FAQs

Q: When is PASA Park open?

A: Normal PASA Park operating hours are between sunup and sunset year-round.  During those hours, if a range venue is not otherwise being used, members can shoot.  Night shooting with night-vision/infrared/thermal devices may only be done by advance scheduling.
NOTE: During the duration of the prime Illinois whitetail deer hunting season (approximately mid-October thru mid-December), PASA Park morning and afternoon hours are limited as a courtesy and safety measure in view of the large number of hunters afield on neighboring and adjacent properties.  These hours are posted at all PASA Park entrances each year in early of October, and are displayed year-round on the PASA website calendar.  The Park is entirely closed during the two weeks of the Illinois firearms deer season.

Q: How can I join PASA?

A: A notarized Membership Agreement & Waiver form with dues payment is required.  Forms are available for download under the Membership menu on this website, or at the PASA Info & Membership Station inside the front restroom entrance on the front porch of S&W Hall at the Park (Look for the Membership Station Sign).
Use any  Notary and send your form and dues to be processed by mail.  Do NOT submit un-notarized membership forms.  They will NOT be accepted.

Q: Why does PASA require a notarized Membership Agreement & Release form?  Why can’t members bring guests to shoot?

A: For liability protection (you wouldn’t believe . . .).  See the Guests & Visitors page under the Membership menu for why this whole sorry situation exists.

Q: Why do you have to be a PASA member to participate in “sanctioned” Club events like Action-Shooting Division USPSA pistol matches or Rifle Division NRA matches?

A: For the same reason as above.  Even though sanctioned match scores are reported to the national organizations, those are still just “Club” matches.  Special Events which are sponsored by outside organizations, such as the USPSA National Championships, are covered by liability insurance provided by those organizations, and participants do not need to become PASA members (although many do).  But they are required to sign legally-witnessed waivers

Q: Why isn’t the Rifle Division listed on the Menu?  Or the Action-Shooting Division?

A: They are.  The website uses a layered “MegaMenu.” The items you mentioned, as well as much more, are under the main “PASAinfo” menu button. When you hover over it, you will see a list of submenus. When you click a submenu, you will be taken to its subject page. The same applies to some other Main Menu buttons. We urge all Members to examine all Menu options and explore the full resources of this site.

Q: I’ve gone to the PASA website Calendar several times to check a day and it’s always blank.  If we’re supposed to check the Calendar before we come to shoot, wouldn’t it be a good idea to  provide a Calendar that actually tells us something?

A.   It did tell you something.  It told you there’s nothing special scheduled at PASA that day and the entire Park is open for normal member use during normal hours.
Some Calendar Tips:

• You can use the “Go To” button to look at any month you want, as far back or as far forward as you want (to the beginning or end of time . . .).
• If you use the right/left arrows you will go forward or back one screen at a time.
• The Calendar always opens to the current whole-month display.  You can change to something that suits you better by pressing the “Month” bar to change to a Day View, Week View, or even Year View.  Each of these has additional viewing options attached.
• When in Month View, the Calendar is also programmed to “expand” to show all events on days when several are scheduled.  Sometimes a month is so filled with events, the last week of that month will “drop off” the bottom of the display.  When that happens, simply switch to Week View to display the “missing” week
  

Q:  My brother lives in a different state and is concerned about bringing his guns into Illinois.  He’s been told it’s against the law to have a gun in Illinois unless you have a state FOID card.  Also been told non-residents can’t buy ammo in Illinois.  Could he get in any trouble if he brings a gun to Illinois and we go to PASA Park to do some shooting together when he visits?

A: All such concerns are based on myth.

1. The Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) requirement applies ONLY to Illinois residents.  Non-residents who are legal firearm owners in their own state can absolutely bring their guns to Illinois.  Non-residents CAN buy ammo in Illinois.  The thousands of competitors who have shot National Championship matches at PASA Park over the past 40 years do it all the time.  So do the tens of thousands of non-residents who come to Illinois to hunt each year.
2. In every state, so long as any legally-owned firearm of any type remains unloaded and in a locked case in a vehicle, the federal Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) explicitly exempts those who are transporting firearms for lawful purposes from all state and local restrictions which might otherwise restrict their passage. Even in Chicago/Cook County.  Even in New York City.  Federal law trumps any state or local law in this regard.  Repeatedly upheld by the Courts.

