I've been interested in joing an archery club down by me called South Forty Archers. The range is at the Ritter Farm Park in Lakeville, a park operated by the city. In their by-laws, which you must agree to, it explicitly bans firearms (which is funny since technically, city ordinances consider a bow a firearm - try shooting one in your yard and you'll find that out in a hurry when the neighbors see ya). Before joining I asked the club president for clarifiaction on that rule and how they handle it with permit holders. He seemed shocked that I asked that in his response actually, but he said they are absolutely not welcome. He also said he checked with the head of the park and rec board in lakeville and their response is that guns are banned in all city parks, period. So even if they would let me, the city would shut them down if I carried.

I forwarded them a link to the statute so that they could educate themselves on the law and invited him to forward that to the park and rec dept in lakeville since they obviously need some education as well. But, if they lease the land from the city for the archery range, I believe it's in their right to restrict carry if they as an organization wish to do that. But I also told them that I wouldn't be giving my money to any organizations that wish to descriminate against me and therefore wouldn't join and would advise my friends and family to do the same.

FWIW, they also descriminate against crossbow hunters by not allowing them either. You can only get a permit to hunt with a crossbow in minnesota if you are disabled and not able to fire a normal rifle nor pull back a bow. However, they don't want these disabled people to participate on their range.

Why am I not suprised

Well, that just means they haven't looked at their own city code.

We have.

http://66.113.195.234/MN/Lakeville/index.htm