Gun education center Mission94 to open in Kenosha County

Jennifer Pritzker made headlines last year when the Pritzker Military Archives Center was built on a farm field in Somers, just outside Kenosha.

Now, the billionaire has funded a new gun education center down the street from the archive.

The center is called Mission94. It will offer visitors an underground shooting range, a store, and a number of classes on gun usage, gun safety and military history.

“We are not like any other operation that is really currently in existence,” said range manager Chris Meter at a tour of the facility Tuesday.

The center’s military history courses will include a focus on arms used by service members. For example, Meter said, there will be a class on American arms of the European theater of World War II.

“That includes the M1911A1, the M1 Garand, the 1903 Springfield, the Browning automatic rifle and the 1919 machine gun,” Meter said.

He said students in this class would learn about the history, technology and soldiers’ experiences of those firearms.

“And then on the final day, graduation day, you and your instructors, and the rest of the students, will go down to the live fire training area, and you’re actually going to get to fire every single arm that you just learned about,” he said.

Center includes retail area, firing range, mural

Meter said the center’s store will focus on weapons of “a much higher-end nature.”

The center has 25 and 50-yard shooting ranges buried underground.

“Our backstop is granulated rubber that is also backed by AR500 steel. This particular training bay is capable of defeating .308 or 7.62 by 51 NATO cartridges,” Meter said of the 25-yard range.

A patio-style seating area outside features a wall-length mural by artist Dean Atwater of historical figures who used firearms: Annie Oakley, Samuel Colt, Bass Reeves, Mitchell Red Cloud Jr, Richard Bong, Audie Murphy, Alvin York and Harriet Tubman.

Center aims to change narrative around firearms

Jeremy Dewberry used to be a police officer and kindergarten teacher. But now, he will direct Mission94’s educational programs.

He says Harriet Tubman is the perfect example of somebody using guns for the right reason.

“She was protecting herself, she was protecting those people that were in her care, and she was protecting those people that were working to free slaves and bring them to a better life,” Dewberry said.

Meter said that Mission94 is an apolitical, non-partisan organization.

“A lot of people — if you’re going to go to a firearm retail or a firearm range — they will find it to be a politicized or often polarized experience where a certain political side will claim ownership, essentially, of firearms,” Meter said.

“Mission94 exists to demonstrate that the Second Amendment is a right that is enabled for all Americans, regardless of who you are or what your political affiliations are. And this is a place of learning,” he said.

He said instructors will be “more so teachers and educators in firearms than they are people who are just ‘gun people.’”

The center’s shop sells T-shirts that say “No Politics. Exceptional Experiences.”

Founder and funder of museum is military enthusiast

According to Meter, Pritzker decided to start the center after reading a military history book whose author had little knowledge of weaponry. She asked Meter to figure out if there were any facilities offering gun training alongside history classes. He came up empty, convincing the billionaire that Mission94 was needed.

Pritzker is a member of the Pritzker family. One of America’s wealthiest families, some of its members own the Hyatt hotel chain. Jennifer’s cousin, J.B. Pritzker, is the governor of Illinois.

Jennifer Pritzker herself served in the U.S. Army and the Illinois Army National Guard, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. In 2003, she founded the Pritzker Military History Library in Chicago. In 2013, she announced her transgender identity, making her the world’s first and only transgender billionaire.