The Hillsdale College John A. Halter Shooting Center is the only college owned shooting facility that is entirely funded by private donations.
“This doesn’t exist anywhere else,” Range Master Bartley Spieth said.
Since 2008, the shooting sports center has collected $12 million in individual and corporate donations.
“The facility is unparalleled when it comes to college owned shooting ranges. It is truly one-of-a-kind,” Hillsdale’s shotgun team member junior Drew Lieske said.
Spieth said private donors earmark their donations to support shooting sports at Hillsdale, unlike other colleges, which take money from a general fund to support their shooting programs.
Corporate sponsors include Browning, Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, and AcuSport. They provide guns, ammunition, and funds to maintain and improve the Halter shooting center, according to Spieth.
Winchester is the official ammunition sponsor for the Halter shooting sports center. Spieth said ammunition donations from Winchester have exceeded $250,000 since 2010.
Winchester has committed to another five years as the ammunition sponsor for Hillsdale’s shooting programs, according to Spieth.
“They donate ammunition for our ladies for liberty camp, our couples for liberty camp, our liberty and learning youth camp, and the fall shoot,” Spieth said.
The fall shoot alone, which is an event open to all students, faculty, staff, and invited guests from the public, attracted 280 shooters, Speith said.
On top of providing free ammunition for these events, he said, Winchester offers discounted ammunition for student’s classes, the shotgun team, and additional events.
Winchester’s sponsorship, along with all of the individual contributions, make expenses low for shooting classes and the shooting team.
Student’s firearm classes all cost less than $100 for 16 hours of range time.
In comparison, a typical two-day class, with 16 hours of range time costs between $400 and $600, while private instruction costs between $25 and $175 an hour, according to Spieth.
Senior Samantha Fletcher said she has taken Introduction to Firearms, Basic Pistol, Basic Shotgun, and Advanced Shotgun. However, she said she would not have taken them if the cost had been much higher.
“I think the fact that they make the classes so affordable is crucial to whether students take them,” Fletcher said.
Lieske said Winchester’s sponsorship saves team members about $3,000 per year on ammunition.
“It is truly a blessing to be able to continue competing in the shooting sports while attending college, and here at Hillsdale the members of the shotgun sports team are lucky enough to be able to do so at no cost,” Lieske said.
Spieth said Hillsdale’s shooting team is one of very few schools that is fully funded.
Smith & Wesson provides all the handguns for the ladies for liberty and couples for liberty events. Browning and Beretta also offer firearms at discounted rates for certain events, according to Spieth.
Another donor to Hillsdale’s shooting program is AcuSport. They gave funds for the lodge, an olympic bunker trap, and they provide endowed scholarships for shooters, according to Spieth.
In addition to corporations donating to Hillsdale’s shooting programs, private individuals donate to shotgun team members directly.
“Members of the shotgun sports team are provided scholarships from private donors who allocate funds specifically to members of the team,” Lieske said, “Most provide up to half tuition.”
On top of scholarships through Hillsdale College, Lieske said he is personally sponsored by Michigan Shooting Centers, Kolar Arms, Fiocchi Ammunition, Promatic Traps, Pilla Sport and White Flyer Targets who provide him with money and equipment.
“Winchester donates because they understand, like other companies do, the need to support youth and new shooter programs,” Spieth said, “Most clubs operate at an average member age of 60 or higher.”
Spieth said he blamed the anti-gun media for harming the image shooting has, but he also said parents and grandparents are not passing on their guns or teaching their children and grandchildren how to shoot.
“They’re fearful of the perception,” Spieth said.
The goals of the shooting sports center are to invoke participation in shooting and to change the mindset that people have about guns, according to Spieth.
“There is a stigma attached to guns that they are an inherently violent object,” Fletcher said. “But if you learn to use them under safe, controlled conditions, like out on the range, then people are comfortable and they feel safe around guns.”
In order to achieve these goals, Spieth said the Halter Sports Shooting Center is crucial.
“There’s no local club that would give their facility for education on a Saturday,” he said. “We work hard to introduce new shooters to the sport, and with this facility we have an opportunity to do that in a quality way.”
Spieth said people are fearful of shooting because they don’t have quality experience, and that has to combine safety and marksmanship skills.
“The shooting sports are a safe, fun and exciting opportunity for citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Lieske said.
Spieth said he was surprised, when he started to work with youth programs 12 years ago, most kids in the Hillsdale community had not shot a gun. He said even at Hillsdale College, with most students coming from a conservative background, many had never shot a gun.
When the Halter facility first opened in fall 2008, 10 percent of the student body participated in shooting in some way. Now, 20 percent of the student body participates in shooting recreation each semester, whether through classes, the fall shoot, or other events, according to Spieth.
Spieth said he wants to provide experience for people to be proficient with guns so they do not see them as a danger.
“If you have no experience, and you place no value in our Second Amendment, why would you fight for it?,” Spieth said, “But when you experience it, you know this is worth having, worth saving, worth fighting for.”
