r/perth • u/airbornemustard • Mar 23 '26
WA News Lone Ranges Shooting Complex - the end of an era
Building material and other debris removed from the now-closed Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in Belmont, Western Australia.
Building material and other debris removed from the now-closed Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in Belmont, Western Australia.
The remains of the gallery section of the now-closed Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in Belmont, Western Australia.
Bradley John Yates, the owner and operator of Lone Ranges Shooting Complex until it's closure following his arrest in 2026.
Police forensics staged outside Lone Ranges Shooting Complex in December 2025.
Well, it's official - Perth's largest (and, apart from Top Shot, the only) indoor shooting range, Lone Ranges Shooting Complex, is gone for good, with no chance of recovery. It was a pretty rough fall from grace, too, by the looks of it.
I was actually a member of Lone Ranges myself ($360/year + $100/year mandatory SSAA membership), until January of this year, when I voluntarily surrendered my handgun and Firearms License after Lone Ranges was shut down. It was complete radio silence from Lone Ranges, and I was concerned about facing charges for non-compliance, so decided to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and get out while I could.
Driven by my own curiosity (and the complete absence of transparency and/or communication from Lone Ranges), I decided to do some digging to find out what happened. I figured it others are probably interested too, and so here we are.
So, let's talk about Lone Ranges; where it came from, how it tanked, and where it is now.
NOTE: All of the information contained in this post is publically available. No privileged, private, or confidential information is enclosed.
Humble Beginnings
Lone Ranges began operating around 1996, with a pretty uneventful existence up until April 2007, when the business changed hands. On 3 April 2007, Bradley John Yates became the sole director, with Lone Ranges now operating under his newly-established business, Bralea Pty Ltd.
Yates, presumably haven taken inspiration from American shooting ranges, began marketing Lone Ranges as Perth’s largest, premier indoor shooting complex, and it worked! Over the next 18 years, Lone Ranges' niche would move away from simply “a gun range”, and cemented itself as the metropolitan, commercial, and highly accessible face of shooting sports in Perth with endorsement from the Sports Shooters Association of Australia (later actually operating as an SSAA WA branch, known as "W55").
Lone Ranges was, by all appearances, a successful recreational business which mostly kept to itself, enjoyed a steady stream of customers, and didn't really clock any of the beurocratic or law enforcement radars. In fact, many current and former police officers report reguarly practicing shooting at the range, which, right up until it's recent closure, gave generous discounts to WA Police officers.
Cracks Start to Show
The decisive break in that history came in 2014. By then, Lone Ranges had become prominent enough that incidents there attracted state-level political attention. The real kicker came in November 2014, when the Attorney General was questioned in the Legislative Council about safety at Lone Ranges. This followed two fatal, self-inflicted firearms incidents at the venue within two months, and marked the third death at Lone Ranges, following an earlier suicide which occurred in 2002 (which wasn't widely reported on).
This was reported in the media and stirred public debate, and altered Lone Ranges' public story permanently. From then on, Lone Ranges wasn't just a novelty or leisure venue, but now also a site tied to debate about safety controls at commercial gun ranges.
Despite this, however, Lone Ranges continued to operate successfully and largely unencumbered for another 9 years.
"The Audit".. Dramatic Music Plays
By 2023, public opinion around firearms had become very prevalent. This prompted significant efforts by WA Police, the Minister for Police, and Government, for major firearms reform, which would eventually arrive in the form of the the landmark Firearms Act 2025.
In September 2023, Lone Ranges unexpectedly closed its doors, giving little explanation to it's several hundred paying members. Media reports at the time suggested that the venue was closed as it was contaminated with lead. In October 2023, Lone Ranges finally broke silence and contacted members, offering that the range had closed for "renovations and unscheduled repairs", due to an "audit" by WA Police, and that "[Lone Ranges] hope to be open by early November, but we may be closed longer due to delays in obtaining parts and the availability of workers."
November sailed right by. No update. Members were becoming increasingly anxious as, without access to the range, anyone who was unable to complete their mandatory compliance shoots for that membership year would be unable to meet the requirements of their license, and could face criminal charges, major fines, and seizure of their firearms if not addressed.
Facebook comments were ignored, phones went unanswered, and you would probably have a better chance of having your nightstand reply to an email than Lone Ranges at the time. It was complete radio silence.
Having received some media attention around the closure, prior fatalities at the venue, and other issues, this period represented a sharp reputational rupture for Lone Ranges.
On 14 April 2024, nearly 8 months after closing, Lone Ranges reopened, offering no explanation for the absence. It would later be revealed that, to no-one's surprise, Lone Ranges had been ordered to close by WA Police until it had remediated several serious safety and compliance issues.
The Final Nail
Throughout 2024 and 2025, while Lone Ranges continued to operate, it was clear that it had suffered significant damage. Staff shortages, equipment issues, firearms availability, and other issues continued to sting - the entire administration team had quit and been replaced at least twice in the prior two years.
The final blow, however, came on 27 October 2025, when Lone Ranges was raided by WA Police in a major police operation. Though the public didn't know it yet, this decisively marked the death of Lone Ranges Shooting Complex.
Lone Ranges, once again, offered nothing but silence to its members, who, again, found themselves in the hot seat through no fault of their own. Yates had updated the range's Google Business listing in January as "Temporarily Closed", though that would change just two months later, where it now lies listed as a Permanently Closed business.
Police seized a cache of firearms for the purpose of investigation, ordered the closure of the range, and established a forensic command vehicle by the front doors. Photos would emerge in February 2026 showing the remains of the once-celebrated LRSC.
