We've heard disappointing comments from some members when we've discussed some of the measures below in the past. Given those, we'd like to bring firm clarity to a couple of things before we begin.

First, your membership fee is not the simple purchase of access to a commercial range. Rather, it is a statement of support of the SPFGA's vision, mission, and objectives, which include, among other things, support of the shooting sports and the operation of a (rather excellent) range. A subtle but very important distinction there.

Second, when you come to our facility, you are entering private property. You have no entitlements while on our property beyond those which we provide to you.

The membership Terms and Conditions that you accepted when you joined and when you renew each year clearly outlines those things you are entitled to and those things you are obliged to.

Central among those obligations is your responsibility to know, understand, and comply with our Facility Rules, the primary purpose of which is member safety.

OK, with that out of the way, let's move onto expectations of courteousness.

One of the cornerstones of our approach to safety is that safety is a shared responsibility. This means that each member individually shares the responsibility for maintaining safety with every other member and with the Association. Fundamental to that is each member being responsible for addressing safety issues where and when they see them.

But, being comfortable with going up and discussing someone else's actions with them is only possible if you know the other person isn't going to be unpleasant when you do so. Similarly, if you have a momentary lapse yourself (hey, we all make mistakes), it's completely reasonable that you should be able to expect that the person correcting you does so in a productive way and not be unpleasant about it.

What we're saying here is be polite and courteous when bringing up things with other members. When things are brought up to you, keep a teachable attitude & be polite and courteous in return when responding. These things are fundamental to all of this working.

Seems obvious, right? So then why are we bringing it up? We mention this because this is the #1 barrier we hear from members on addressing safety issues themselves. We regularly hear stories about another member berating them about something they'd done, or of members trying to discuss how an action was outside the rules only to be responded to rudely.

The sections that follow are based on a foundation of shared responsibility and the expectation that everyone treats one another with respect. It's so important in fact that we've built this right into the bylaws, the rules, and the terms & conditions of membership.

So, we absolutely will be following up on situations where mutual respect hasn't been followed. So, for the good of your continued membership with us, please ensure that you are courteous with other members regardless of which side of these conversations that you find yourself on.

As everyone has been reminded, the most recent reminders being in the Nov 5 issue of Bullet Points, every member is required to have their membership card on display while on the property and must also provide it for inspection if requested by another member. See the link above for details on how to print or order your card.

If a member you are speaking with is unaware of this requirement, take it as an opportunity to explain and help them understand. They may simply not know...despite the many attempts we regularly make to ensure they are aware.

Should the other person refuse to present their card after a polite request and reminder of the rules however, please complete an Incident Reporting Form to refer the matter to the Member Discipline Committee (MDC) for investigation.

Next, we need to make sure that a member with a guest who is shooting has purchased a day pass.

Your guests are welcome on our property, including the ranges. Hosting a guest on a range has the additional requirement that you purchase a day pass for them and follow the Supervised Range Guest Policy.

We discussed this recently, including how to purchase a membership, in the Nov 5 issue of Bullet Points. Please refer to the instructions at that link for purchasing a day pass for your range guest.

If the member is unaware of the day pass requirement, simply explain the process and show them how to purchase a pass for their guest. We've installed WiFi on the property in the range area, so purchasing a guest pass with a mobile device right there is completely possible. Again, the member may simply be unaware of this requirement and helping them come into compliance is the best way through this.

However, should the other person refuse to present their day pass after a polite request and reminder of the rules, please complete an Incident Reporting Form to refer the matter to the Member Discipline Committee (MDC) for investigation.

Supplementing members checking for display of membership cards and purchase of day passes, we will begin spot-checks by club representatives at random intervals.

The goal here will be on education - ensuring the understanding why these are necessary - and helping people come into compliance with the rules.

Do be warned though, refusal to cooperate or unreasonable behaviour during these spot-checks will result in the matter being referred to the Member Discipline Committee (MDC) for investigation.

When situations where the need for correction of member behaviour are identified, per bylaws 4.3.3 the matter is referred to the Member Discipline Committee (MDC) for review. The primary objective of the MDC is member education rather than punitive action. All efforts are to be made to find productive ways to engage with members when issues arise and to achieve mutually beneficial solutions. Should this prove fruitless or the seriousness of the infraction, punitive measures may be prescribed.

One of the most important firearms range safety features is the way the Safety Curtain, the Cease Fire (yellow) line and Firing (red) line function. We've issued many reminders about this, a recent one being in the September 18, 2022 issue of Bullet Points.

Review of security camera footage reveals that a large portion of safety issues occur at the point of removing or returning firearms from/to their cases, where improperly maintaining safe muzzle direction can occur. A good number of member comments regarding safety have involved these kinds of situations - "sweeping the line" so to speak.

We'd previously piloted removal of the equipment benches (the benches at the parking lot side of shooting sheds) from the Handgun range to address this concern. This was observed to substantially reduce instances of these situations during uncasing/recasing there and, as a result, equipment benches have been removed from the rear of all of the shooting sheds on the firearm ranges.

