Midwest Shooting Range serves gun enthusiasts in Northwest Ohio.
Dr. Sam Patel's mother is a devout Hindu, so he grew up in a non-violent household. He wasn't allowed to play with squirt guns or BB guns or play violent video games. "There's a sense of curiosity when you can't have something, you want to explore it even more, so that's where I got my enthusiasm for firearms." Dr. Patel is now a partner in the Midwest Shooting Center, a state-of-the-art indoor shooting complex and gun store in Cridersville. Dr. Patel says there's very little profit in selling guns. Midwest Shooting Center makes its money in memberships. "There is a huge demand for a safe, clean, appealing place to engage in firearm enthusiasm." Dr. Patel says they had a number of barriers to overcome, including the firearms industry stigma. He says it's a very capital intensive business with a lot of regulatory requirements, safety precautions and vulnerability in the supply chain. Midwest Shooting Center has been successful. They are one of two 5 star rated ranges in the state of Ohio. When it opened last year it had 1,000 members. That quickly grew to 2,500 members. Dr. Patel says their goal is to have at least 3,000 members. Anyone can go there to shoot and if they don't have their own gun, they can rent one...they have everything from popular pistols to fully automatic machine guns.
Also at Monday's meeting, we inducted three new members: Amy Craft - Director of the Allen County Museum, Ann Meiring - Financial Advisor with Edward Jones, and Aimee Bucher - author and CEO of Harrison Latham. Welcome to the Lima Rotary Club!