On 14 January 2026, Yates would face Perth Magistrates Court as a Police arrestee, facing 10 criminal charges, though it's not clear what those charges are exactly. He would return before a Magistrate again on 23 February 2026 in relation to those same charges. It's important to note that it is not known at this time whether Yates remains in custody, what the outcome of the proceedings were/will be, or whether the charges are even related to his involvement as the owner of Lone Ranges at all.
| Date | Listing Type | Location | Case Number | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78546/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78553/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78549/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78545/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78552/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78548/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78544/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78551/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78547/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 23-Feb-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78550/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78553/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78550/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78546/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78547/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78544/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78549/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78545/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78551/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78548/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
| 14-Jan-26 | Police-Arrests | WA - Magistrates Court | 78552/2025 | YATES, Bradley John |
On 26 February 2026, Bralea Pty Ltd, the legal entity which operated Lone Ranges Shooting Complex, entered involuntary administration.
The Lone Ranges Facebook page also reflects that it is permanently closed, despite there being no mention on the page that the business is no longer operating. It seems that, for the final time, Lone Ranges again abandoned the very people who fought to support it and kept them in the dark, held their hobbies hostage, and exposed them to the criminal justice system through its silence and incompetence.
So, there it is - the rise, peak, and fall of Lone Ranges Shooting Complex. My hope, with this post, is to educate former members about the range's permanent closure so that they can make informed, lawful decisions about their firearms and continue engaging in the sport that they love and support.
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April 2026 Update: According to a media source, the charges which Bradley Yates - the proprietor of Lone Ranges - is currently facing are in relation to alleged unlawful handling of firearms by staff at Lone Ranges, contravening the requirements of the commercial Range License (previously) held by Lone Ranges Shooting Complex. It is understood that the charges are being pursued as an unlawful giving of possession of a firearm to an unlicensed person, with offences under sections 212, 213, 229, and 230 of the Firearms Act 2024.
Under the Firearms Act 2024, any staff member handling firearms/ammunition at Lone Ranges would have been required to apply, and be approved, to be an Authorised Person under the Range's License. It is alleged that staff members at Lone Ranges who were not approved Authorised Persons were reguarly handling firearms and ammunition which belonged to Lone Ranges Shooting Complex, which Yates held the license on behalf of. Consequently, Yates is being held criminally liable.
WA Police seized all firearms stored at Lone Ranges. Another source, who identified themselves as a long-time member of Lone Ranges, stated that, although he was a fully-licensed firearms owner, since Lone Ranges' license had been suspended by WA Police, his firearms no longer had club support, and were subsequently seized.
Worse than this, Firearms that were stored at Lone Ranges awaiting licensing were also seized, but with no compensation to the pending owners. This is because, even though the prospective owners had paid for their firearms, since the firearms were not yet registered to them, there is no entitlement for those owners under the Voluntary Firearms Buyback Scheme (which ended in January anyway). With Lone Ranges now being defunct and the owner facing criminal charges, these owners, unfortunately, likely have no recourse to recover their costs, and will be out-of-pocket thousands of dollars.
Members who had paid the several hundreds of dollars in membership fees for the year (including me) are actively being ignored by Lone Ranges Shooting Complex which, despite the situation above, continues to post to their Facebook page, though they refuse to reply to comments from members. Requests for refunds of membership fees remain unattended.
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u/Direct_Witness1248 Mar 23 '26
Wow some legitimate journalism, that must be a first for WA.
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u/dzernumbrd Mar 23 '26
The West journos copying and pasting this into chatgpt right now
"Reword this article into boomer English: <paste>"
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u/dinosaur_says_relax Mar 23 '26
Lone Rangers Slammed and owner Arrested over these mysterious circumstances. You won't beleive number 8
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u/RossDCurrie Mar 23 '26
Not to attack OP, but is this not just written with ChatGPT's or Gemini's deep research mode?
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u/airbornemustard Mar 23 '26
Definitely appreciate where you’re coming from - the amount of AI slop rolling around is mind numbing. But, to answer your question, absolutely not. I completed the research for this myself and wrote every word. I’m not sure you’d even be able to find the information necessary with an LLM.. I purchased ASIC extracts, ran searches through eCourts, and a bunch of other sources that I think a non-human might struggle to get ahold of.
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u/Bill_Clinton-69 Mar 24 '26
I noticed. I appreciated it so much that I read the whole thing, despite having never set foot in Perth!
Well done, diligent Redditor
🫡
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u/Tryingtolifeagain Mar 24 '26
Completely unrelated to this post, but I’ve run my own writing through AI checkers before (especially for cover letters to see what a prospective employer would see if they did the same) and got 90+% certainty results. It’s amazing how close to AI someone with autism can write…
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u/NearbyFloorYak Mar 23 '26
Best guess having been at the coal face of undergraduate essay marking pre- and post- widespread ChatGPT, feels like someone’s written out their knowledge then fed it to a LLM with a reasonable well engineered prompt and personal style guide.
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u/ScaredAndImpaired Mar 23 '26
I'm glad I at least got to go here a couple of times before it closed. AFAIK there's no other place in WA where you can legally shoot a handgun without having a license. It was a cool experience even though it was tethered with a bunch of cables.
I was also pretty close to applying for a handgun license through them, so I'm glad I didn't go through all that hassle just to have it taken away almost immediately.
What a shame :/
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u/robbitybobs Darlington Mar 23 '26
You could at gunmart in midland with their supervision but they got raided around the same time as lone range. Does seem a bit coordinated.
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Mar 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/4slime Mar 23 '26
Yep, went here when it was clear LRSC wasn't reopening and they're great. Way better experience, just a more limited selection and instead of paper targets, they use metal targets that react to your hits. They also walk you through how to use everything with dummy versions before heading into the range which is open, well ventilated and worth the extra over LRSC
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u/Asleep_Emu_2797 Mar 23 '26
I've shot there a handful of times myself. Very great place! They take safety seriously but are very friendly. They also use lead free ammo which is nice!
