Blake Vaught and Alex Williamson, buddies in their late 20s, were having a cognitive dissonance moment.
“This place is like a country club,” Vaught said, looking at a concierge desk, granite countertops and sleek black couches.
“Or like a really nice steakhouse,” Williamson said.
They were not at a country club. They were not at a steakhouse. They were at Elite Shooting Sports, a new gun range in Manassas, Va., that, like a wave of other new ranges around the country, is targeting a new breed of shooter — younger, more affluent, style-focused, increasingly female and even environmentally conscious.
The gun industry’s term for these shooting retreats: Guntry Clubs.
In Miami’s arts district, a new high-end club attracts celebrities such as LeBron James, shooting fully automatic machine guns, then chilling in VIP lounges. A Texas range features gun valets. A Colorado club offers custom fitted earplugs, apps to reserve shooting lanes and chess sets. Membership fees at these new ranges are sometimes hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Cigar lounges — yes. WiFi — of course. There is lots of leather.