Business & Tech
New Gun Range Nearby Fills Need, Owner Says
Johns Creek Indoor Gun Range in Forsyth County is scheduled to open in mid-August.
A new gun range planned for Forsyth County near north Fulton County will give local residents the opportunity to practice shooting weapons and to take classes to learn how to shoot.
Johns Creek Indoor Gun Range on McGuiness Ferry Road, which is slated to open in mid-August about 30 minutes from Roswell, fills a need, as it will be the only gun range between Georgia Highway 400 and Interstate 85, said Gee Harvey, the range’s owner. Harvey said the closest range to the area currently is in Norcross.
“We felt like it was a good location to serve Johns Creek, Suwanee, that location,” Harvey said. “There’s nothing nearby. It’s comfortable. It’s going to be family-friendly.”
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The 16,000 square-foot building will feature 16 lanes that are fully climate-controlled, a state-of-the-art ventilation system, a state-of-the-art HEPA filtration system, and heating and air conditioning. You won’t find those features at all ranges, Harvey said.
“A lot of old ones don’t [have that],” he said. “That’s the way it was done back then. It’s not a knock on them. It’s just the way it was.”
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The 16 shooting lanes are broken down into two sections of eight lanes with ballistic stalls between each shooter. While a shooter is in a stall, he or she won’t be able to see the shooter in the next lane.
“You’re next to somebody but the divider or stalls are going to stop any bullet,” Harvey said. “You can’t accidentally shoot someone. That’s pretty common for an indoor range. There are none that are going to be individual lanes self-contained.”
Harvey said there’s a misconception about the people who use gun ranges.
“It’s not who most people think,” he said. “It’s doctors, lawyers, professionals [and] a lot of women. The fastest growing part of the shooting market is women. We have a tremendous number of women who shoot. We’re going to try to cater to them.”
To do that, Harvey plans to offer women-only classes taught by female active shooters.
“Some people would rather deal with the same sex,” he said. “We’re trying to cater to the folks we believe live in the area.”
Harvey also owns Dead Center Range in Buford, and he said he expects his new range to be just as popular as his first business.
“It’s done extremely well,” he said. “We kind of did that as a test. We’ve exceeded expectations.”