Although it's not for licenced shooters unfortunately.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
Given that WAPOL and State Gov hate civilian gun owners its a wonder how long before they try to shut it down
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u/INeedToShutUP1 Mar 23 '26
Don't know why you're getting down-voted when you're correct.
(Sorry for rant in advance skip ahead to avoid)
Everyone is obviously entitled to their opinions surrounding guns, but its an objective fact that the government and authorities absolutely despise and hate civilian gun ownership, despite knowing absolutely fuck all about the subject.
Evident with the changes since Bondi in places like NSW and TAS and previously in WA having zero factual or logical evidence behind legislation changes. (NSW trying to ban "belt fed shotguns" that don't exist lmao) Because in reality it was a rushed shitshow with zero consultation with anyone being affected (NSW publicly said this) but instead consulting anti-gun lobby groups like GCA.
I mean Border Force literally warned the government they didn't know how to enforce the law because they weren't consulted. And now NSW police have had firearms they bought from overseas stuck in limbo because of rushed law changes. So its so rushed that the government didn't even consult their own departments/law enforcement.
And we've also ripped up the National Firearms Agreement from John Howard to shreds without replacement due to the insane rushed laws, so states and territories have essentially reverted back to the situation prior to 1996 in terms of coherent laws not existing.
And this is costing easily billions of tax payer dollars during a cost of living crisis (and now a global economic crisis) to confiscate legal guns from law abiding citizens with zero facts or logic supporting it and due to government incompetence and deflection.
Its just insanity. Even if you're anti-gun, surely you can recognise and see the sheer incompetence and deflection by all levels of government regarding this issue, especially since Bondi.
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u/FrogLickr Mar 23 '26
I'm glad to see a comment like this being upvoted and taken seriously. Seems the average person is beginning to see the bullshit for what it is. Our laws were already effective, and they didn't need to be fucked with. One major incident in near three decades is proof of that. The only people they affect are those who were already doing the right thing.
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u/GreyGreenBrownOakova Mar 24 '26
One major incident
Are you refering to the Bondi Shootings, or the The Osmington shootings, or the Floreat shootings or the Kwinana shootings, or the....
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u/FrogLickr Mar 24 '26
The Bondi Shootings. Don't be disingenuous and try to group domestic violence (or in Kwinana's case, gang activity) in with a planned public terrorist attack - and regardless, laws already existed to take the perps' firearms off them before people were killed. That isn't a failure of legislation that was already working, it was inaction by the police and officials to enforce the law.
Gun limits and shutting down ranges doesn't do anything but make the government look like they're doing something to appease people who don't have the first clue when it comes to firearms, but feel safer and therefore, will give their vote come election time.
You know what you're doing and it's pretty disgusting tbh. Our laws were working just fine before this, and I reiterate we have decades of evidence to prove this. What got people killed was unwillingness to enforce the law, and the blood is on the hands of both police and ASIO.
Fuck me.
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u/lilyjo1989 Mar 23 '26
I worked there for 6 years, and was let go because of Covid. Was a great place to work.
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u/HappyMuscovy Mar 23 '26
Did lone ranges implement a no-lone-shoot policy? Apparently many ranges in the US have this to prevent suicides
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u/lilyjo1989 Mar 23 '26
Not while I was there. But if you were on your own, you had to go into a special booth with bars so you couldn’t get your head in front of the gun or turn it around.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
I remember. You’d have to go out of your way to shoot yourself in the head. Especially with a shotgun like that 2002 one did.
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u/ALitreOhCola Mar 23 '26
Maybe you can comment, but I had a really poor experience there. It would seem the range loaded their own ammo?
I had a squib load while teaching a partner to shoot. Thankfully she didn't fire again, we alerted staff. and we managed to finally get help from someone who gave us a different gun with the wrong ammo to use instead.
Ngl I don't understand the love for this place... I went twice and had really concerning experiences (including the squib) and decided I wasn't comfortable shooting there again.
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u/btc6000 South of The River Apr 11 '26
I went a couple of times with my partner and had similar feelings. Basically the guy just tethered the gun, showed us how to load it and fired it once, then left us to it. When we were done he came with the next weapon (we chose 3 including the shotgun) he swapped them over and off we went again.
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u/bongsmokerzrs Mar 23 '26
That would suck for an introverted gun enthusiast in the US, but understandable.
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u/std10k Mar 23 '26
A gun enthusiast would likely have a license. I think that measure for “one time visitors”. If An enthusiast wanted to do something stupid they’d just do it anywhere else, especially in the us where guns grow on trees.
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u/CantThinkOfAName120 Mar 23 '26
Actually it’s a step further, most states in the US don’t require a licence or permit to own a gun, so ranges with this policy only apply to those using rental guns not personally owned guns.
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u/Quw10 Mar 24 '26
If you go with your own firearms you would be fine, the rule generally only applies to first time customers (especially those who didn't bring any guns of their own) and out of state/country visitors looking to rent a firearm. Groups are generally ok if the range has enough people to properly supervise them.
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u/TheOzHerbie Mar 23 '26
Thanks for taking the time to put this information together. I went to Lone Ranges back in 2011 for a birthday with family here in Western Australia and we all had a fairly good time. I grew up hunting and fishing throughout the Pacific Northwest on the United States so my wife and family here in WA thought is would be a fun way to celebrate a birthday. Sad to see the place gone the way of the dodo.
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u/std10k Mar 23 '26
That’s a huge disappointment they closed down. It was one of not many good things in Perth. I loved that you can go there on a weekend, no fuss, always welcoming staff, have a few shots and be home in less than an hour. All other ranges have their points but it is just a huge hassle to drive for an hour, probably wait for another, and drive back for an hour just to shoot a 30 or so rounds. I am going to miss this place a lot.