Complementing this is an official adjustment to the Facility Rules making it official that "Uncasing and recasing firearms within shooting sheds must be performed at the shooting bench when the Safety Curtain is in the UP position, maintaining the muzzle in a safe downrange direction."

In addition to acting as a 'forcing function' to ensure maintenance of safe muzzle direction, removal of the equipment benches opens more space on the rear of the shed, making it easier to move up & down the shooting shed and stay to the rear of the Cease Fire (yellow) line when the Safety Curtain is in the down position.

The majority of the incidents reported to the Member Discipline Committee have involved unsafe practices around the Cease Fire (yellow) line and the Safety Curtain. Specifically:

To address this, simple but direct measures will be employed, like affixing signage to the inside of the Safety Curtain that reads "If you can read this, no touching of firearms, ammo, or magazines", visible when the curtain is in the down position. When temperatures warm again, we will also be stenciling signage on the shed floors forward side of the Cease Fire line that reads "Curtain down? No activity on this side of line."

Placing clear visual cues in direct sight at or below waist height that informs what to do/not to do will be helpful safety reminders.

We regularly review security camera footage and when rule infractions are observed, incident reports are submitted to the Member Discipline Committee (MDC) for further investigation. We have significantly increased this monitoring in past months.

One thing we need to add here is that we occasionally receive comments of surprise that we have cameras and that we review their footage. As some have suggested, no, this does not make Ketchamoot Creek a totalitarian state and this is not "spying". Far from it, periodic monitoring security camera footage, the Acting Enforcement Officer section of the Facility rules, and our MDC processes are our methods for meeting the safety compliance requirements of the Shooting Clubs and Shooting Ranges Regulations (SOR/98-212) to the Firearms Act, a requirement of maintaining or range certification. Additionally, having cameras is not new. We have had a security camera system for more than 15 years and regularly upgrade it. The current cameras are the third round of updates to the system.

Over the last year or more we've increased our messaging about the shared nature of safety.

We've highlighted on numerous occasions the role of the Acting Enforcement Officer on each range - the member on that range who has been there longest.

We've talked about your individual responsibility to address safety issues where and when you see them.

And, for those situations that cannot be safely or productively resolved - and not just that you're simply uncomfortable with the idea of discussing these things with another member - please complete an Incident Reporting Form to refer the matter to the Member Discipline Committee (MDC) for investigation.

The preceding sections deal with passive measures. This section and the ones that follow deal with active measures to increase safety.

To address this, starting in 2023 we will be hiring RSOs for those peak times. This is primarily a safety measure, but it's also a step to directly manage how busy the ranges can become at these times, optimizing curtain down time vs. shooting time. RSOs will also ensure that everyone is getting along, and will be attentive for moments where education can benefit everyone.

One of the contributing causes to our safety rules not being followed is the average level of member knowledge regarding them. Long-time members may have joined before the practice of formal orientations had been instituted. In the mid-2000s, formal in-person orientations for new members began. While effective, these sessions were challenged by capacity issues, in addition to requiring new members who had joined in January to wait until it had warmed up enough in March or April for the sessions to be held. Out of a sense of fairness and a need to address capacity limitations, we instituted the current orientation process in the fall of 2019 with the launch of our current website.

While effective from a capacity perspective, the current process has not had the desired effectiveness for driving member knowledge and understanding of the rules.

When we have polled the membership about this in the past, you have told us that not only would you support re-orientation being required, you would support that it be regularly repeated as well.

So, to uniformly raise the knowledge bar across the board, each member renewing for 2023 will be required to take a newly-developed online orientation. All new members will be required to complete this course on joining in order to receive their gate access card. Everyone will then be repeat the orientation every three years, which our membership system will keep track of.

Issues of Safe and Sound (you're reading one right now) are our main method of communicating facility safety and system messaging to you, including rule updates.

So, it makes sense then that you would need to keep up with reading issues of Safe and Sound when they are released and have access to back issues to refer to afterward.

The first part is already a requirement of the membership terms & conditions, which state that the primary member of each account opening and reading issues of Safe and Sound and acknowledging receipt and understanding of their message within 14 days is compulsory conditions to maintaining an active gate access card.

Going forward, we will be enforcing this requirement. We will be making friendly reminders to members who have not read & acknowledged an issue of Safe and Sound after that 14 day period has passed. We will be deactivating the gate access cards of members who require these reminders frequently. You will still able to access the property, you will simply need to call the office during office hours in advance each time to be informed of any closures, or whether there are any specific conditions, concerns, or hazards you should be aware of. Your gate access card will be then be activated for a 72-hour period.

In terms of accessing back issues of Safe and Sound, every issue that has been sent out is available on the website archive for later review when required.

Everything included here is aimed at risk management. To do this properly, sufficient data is required. Over the coming months we'll be collecting and analyzing those data in order to determine whether further adjustments are required to our safety measures.

We'll clearly communicate the learnings from those analyses to you in our lines of communication, including Safe and Sound.