The Koko Head Shooting Complex, closed for months for renovations, repairs and health and safety improvements, echoed with gunfire this week as the island’s only free, city-run firing range is set to officially reopen to the public Saturday.

But due to a stated staffing shortage, the city says the facility at 8102 Kalanianaole Highway will implement a weekend-only operation and require users of the firearm range to apply on the city’s online reservations system to shoot their licensed weapons.

“We recognize how popular and important this is to the public,” Nate Serota, spokesman for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, said Tuesday at a news conference at the range. “It’s the only public outdoor range provided to the public here on Oahu.”

Since its closure on Sept. 16, in part due to the presence of high levels of lead contamination on-site, the firing range is nearing completion of the contracted and in-house repair project. That work, estimated at $400,000, includes a berm renovation with 300,000 cubic yards of sifted dirt for the pistol and rifle ranges to reinforce backstops along the complex’s northern targets to prevent ricochets.

In July within the northern berm, a high- caliber bullet hit a dormant firearm slug that ricocheted into the window of a parked car. No injury was reported in that incident.

“We won’t have any ricochets for the pistol and rifle ranges,” Serota said.

Other updates to the shooting complex include new roofing, painting, installation of new signage and partial removal of a damaged wall separating both ranges. The planned regular cleaning of the range’s many pistol and rifle bays — to rid them of lingering lead dust and other possible toxic contaminants — will also become standard practice, Serota said.

“We are going to be wiping them down once a week, hosing them down once a week and, doing annually, really deep cleaning with power washing,” he added.

Among the largest changes, though, is combining the previously separated rifle and pistol ranges into one firing line, due mainly to the damaged, structurally unsafe concrete wall that still awaits funding toward its reconstruction, Serota said.

The staffing shortage, in part, followed a notice in late 2022 that 12 people at the range — complex employees and contractors included — had received blood test results indicating elevated levels of lead. Test results indicated then that the lead levels were well below federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and medically established levels of concern, the city says.

According to Serota, the staffing shortage remains as two full-time range attendants will resign soon, leaving part-time employees only.

“So we are going to be looking to fill those two full-time positions as soon as possible but also try to bolster some of that staffing with the part-time range attendants,” Serota said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Council Chair Tommy Waters and Council member Val Okimoto attended Tuesday’s news conference.

According to Blangiardi, the need for a second city- operated firing range could be considered for West Oahu.

“There’s a lot of conversation about whether or not we can replicate this finally on the West side, and we are already beginning to look at that to see what the feasibility would be so people wouldn’t have to come that far,” Blangiardi said, adding that West Oahu’s growing population warranted such a facility. “It would be nice if we had a couple of these.”

But the mayor stressed that any future location or funding source for a second city-run firing range is still unknown.

“If we had the land, that’s a big benefit right there,” Blangiardi said. “But I think it makes a lot of sense … and if we could get it done, it would be very gratifying (and) a lot of people would be really happy.”

For his part, Waters said the Council and city “could work together to find land and another range possibly on the West side.”

“I think that’s really important because ultimately, we don’t want people up in the mountain shooting the guns or at Kaena Point or anyplace else,” Waters added. “It’s so important to have a place for folks to come and exercise their right to shoot their gun. We don’t want them to be shooting it in public. That’s why this place has to be open.”

Council member Okimoto — who represents Council District 8, which covers Central Oahu including Pearl City — said it was a “happy day” for many in her district to see the shooting range open “for the public to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Later, Okimoto could be seen taking firearm instruction at the range before firing a .22-caliber pistol at targets, while city staffers also loudly fired pistols and rifles of varying calibers at their own range bays nearby.

According to the city, the Koko Head Shooting Complex will open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Online reservations are required to book a free shooting slot.

To use the range, shooters must continue to provide their own licensed firearms, ammunition, targets and target frame (measurements remain the same as before the closure), and ear and eye protection. Also, all shooters must continue to sign in with their name and firearm caliber(s). And all visitors must comply with all signage, rules and regulations at the range, according to the city.

Meanwhile, the archery range remains open on a regular schedule — Wednesday through Sunday, sunrise to sunset — as range staff are not required to be present to operate this facility, the city says.

For more information and to reserve a time for the shooting range, visit pros9.hnl.info. For further information, visit honolulu.gov or call 808-768-3003.