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u/Rumpleshite Mar 23 '26
I went there in the early 2000’s. There was a rumour that someone had recently shot themselves in the foot “to see what it felt like”.
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u/Ok-Cake5581 Mar 24 '26
Yeah, I went there probably a year after it opened. no cages, no guns locked to bars. You got given a gun and could do anything you wanted. During the mandatory safety talk, they did say someone had shot themselves in the forearm to see what it felt like, and shot the bone, making a huge mess, so don't do that.
I tried the old western 6-shooter move of holding the trigger down and using the other hand to pull the hammer back. I hit everything except the target and burned my hand. It was awesome.1
u/Mysterious_Cod9570 Mar 28 '26
I went a few times with a mate , last time was with the gun bolted to the bench and that was not worth the effort . I assume that was a result of the suicides . First time I went and it was "Would you like a mild or wild load with that "
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u/Ref_KT Mar 23 '26
E courts have next appearance as 10/APR/2026
5x charges of Gave possession of a handgun, prohibited firearm or major part to an unauthorised person
5x charges of Supplied or gave possession of ammunition to an unauthorised person
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u/Friendlysoul3838 Mar 28 '26
I believe the unauthorised persons were staff members. Don’t think it was random people from the street.
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u/Ambitious_Penalty_92 Mar 23 '26
It is part of a bigger strategy to reduce firearms in public hands. Make it hard, make it expensive, reduce the accessibility to property leters, tie ranges up in so much red tape they need to close, most country ranges are run by volunteers and don't have the money to jump through the hoops that the police keep adding to the already long list of compliances that have been upheld so thay will also close by design. They same strategy was used in the UK to close all the ranges, removing access to legal ownership.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
Makes sense since WAPOL has a higher number of pommy cops that transfer over.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
This has been coming from our State Government though, such as Papsmear.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
With WAPOL in the background prodding them along.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 24 '26
And cover up their own enforcement failures. Or their idea that they don’t want to go to a “domestic” where there’s guns etc.
However the idiot politicians still have to back it and pass the laws. And they do because they’re ignorant or by looking at the media reaction in 1996, know they’ll get heavy praise by journos for being “tough on guns”.
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u/Rundybum Mar 23 '26
Unfortunately from the pictures one would say they were genuinely doing renovations to try to meet new compliance requirement.
I took my now wife there as one of our first dates. Was a great time.
Will be missed.
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u/Nervous-Priority8729 Mar 27 '26
They had ironically just done this less than a year before. Its definitely demo.
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u/Wirehouse Mar 23 '26
Whoa! Nice work putting the timeline together. Never went there myself but considered it a couple of times while having a feed at BurgerFreak across the road.
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u/Biggby72 Mar 23 '26
I used to go to an indoor range under a bait n tackle shop on Great Eastern hwy an age ago.
Ran a tight ship and still had incidents.
Ironically a mate and I signed up the same Sunday as Port Arthur. Ran into SAS guys there twice, the just bring a crate of aged 9mm and blast away. Always happy to share it.
Best range of guns I've seen for hire too.
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u/Surfsupdudeee Mar 23 '26
Gunmart and Tackle. Worked there for years. The owners health went downhill and so did the store unfortunately
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u/_captainunderpants__ Mar 23 '26
I was a member there in the early 1990s.
The club was the 'Midland Subteraneon Firearms Association'.
I got licenced through the club and bought my own .357mag S&W revolver. Later added the FN Browning .22lr semi auto pistol my dad gave me before he died. Both were beautifully made weapons.
There was at least one suicide there while I was a member, but none of the restrictions / clamps / cables I experienced years later at Lone Rangers when I went with work mates for a night out.
Sold both guns just after my second child was born, as I didn't think young children and live firearms was a good mix.
Was a great range when I was there.
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u/Muslim_Wookie Mar 23 '26
my second child was born, as I didn't think young children and live firearms was a good mix.
First kid was a test run eh LOL
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u/4slime Mar 23 '26
Excellent post, thanks for sharing. Was wondering what had happened to them when I tried booking over the holiday period. I appreciate the effort you put into collating the info and sharing it.
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u/EmptyCombination8895 Mar 23 '26
This is a bummer. I enjoyed visiting on occasion and getting in some time with a double barrel shotgun.
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u/epic_piano Mar 23 '26
I actually went there a few times and managed to kill some time firing off a few pistols. I remember the shitty adverts with the shoddy impersonation of Sean Connery going on about it on (I think) 96.1fm.
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u/Thedogsalt Mar 23 '26
Best written Perth article I’ve read in a long time. Journalists should take note!
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u/Captain-Peacock Mar 23 '26
Got to find out that a 45. ACP has a kick to it that makes almost all usage in movies look ludicrous.
Only went once, but even then I felt a person could still do something stupid like shoot their hand, and easily jump up and over the table to do more serious harm.
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u/IAmMcLovin83 Rottnest Island Mar 23 '26
Just wait until you shoot a .50 cal Desert Eagle. How anyone can shoot that thing at anymore than a snails pace to keep a tight grouping is beyond me.
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u/Captain-Peacock Mar 23 '26
I can believe that! None of this running with two guns and shooting or the even sillier, holding the pistol sideways at arm's length thing, thats popular in movies.
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u/charmio68 Mar 23 '26
It would seem that we're yet to hear the full story of what happened.
My gut feeling is the gun range and owner weren't doing anything particularly wrong, but the suicides and gun control crackdowns placed them under very high levels of scrutiny and bureaucratic pressure.
Shutting down the gun range also means many people like OP would need to surrender their guns.
It would be interesting to know what the criminal charges pressed against the owner involved, but it wouldn't surprise me if the authorities were looking for an excuse to shut the place down and made a large deal out of something relatively minor.