We’re constantly surprised so many people, both nonresidents and Illinois residents themselves, continue to believe these myths.  (Well, actually, not so surprised . . . considering Illinois’ reputation.)  But myths they are.  You’ll be just fine.  (So long as your brother joins PASA, of course . . .)

Q: Are paper targets and spray paint for the steel targets available at PASA Park?

A: No. Bring your own.

Q: Can I borrow a staple gun, and maybe a few paper targets? (I forgot to bring any.)

A: You can always ask any fellow member on the range.  Otherwise, well, you’ll probably remember next time . . . and while you’re at it, bring some inexpensive white and black spray paint to repaint steel targets after you use them . . . and be sure and take down any used paper targets and put them in the trash before you leave.

Q: Does PASA offer Illinois Hunter Safety courses?

A: Not as a club activity. See the Training Division page under Club Programs for more information about Hunter Safety classes in the area.

Q: Is there a PASA Member discount for S&W Hall rental?

A: No.  S&W Hall rates are already as low as they can get and still break even on costs.  S&W Hall is available for rental as a community service.  It’s not a money-making facility.  Which is why we still ask for small donations to keep the restrooms supplied with toilet paper.

Q: What are the GPS Coordinates for PASA Park?

A: The GPS Coordinates of the “Zero Milestone” in front of S&W Hall are: 39.72619 North/91.06731 West.  The PASA Maps menu has embedded links to several map references and driving directions to the Park.  Also, if you click on the PASA logo at the top of any page, you’ll be shown a Google Maps satellite view that can be zoomed-in close enough to see targets on the Ranges.

Q:  What is the correct way to pronounce “PASA?”

A: It’s amazing how many different ways people have found to mispronounce such a simple four-letter word.  But here goes: The correct pronunciation would be “Pass-Uh.”  Not “Pay-Suh.”  Not “Paw-Suh.”  “PASA” is an acronym, standing for “Pike-Adams Sportsmen’s Alliance.  There is actually a grammatical rule for the pronunciation of acronyms.  The letters in an acronym are supposed to be pronounced the same as they sound in the word they stand for.  So, it’s “PASA;” like “NASA.”  Likewise, it’s PASA (all caps); not “Pasa.”  (Acronym, remember?)  Same way NASA is not Nasa, NRA is not Nra, and USA is not Usa . . .

Q:  Who’s this “Pike Adams” guy PASA is named for?

A:  Been asked more than once.  Even by some local folks  (who, by the looks on their faces when answered, were serious).  PASA is named for Pike County and Adams County, where our founding members resided.  The club name is properly written with a hyphen between the words “Pike” and “Adams.”  I.e., “Pike-Adams.”  The hypen is frequently forgotten.  And it’s “Sportsmen’s.”  Not “Sportmens,” or “Sportsman’s,” or “Sportmans.”

• For those interested in such things, Pike County in 1821 originally covered all of Illinois west of the Illinois River, north of the Kankakee River from where it comes out of Indiana, and on to the Wisconsin state line (yes, Pike County once included Chicago).  It was named after Western explorer Zebulon Pike, the discoverer of Pike’s Peak.  The state legislature subtracted land from Pike County four years later (1825) for settlers originally from New England, and named their new county and county seat after President John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts.
• The first settlers in far south end of Pike County, upstream from where the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers meet, were primarily Southerners by way of Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Road over Cumberland Gap thru Tennessee.  When Adams County was created in 1825, rather than share a county border with them Yankees (and likely start the Civil War right then and there), they decided to secede from Pike County and carved out a new and narrow little county of their own on the “peninsular tip” between the two rivers.  They named it after Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
• Pike County was left between Calhoun and Adams at its present size, as a “buffer.”  Even today, backwoods Pike Countians tend to speak with a slight Tennessee drawl instead of the upper-crust New England twang of city-dwelling Quincy folks.  (What our Missouri members sound like, we haven’t quite figured out yet . . .)

Incidentally, a thorough Google search fails to turn up anyone who was ever actually named “Pike Adams.”  Anywhere.  Such a person has apparently never lived on planet Earth.

And now you know the rest of the story