SYCAMORE | The local gun range allows members to literally blow off some steam and practice using a firearm, but the hobby comes with restrictions.

Firing a gun, even in the carefully controlled environment of the range, presents a number of risks and safety considerations. The range safety officers make sure everybody follows the regulations.

The Sycamore Sportsman Club, 1773 W. Motel Road, has an outdoor firing range. Men with earplugs, earmuffs and safety glasses, toting all sorts of weapons, line up along a table and fire at targets sitting in front of a soft dirt backstop which prevents bullets from ricocheting or flying a half a mile out.

Nobody is to go ahead of the firing line while the range is open. When a weapon is not being fired, it is to be laid on the table with the action open so that the safety officers can clearly see it is unloaded and cannot be fired or go off by accident. Nobody can fire shots in overly rapid succession; this is to avoid jamming, losing control or other mishaps.

The deafening noise even a small pistol makes reverberates through one’s body; heat and smoke wash into a person’s face as they fire.

One of the range safety officers, Duane Rubendall, makes sure everybody follows the regulations. The Sycamore Sportsman Club offers a variety of services to the community, including working with NIU’s ROTC program, boy scouts and even police. Services include hunter safety training, marksmanship classes and competitions during the warmer times in the year.

“We would probably like to see ourselves doing more instruction in the future, but we haven’t got the manpower,” Rubendall said. “Certainly the interest is there. We get a lot of requests for that type of training.”

Rubendall said the potential law to arm teachers would only be a good idea if they had all the same training as law enforcement personnel.

“We don’t recommend just passing out firearms willy-nilly without any degree of responsibility or accountability for it,” Rubendall said.