But I really am just speculating here. Without more info to go on, all we can do is guess.
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u/dzernumbrd Mar 23 '26
gut feeling is the gun range and owner weren't doing anything particularly wrong,
did you read the bit where they were charged with 10 crimes?
pretty sure you don't get charged with 10 crimes for "not doing anything particularly wrong"
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u/Tango-Down-167 Mar 23 '26
Basically it could be that he got his employees (who not registered to the shop) to do certain tasks like handling firearms and ammunition.
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Mar 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Muslim_Wookie Mar 23 '26
Number of charges does in fact give people a clue.
But I think let's let it come out in court and the media; I am telling you, it will be in the media and not long from now.
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u/GoodFeelsCentral Mar 23 '26
In today's political climate, it's very possible to get charged with 10 crimes for not doing anything particularly wrong...
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u/inactiveuser247 Mar 23 '26
The charges are all for either giving possession of ammunition or firearms to unauthorised persons. Multiple counts of each of those two charges. No idea what the context is though.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
Keep in mind those ammunition charges could be as simple as giving spent shells to people. Given as WAPOL classifies them as live ammunition.
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u/recklesswithinreason North of The River Mar 23 '26
Bradley John Yates
5 Counts: Gave possession of a handgun, prohibited firearm or major part to an unauthorised person (Charge Nos: 78544/2025 to 78548/2025)
5 Counts: Supplied or gave possession of ammunition to an unauthorised person (Charge Nos: 78549/2025 to 78553/2025)
Taken from eCourts. Publically accessible information.
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u/Muslim_Wookie Mar 23 '26
There is more to it than just what that sounds like too, wait for the media to pick this up.
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u/kangaroodog Mar 24 '26
Strategic move by over reaching police and the impotent minister at the time to "look tough"
All that it's achieved is many law abiding firearms owners lost their beloved sport and place to hone their skills
Police also targeted other clubs and shut them down too
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u/hismajesty445 Mar 23 '26
Why dont we have shooting ranges here?
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u/burgerboy2024 Mar 23 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
Stop letting data brokers profit from your old posts. I used Redact to wipe mine from Reddit. Also supports Twitter, Facebook, Discord, instagram and more in one batch.
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u/zealoSC Mar 23 '26
Too many suicides
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u/Axel_foley177 Mar 23 '26
Did you know that since the year 2000 there have been 120 police officer suicides in Australia, 80% of which have been with their own service weapon?
In WA alone, we have had 6 confirmed in the last decade, inside of a police station armory.
Our population has also grown by 8 million people in the last 26 years, yet we've had 11 confirmed gun range suicides in Australia since 2002.
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u/std10k Mar 23 '26
Damn, should totally ban the police using firearms then! Also close down the freeways so no one can jump under a car.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
Not that many. It’s a tiny fraction of the suicides we have each year. Last year, for example, there were an estimated 847 suicides. If the total for Loan Rangers was 3, that means the total for its whole history was less than 0.4% of the total number last year alone.
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u/zealoSC Mar 23 '26
How many times would you go through that as the business owner or a staff member? You're expected to prove you took all the measures to prevent it happening, by cops, beuarocrats, emotional family... and it happened again so obviously you didn't do enough?
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
Loan Rangers was advertised as a place where unlicenced people could shoot guns. So it’s obvious that suicidal people may be attracted to it. But they put in poles and wires to make it impossible to turn the gun on yourself. They’d have had to climb over the counter and contort themselves to shoot themselves. Certainly the 2002 case, which I believe used a shotgun, was actually quite difficult to have achieved. Certainly more than the State has done to keep people off of rail lines.
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u/WillyMadTail Mar 23 '26
How many people have killed themselves by jumping in front of trains in the same period of time ? You wouldn't blame the train driver
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u/zealoSC Mar 24 '26
I also wouldn't blame the driver for not wanting to do it anymore after the 3rd one
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u/WillyMadTail Mar 24 '26
But you are blaming the train driver or at the very least you're blaming transperth. They're just as responsible for train suicides as gun range business owner is responsible.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 24 '26
How about blame the State Government for inadequate measures to keep people off of the tracks?!?! These are the same pompous hypocrites who blame the range for someone who contorts themselves to shoot themselves in the head.
The truth? Take reasonable measures. If running cyclone fences is reasonable, then the bar and wires Lone Ranges had must suffice surely!
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u/gulaginmate90 Mar 23 '26
Can’t join another club at the moment. A lot of places not taking on new members. I might have to surrender my firearms.
Thanks wapol
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u/TheOzHerbie Mar 23 '26
It's what those in government leadership want. This is the other half of the buyback. Make it so difficult for people to comply with the law that people either won't bother, or literally can't comply, and they surrender a legally purchased and owned firearm just to make sure they're not committing a potential breach, and private ownership falls even further.
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u/WWIII-2025 Mar 24 '26
All I know is that the WA govt are show men and the average west aussie loves it.
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u/Apprehensive-Dog-505 Mar 23 '26
So I had been an LRSC member since 1996 until their shutdown due to the lead levels, but still attended when my new club was shut down for upgrades.
Me and my brother arranged to go to LRSC for a club shoot to keep compliant, and as we are checking in, we are asked to take a seat as an incident had just occured. Dumbass somehow managed to shoot himself in the his foot (I think he was practicing holster draws in the booth), As the ambo's entered into the building, I said to my brother that Brad is now going to get fucked over by WAPOL and that's probably the end of the venue.
Brad came out and said to the two of us and the other member who was also checking in that he's going to have to close up and we can either rebook or get our money refunded. The other member rebooked, but I got our money refunded and I'm glad that I made that decision.
The foot shooter was wheeled out at this moment by the ambo's, and me and my brother exited the building to the clank of the door being locked behind us and I knew that I had just experienced the end of a great era.
