Promising “a welcoming environment,” the GUNTRY gun range in Owings Mills showcases its inclusivity with pistol classes for women, archery training for kids and special discount days for seniors.

GUNTRY’s website touts “live jazz” events with “premium cigars and bourbon” in the VIP Lounge and state-of-the-art shooting simulators with 200 scenarios, including some it notes are “family friendly.”

But for years, this upscale facility in the suburbs north of Baltimore has also quietly welcomed personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

That fact has disturbed some members, who recently discovered that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts going back to 2020 to GUNTRY to allow ICE agents to use the facility for annual firearm qualification and training.

“It was pretty easy to find. I just found it on the Homeland Security website,” said a member, who did not want to be identified by name for fear of harassment. “They’re very public about it, not trying to hide it.”

When GUNTRY staff refused on the phone to discuss the matter, the member said, they immediately canceled their membership and spread the word to friends who have also left the club.

Online records show overlapping ICE contracts awarded to Wolfland, Inc. (doing business as GUNTRY), including:

• A $289,286 contract to provide a firearms training facility for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations during a period that started in 2020 and ran though 2024.

• A $110,031.57 contract for rental of firearms training services running from September 2025 through September 2026.

• A $71,995 contract “to provide Homeland Security investigations Baltimore office with firing range use for qualification purposes” running from 2024 through 2027.

ICE plans to renew its contract with GUNTRY this month without competition, according to an entry in DHS’ Acquisition Planning Forecast System, a public database of solicitations and contracts the department expects to issue in the coming year.

Under that system, DHS sought quotes, setting a ceiling – “currently $350,000, but $250,000 back in 2020″ – for a sole source contract, “which in this case was GUNTRY,” noted Michael Wriston, one of the founders of Project Salt Box an investigative project that focuses on the money and contracts behind immigration detention.

“It seemed neutral”

Asked why they left GUNTRY, the member began by explaining what drew them to the idea of owning and using a gun in the first place. It wasn’t home protection or 2nd Amendment ideology.

“I just wanted to have a good time and go to the gun range and get better,” the member said. “Super safe, super legal.”

They chose GUNTRY because, compared to other area gun ranges, “it wasn’t overtly, aggressively, part of a certain political agenda,” the member explained. “It seemed, like, relatively neutral.”

But for the club to be assisting ICE was a surprise and a dealbreaker, this individual said, going on to reference the Trump administration’s use of ICE and other federal agents to carry out a mass deportation agenda targeting immigrants.

“A federally authorized armed force, who is masked, cannot just randomly grab citizens without due process”  – former GUNTRY member explaining their objections to ICE’s presence at the club.

“A federally authorized armed force, who is masked, cannot just randomly grab citizens without due process,” the member said. “It violates so many things.”

“Call me, not a centrist, but someone who takes each political issue and looks at the facts independently of a party line,” the member added.

Last January, ICE agents descended on Minneapolis and St. Paul, employing increasingly severe tactics in an unprecedented immigration enforcement crackdown on an American city. U.S. citizens were detained, some 3,000 people were arrested and federal agents killed two civilian protesters during the operation: Renée Good and Alex Pretti.

Asked last week to discuss GUNTRY’s history of contracts with ICE (awarded to its corporate parent, Wolfland, Inc.), the club’s management declined.

“I cannot disclose who trains or does not train at GUNTRY,” Brian Wolf, chief marketing officer, said in an email.

Since the facility opened in 2020, Wolf added, it “has been dedicated to safety, training, and education for everyone.”

ICE has not yet provided its response to The Brew’s query last week.

“I cannot disclose who trains or does not train at GUNTRY”  – Founder and marketing chief Brian Wolf.

Its website describes GUNTRY as an 86,000 square-foot shooting and training facility with 44 indoor shooting lanes, a 40-yard indoor archery range, a full-service cafe, firearms and apparel for sale and more.

A 2024 multi-million-dollar expansion increased the number of shooting lanes and allowed the club to add offerings like jiu jitsu, yoga and mixed martial arts. GUNTRY’s Facebook page shows the club being used for weddings, an area private school and the Greater Baltimore Chamber of Commerce.

“A state-of-the-art indoor shooting and training center that boasts the comforts and amenities of a country club,” is how Wolf, a former Baltimore County police detective and private security consultant, describes GUNTRY on his LinkedIn.

Servicing the Surge

The gun club controversy comes as immigration arrests have been soaring nationally, with ICE increasingly targeting people who have no criminal record and who entered the U.S. legally.

Maryland and Virginia recently had their own taste of ramped-up immigration enforcement.

As part of what DHS called Operation Safe Community, over 1,300 people were arrested, mostly in the D.C. suburbs, during the first two weeks of August. More than two thirds had no criminal history. During that time, activists say they saw an increase in violence during arrests and multiple instances of arrests without probable cause.

ICE’s tactics, including agents last June wrestling a parent to the ground at a Baltimore elementary school, are spreading fear in the community, state and city officials say.

The escalation has also led to continued overcrowding in immigrant detention facilities in downtown Baltimore, despite a court order directing ICE to improve conditions, according to lawyers for current and former detainees.

“Due to a surge in law enforcement hiring . . . funding has been expended more quickly than originally anticipated” – DHS document explaining increased funding for GUNTRY’s ICE contract.

Another impact of the surge:

The hiring of thousands of new agents to carry out the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda has triggered the need to find facilities to train and accredit them.

“Due to a surge in law enforcement hiring and an increase in required firearms qualifications, contract funding has been expended more quickly than originally anticipated,” a filing intended to justify a contract awarded to GUNTRY “without open competition.”

An unclassified 2024 statement of work for the Baltimore ICE training facility lays out the contract specifications, including:

• Facility must be able to accommodate up to 120 ICE agents per quarter.

• Scheduling needs to be available 24 hours/7 days a week.

• The ICE office requires any reserved range time be only shared with other law enforcement officers and not the general public.

• The period of performance shall include four 12-month option periods, with a final end date of September 27, 2029.

• The only range officer/instructor will be an ICE federal employee who is trained by ICE.

The statement also says that ICE officers “must be able to arrive and depart the range with duty weapons loaded and ready for use.”

• To reach a reporter: fern.shen@baltimorebrew.com