe Gun Use
Boasting The Largest Shotgun, Pistol & Rifle Program State Wide, Carroll County Shooting Sports Park Is More Than Your Average Shooting Range
The father and daughter team of Bill and Lacey Lane, have worked together to develop one of the largest Scholastic Action Shooting Programs in the Country located in Huntingdon, Tennessee. Bill Lane serves as the director for the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park, while Lacy is the Tennessee state director for the Scholastic Action Shooting Program.
The Carroll County Shooting Sports Park is in its fourth year of operation and works closely with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to promote safe shooting sports. “We are a private owned facility open to the public. We are operated by a non-profit private board. We have a five-stand archery range, four combo trap and skeet fields, a three hundred yard rifle range, two western pistol towns, and sporting clay. We keep our prices down, we’re half of what most people charge to shoot. We are not trying to get rich, we are just trying to keep this thing going”, claimed Bill.
People from all over the country visit the range to participate in Scholastic Action Shooting Program competitions, regional shoots, and fun shoots. The SASP teaches young athletes the skills necessary to compete in centerfire and rimfire pistol and rimfire rifle matches. “The program is for ages from 4th grade to college for rifle and from 12 years old through college for pistol. It is a nationwide program that works cooperatively with schools, FFA, 4-H, and other programs. We have the largest shotgun, pistol, and rifle program state wide and Tennessee is number one in the nation for shooting sports through the SASP”, explained Lacey.
Lacey takes great pride in growing the shooting sports program and grew up participating in the program. “I grew up in the Scholastic Clay Target Program which is the sister program to the SASP. We actually started the Scholastic Clay Target Program back in 2001 and I was one of the original shooters on it. I was on the first and only all girls team in the nation, and I grew up loving shooting clay targets. When I got a full ride scholarship to college a shooting scholarship, they started the Scholastic Action Pistol Program. At that time, it was just pistol. Rifle became a part of the competition my senior year, so I was able to shoot all three in my senior year of college”, stated Lacey.
When asked whether any local youth involved in the program went on to the Olympics, Bill beamed with pride as he stated his daughter had successfully participated in the Olympics. “Lacy has three gold medals and a silver. She stared in this program when we first started, and she’s went on to actually run the program now”, Bill stated.
“Back in 2007, Carson Rider and I went out to the junior Olympics. We qualified for the clay targets side. Carson was the male on our team chosen for the state, and I was the female chosen to represent the state”, Lacey said.
Lacey has worked to improve the shooting sports program and share her love for the sport with upcoming youth. “Once I got out of college, I wanted Tennessee to have the pistol and rifle aspect of the shooting sports as well as shotgun. I took that over and ran with it. Our Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency came in and said we want this position, and created a position for me to work with them. It’s panned out really well”, Lacey claimed.
All youth participating in the program must complete a hunter education course and be trained on proper gun handling techniques and safety prior to going out on the range. “It’s mandatory in Tennessee, before you can get into one of our shooting programs that you take a hunter safety course. You don’t have to hunt, but for our kids to be on a shooting team, you have to complete the Tennessee hunter safety course which focuses on gun handling. All of our coaches are certified coaches and that’s what they do is teach gun safety” said Bill.
The Carroll County Shooting Sports Park has been a collaborative effort receiving several grants through the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “We are close to four million dollars into this project, and we don’t owe anything”, explained Bill.
Bill and Lacey’s work has provided several opportunities for youth wanting to learn a shooting sport and continues to grow. “We had the largest state SASP match to date. We had 315 athletes, which was one of the largest. We had teams from Wisconsin, Ohio, Maine, Kentucky, from all over. They all come to Tennessee for our state match”, claimed Lacey.
“My favorite part of the range is the cowboy towns and the new sporting clay range. We have one of the nicest cowboy towns. We have eight bays that are all ADA accessible. The whole range up here is made so if you are in a wheel chair, you can shoot with anything that we have”, said Lacey.
With continued efforts, Bill and Lacey hope to continue the growth of the program. “I hope to see this program just like our SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program) shoot. At our state SCTP shoot, we had over 1,800 kids this last year. I hope to see the pistol and rifle get as big as the shotgun. It gets our youth involved in shooting sports, and hopefully gets them involved in the outdoors later in life”, commented Lacey.
Jared Langenegger
A graduate of New Mexico State University with B.S. in wildlife and fisheries science, Jared spent 15 years working in fisheries and parks management. He enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, painting, and wood working.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Natchez Trace State Park is located on an alternate route of the old Natchez Trace. The park offers activities for visitors of all ages. Fishing is a favorite activity at Natchez Trace and anglers have four lakes from which to choose.