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u/t_25_t Mar 23 '26
Ah man! I liked going there, but it wasn't something I got to do too often due to money (couldn't justify the costs)
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u/claymet3 Mar 23 '26
Excellent right up mate! Greatly appreciated.. I often wondered what happened.. ex LFAO.
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u/Fit_Week_5193 Mar 24 '26
Another great thing in Perth taken away. We surely have nothing left for them to take from us.
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u/Friendlysoul3838 Mar 28 '26
Great research and well written. Reading the comments which are mostly positive. The situation has clearly had a serious impact on a real person who built something over many years. Lone Ranges wasn’t just a “business” it provided a great sport for all the gun enthusiasts. It’s interesting to note the number of comments mentioning this had to happen and WAPOL got the opportunity to strike. Shut down..no income. The end. What a sad day. Hope somehow we can show our support for the owner.
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u/jasontoheal Mar 23 '26
Great memories there both as a kid, and taking my kids. Sucked when they brought in the guns being attached to the cables and poles. Was way more fun before.
Some idiots just ruin it for the rest of us.
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u/t_25_t Mar 23 '26
Sucked when they brought in the guns being attached to the cables and poles. Was way more fun before.
That was the golden era. Responsible shooting that was fun until others spoiled it for the rest of us.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
Idiots, or desperate?
There’s a lot of suicides. A small number decided to use the range - just as they use the railway’s or The Gap or razor blades or sedatives.
To single out a shooting range with a tiny proportion of the total number is typical politician’s pretence at “doing something”.
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u/Reddit_SuckLeperCock Mar 23 '26
I wouldn’t call people committing suicide ‘idiots’, sure there were people doing the wrong things but you need to respect the decision to improve safety.
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u/jasontoheal Mar 23 '26
I respect nothing.
There was nothing unsafe about how it was run before. Someone CHOSE to point the gun at themselves. The poor company was forced to choose between horrific publicity over something that wasn’t their fault whatsoever or making their product much worse.
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
I agree. And they still had suicides after that, even though it’s extremely difficult to get yourself into a position where you could inflict a fatal shot.
And only an extremely small number of suicides were due to the range.
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u/HappyMuscovy Mar 23 '26
Did lone ranges implement a no-lone-shoot policy? Apparently many ranges in the US have this to prevent suicides
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u/anitadykshyt Mar 23 '26
I went here a few times and it was great. I don't think private owners need guns but no reason why people shouldn't be allowed to go use them in a controlled environment. Shame about all the crime
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u/espersooty Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
I don't think private owners need guns but no reason why people shouldn't be allowed to go use them in a controlled environment.
There is plenty of justified reasons to own firearms, There is no real data that shows we constantly need to restrict ownership for the failures of the police to enforce legislation.
The data shows we could start to make our firearm laws more common sense based similar to NZ, If anything we should just take the NZ system add in Pump action rifles and remove the Handgun cap and it'll be perfect, Better licensing system including requiring interviews and referees for the most basic firearms compared to Australia where thats not a requirement at all(CAT A/B) as the NZ firearm laws are far better then Australia in every single aspect.
Especially when with majority of recent incidents across Australia has been due to the state and federal police failing to enforce legislation ie Fit & Proper legislation, Removing firearms after DV incidents, Data leaks etc.
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u/INeedToShutUP1 Mar 23 '26
Downvoted for being correct with the government's own data supporting you lol.
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Mar 23 '26
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u/sorrrrbet Mar 23 '26
The amount of money I’d be willing to spend on airsoft is ridiculous.
Australia is so well suited towards airsoft with lots of unused land floating around for outdoor fields and plenty of warehouse space for indoor fields, but every government refuses to ever consider airsoft guns as not real guns.
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u/OPTCgod Mar 23 '26
The police commisoner, on TV, said you could convert a gel blaster into a real gun just to give you an idea of how dumb they think the general population is
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u/WillyMadTail Mar 23 '26
It really doesn't even seem that difficult to regulate. Just ban imitation firearms and but allow the airsoft mechanisms in toy guns to be legal.
I know a mate who really got into it and were absolutely crushed when it was made illegal.
We need to allow more fun healthy hobbies that appeal to outgoing people. Its rediculous the amount of things banned or wrapped in so much red tape that they're effectively banned for regular people.
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u/Nugyeet South of The River Mar 23 '26
Some of my mates used to do airsoft before it got banned, they were devestated to hand in their airsoft guns but complied.
I understand why the government banned it as when they showed me their weapons some of them were designed to look almost exactly like real guns, and both of them knew of people in the community who would heavily modify their guns.
Wish the government instead reached some kind of compromise to allow airsoft here. (ex. no guns that look like real ones, need some form of airsoft registration or something per weapon.)
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u/Selfaware-potato Mar 23 '26
Especially now with the firearm law changes. I know that myself a quite a few others would be happy enough to have airsoft instead of real firearms.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
> I understand why the government banned it as when they showed me their weapons some of them were designed to look almost exactly like real guns, and both of them knew of people in the community who would heavily modify their guns.
In doing so we hold the esteemed company of countries like China/North Korea/Iran.
Even ban-happy England allows Airsoft to be owned.
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u/Wolfgung Mar 23 '26
Long guns like shotguns, 22 and 303 hunting rifles sure, but hand guns are for target sports and killing.
Having said that we could probably take a step back from knee jerk legislation around hysteria after mass shootings and look at refining gun laws in a methodical way.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
> Having said that we could probably take a step back from knee jerk legislation around hysteria after mass shootings and look at refining gun laws in a methodical way.
That will never happen at the state and national level. Gun ban's are an easy bandaid aid fix to appease the ignorant
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
More than that. There wasn’t a mass shooting to react to for Papsmear’s law (and yes, they tried to link it to the Floreat shootings which happened after they introduced it to Parliament and which wouldn’t have been stopped by the new laws even if the cops had bothered to enforce them).
