The shooting range off Highway 1 between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay was closed for over a year but is opening soon under new management, a non-profit called San Luis Obispo Firearms and Safety Training, or SLOFAST.
Lou Salseda, President of SLOFAST, said bidding for the facility was an intense process.
“A lot of hours put in, and we tried to find out if there was anybody else bidding and really, you don’t know," Salseda said.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife owns the range, and they awarded the contract to SLOFAST back in December.
With funding coming from community support and state funds, Salseda said it has been a lot of work to clean up the range, but it has been a group effort. They even had about 60 people at the range for a community clean-up a few weeks ago.
“Fifty-five of them were over 65 that showed up and with those 55 people, there was a tremendous amount of history with them using that facility," Salseda said.
The range will open on Friday, February 27, under the new name “San Luis Obispo Shooting Range.”
Morro Bay resident Carol Guesno said she visited the range before the closure and is looking forward to it reopening.
“It was just such a wonderful experience. I was really nervous before I went, and they actually had a female instructor that was fantastic with me and gave me a level of confidence,” Guesno said.
Salseda says the shotgun and rifle ranges will be open first, while the rest of the programs will open up as those ranges are ready.
