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A training facility for authorities, sport and hunting is being built in the Hassia factory. Real estate investor and building contractor Thomas Messer rejects the left’s criticism of the shooting range.
Every time the construction workers hit the steel slats with a hammer, it echoes through the huge room on the first floor. The entire wall will be equipped with it to soon absorb projectiles with an energy of 7000 joules. “We designed it so strongly that you can shoot at it often enough with a weak caliber,” explains Thomas Messer.
The real estate investor is the owner of the Hassia factory in Offenbach and is building a state-of-the-art shooting range on a vacant part of the historic facility. He also runs the arms trading and security company on the site, which sells weapons, security technology and outdoor clothing. The two-storey facility with two shooting rooms, one 25 meters long and the other 50 meters, is to be opened in August, but no later than September. It should be a training location for authorities such as the state and federal police, bodyguards, sports and hunting on six days a week. The building is barrier-free. There will be seminar rooms and covered parking spaces for crew and transport vehicles.
“There is a shortage of shooting ranges nationwide,” says Messer. New people would be hired at customs and the police and would have to be trained on the weapon accordingly. In addition, Hessen introduced the G38 rifle last year, on which officers must also be trained. The authorities are already renting private shooting ranges. “A law will soon be passed according to which hunters must regularly provide proof of shooting,” reports Messer. Since he is a hunter himself, he knows of many shooting ranges that they are overcrowded, especially in autumn. “Many of them are getting on in years,” says the building contractor.
Criticism of the shooting center comes from the left in Offenbach. “We must not underestimate the danger posed by a high-tech shooting range in the middle of a residential area. We expect the magistrate to inform the citizens comprehensively and to guarantee their safety ”, writes the party. Thomas Messer does not understand this because all parties and the magistrate have been informed about the project. Apparently not the left.
There are also other shooting ranges in Offenbach in the immediate vicinity of residential areas. “A shooting range has no external effect. It has no relevance for the surrounding neighborhood, ”explains Messer, who used to work in personal protection around the world. On the one hand, admission is regulated by a modern access control system and, as with all shooting ranges, everyone has to bring their own weapons, with weapons and ammunition being transported separately. On the other hand, it over-fulfills many requirements such as noise protection, emphasizes Messer. “You could shoot day and night without anything being heard outside.”
Messer had the idea for the shooting range back in 2013 and received the building permit in January 2020. In addition to the building permit, he had to comply with the federal shooting range guidelines, and the Darmstadt regional council was also involved in the approval process. In addition, the project was accompanied by an official and a civilian shooting range expert.
The ventilation system has been set up according to the requirements of the Hessian police. “We can pump up to 80,000 cubic meters of air through the system,” says Messer. The poisonous gases that are produced when shooting are also sucked away immediately.
Once the shooting center is ready, Thomas Messer can very well imagine building such systems in other cities as well. “Then I know all the difficulties and how to solve them,” he says. The building contractor does not want to reveal how much money the system will cost him.
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