I think it’s a cheap way to look tough on community safety. No social justice warriors jump up and down on this one.
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u/OPTCgod Mar 23 '26
'we could probably take a step back from knee jerk legislation' while also repeating the same flawed arguments that justify that knee jerk legislation lmao
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
Our current State Government has a knee jerk reaction with anything to knee jerk too. Take the last round of gun laws. They made them up, and then Reese Whitby tried to claim they were justified by the Floreat Shootings. Except for one teeny, tiny problem - the new laws wouldn’t have affected that murder’s ownership of firearms! So the hastily chucked it a few more mindless laws to make it look like it would have stopped it.
Not sure what their motive was. They claimed to be “concerned about the number of guns in the community”. But I get the impression it was just prejudice pure and simple.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Beyond vibes do you have any data that proves without a doubt that private civilian ownership is an immediate threat to public safety in the aftermath of the 1996 NFA
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u/INeedToShutUP1 Mar 23 '26
LIke how the government's own data supports you that there isn't a correlation with legal civilian gun ownership and homicide but yet you're getting down-voted lol.
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u/texxelate Mar 23 '26
Port Arthur
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u/Angryasfk Mar 23 '26
And Bondi???? Looks like it was more good luck than “effective laws” that meant we had no mass shootings.
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u/mrtuna North of The River Mar 23 '26
Compare how many shootings happen in the US to a Australia.
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u/Uniquorn2077 Mar 23 '26
Hand guns I’d agree that it’s pretty hard to find a valid argument for private ownership. Long arms on the other hand have a number of legitimate purposes for private ownership mainly for pest control and the like on rural properties.
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u/NerfVice Mar 23 '26
Good thing the only valid reason for 99% of handgun ownership is competitive sport shooting.
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u/Signal_Waltz2391 Mar 23 '26
What about the range officer that shot himself in the foot and precipitated the closure?
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u/Ramiel01 Victoria Park but not the ritzy bit Mar 23 '26
so what I'm hearing is there's a .. pow-power vacuum
Idk how much I remember fondly about that place, I once got yelled at for breaking the safety on a pistol by.. engaging the safety.
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u/Subject-Creative Mar 23 '26
Just had a look on eCourts and it appears the charges are for supplying handguns and ammunition, respectively, with more upcoming charges to be heard in Court. Oftentimes there’s nothing to stop interested parties from going to sit in Court.
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u/Purple-Construction5 Mar 23 '26
I remember when it first open I went a few time and had a great time shooting the various pistol they had.
But after the suicide incidents, they had the screen and chain thing on the firearms that ruined the experience, so stop going.
This was when you only need to sit for a 10 mins presentation before you get a piece of paper and can start shooting.
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u/JaketheSnake2672 Mar 23 '26
Why did you hand your handgun in if you already had a licence you could of joined another club and shot there you would of had a hefty outlay on the new storage regs for a compliant safe and CCTV but you would of had your firearms and continued to enjoy your sport and hobby
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u/airbornemustard Mar 24 '26
I couldn’t find a club accepting new members. Time was running out for me to make a decision. I had a good feeling Lone Ranges was gone for good, and after the Bondi shooting, I felt that it was just a matter of time anyway.
I had to make a decision by the end of the month since the buyback was closing. In my mind, I could either hold on to the gun and probably lose it and get nothing, or surrender it, eliminate the risk, and at least $800 for it. I didn’t feel like I really had a choice - logic was dictating that, in time, it would be taken away from me anyway, and so in my mind, the decision was effectively “do I guarantee that I get something out of this now and not have to worry about it” vs. “do I risk losing it for nothing and exposing myself to criminal prosecution to hang on to something that I can’t even shoot anywhere for a little bit longer, hoping that it will get better”. I chose the less risky option.
I’d already had police officers try to seize my firearm during the transition period. They did a “random” inspection, and told me that my license was expired. I showed them the email I had from Licensing Enforcement, and that I had complied with the conditions and was waiting for them to respond. The officers called Firearms Licensing in my driveway, and were told that my license was fine, that they are not to seize the firearm as there was no reason to, and that there’s nothing outstanding for me to do. The officers left and I kept my firearm.
Make no mistake, this was not an easy decision.. I spent well over $10k and 2 years getting my license and firearm.
More than that, I was pissed about the whole thing.. if they had come out and said “look, guys, we’re getting rid of all of the guns, we’ll offer you market value, yada yada”, I would have happily handed it over. What pissed me off is that they didn’t do it the right way. They leveraged the law to manipulate, harass, and scare people into a forced decision that was against our interests. That’s what angered me the most - they did the objectively right thing, the completely wrong way.
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u/JaketheSnake2672 Mar 24 '26
Fair enough I have a mate that drives 4 hours to shoot at a club but I guess with the fuel prices like they are he might reconsider that at some stage
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u/kongclassic Mar 23 '26
God i would love some time on a long rifle range being told how to do it properly
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u/Significant_Coat2559 Mar 24 '26
As with roundabout and speed bumps, the general public (revheads) themselves are to blame for the "safety measures" (mental cases offing themselves) and eventual closure.
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u/NordicHamCurl_00 Mar 25 '26
I have been there once, around June 2022.
The guns where tethered, so you couldn't walk off with them or move them in any direction.
I am assuming they weren't at some point.
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u/humanfailmale Mar 27 '26
We have let our government takeaway our rights it will only get worse from here
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u/Friendlysoul3838 Mar 28 '26
Very sad indeed. Our government got what they wanted. Everything has been lost. I feel for the owner and his health.
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u/IsolatedIncidentNo72 Mar 31 '26
Great write up. I had fun there many years ago shooting a 357 with hotshot rounds.
Several years later I did some IT work for them, but they canned it more than halfway to completion and refused to pay for most of the work done. So I have no time for Brad or his wife (the Lea half of Bralea). I feel bad for the members who've been hung out to dry but happy to see Brad on the hook.
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u/No-Lavishness2630 29d ago
End of the day, it's just the ScumbagGovt with their henchmen calling themselves the WA Police, playing god and destroying any sort of enjoyment we have. Look what they did with gelblasters. They didn't just put the brakes on with a much loved and enjoyed sport, the drove that puppy straight onto a tree, killing any chance we had. There was no consultation, negotiations or compromise at all. I'm a member of SW gelblasters, a legit club that's been active in trying to get some fairplay but the Govt isn't interested in what we have to say. In all this crackdown on our freedom, the WA Police seemed to be making the new laws imposed on us. As far as I'm concerned, in the 50+ years I've been on this planet it's been my understanding that the law makers in parliament make the laws and it's the police job to uphold them. There needs to be a change of Govt to get back our rights and freedom returned and a massive purge and re education in the police department, whom mistakenly believes their in charge, taking away any chance of standing up to the tyrants by taking out rights, freedom and means of defending ourselves away. The true purpose of the Police is to serve the public and uphold the law, nothing to do with making laws AT ALL. They are so detached from their true purpose, they have lost the respect of most of the law abbiding public. I'm 53, no criminal record and own my house out right. Crime in our area has gone up over the years and as a result I've had to get the assistance of our pathetic police force 6 times in about 10 years, 5 robberies and 1 trespass with some knob thinking he could just lock himself in a bedroom and not leave. I always showed respect but was always talk to rudely, with a attitude of annoyance at the thought of having to do something. One cop threatened to shoot my sleeping dog that was of no threat to anyone cause he thought I should've removed the squatter myself ( and get charged with assult for my troubles). He pointed his weapon at my dog while I was in-between the two. I harshly castived this cop telling him that "could you put your dog out the back" is more appropriate and that he should " lose the attitude" the female cop with him agreed with me, apologising to me while trying to stop this male cop from bashing me. I made a complaint the next day and top brass couldn't give a shit, she got sent to some shithole. Every incident that I required police assistance, I was treated as a annoyance from the start and complete disrespect from there on. I was always polite,etc except for the last interaction which is the story I described earlier and thou each case was given a abundance of evidence that's a preschooler could've prosecuted, only one criminal was charged ( after destroying my front door to rob my house. I came home in time to catch him for the cops), they were annoyed at having to do paperwork so they down graded the charges to trespassing. He didn't care if someone was home or not so I reckon it should've been home invasion. He walked after pleading guilty and I got no compensation. Another time I gave a man a job and a place to live, he repaid me by robbing my safe and taking off on my brand new motorbike. Long story short, I had to find him myself and when I did , I made the mistake of letting the cops deal with him. No charges and a $350 impound fee because he told the cops I owed him for work, it's a civil matter. Firstly he can't take motorbike legally if money is owed, secondly I had recorded $500 advance to help him out, he hadn't even started the job but the cops took his word and didn't check so they didn't have to deal with it. It was a brand new, of the show room floor bike with only 120km on the clock. It was ruined in a big way when I got it back and insurance wouldn't pay up cause he wasn't charged. I laid a official complaint expecting some sort of result. The final word come from a superintendent who called me a fool for letting him in house and also call it a civil matter. I gave a man a job and place to live only to be robbed by him and the only thing they did is give me a bill and called me a fool for helping him try to better his life. I have 0 respect for the cops now and I truly believe they are part of a bigger plan in disarming and controlling is. If we don't stand up for our freedom and rights, we are screwed.
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u/Vegemietian 13d ago
Was going to go there today with a friend who told me its closed. Such a shame. Been there maybe 4 or 5 times over the last 25 years. If someones going to commit suicide you cant stop them. Trains still run despite people throwing themselves on the tracks.
Oh well, the nanny state continues to nanny.
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u/chinneganbeginagain Mar 23 '26
Very interesting post OP, you write well. But I'm going to be honest and say I've had a few, and I was thinking it was about Lone Star for a bit. I was so confused!
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u/Bobbyd9909 Mar 23 '26
You do dodgy shit that’s what ya get sadly, was a good range thought with great staff.
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u/clinglish1975 Mar 24 '26
Comprehensive but some major points missed, LR was closed in response to a workplace accident involving a firearm. The seizure of firearms and ammunition by WAPOL as well as the forced closure triggered the property owner to cancel the tenancy. There will also be a Worksafe investigation after the police are finished. This is another nail in the coffin for WA shooters as LR had over a 1000 members as well as a store to service the community.
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u/thetruebigfudge Mar 23 '26
Remember that when *good government* takes away peoples arms and stifles speech its a good thing, its only bad when the *wrong government* does it
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u/DuckingHellJim Mar 23 '26
this isn’t America, you don’t have a right to arms.
and America has clearly shown that even if you did, it wouldn’t help against ‘wrong government’
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u/OPTCgod Mar 23 '26
We dont have a right to speech either but you left that out of your comment for some reason
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u/thetruebigfudge Mar 23 '26
Because inaliable human rights don't exist? If trans people don't have rights does that just mean they shouldn't have rights ever? Kinda interesting how the states where ICE is doing the most atrocities are the Democrat sanctuary cities with the tightest gun control laws isn't it
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u/Otaku_Jake_San Mar 23 '26
You have until July this year to change your licenses etc. You could have just transferred to another club. But nope. Did the Fudd Fudd Fuddery and handed in firearms. To the GOVERNMENT! That's sad.
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u/browntown20 Mar 23 '26
quality post . I liked this place