Discharging a Firearm in a "Residential Area".

Have you looked through the VA laws and any local ordinances? I don't think we can provide good counsel here since your situation will unique to where you live. You don't appear to live in an incorporated town or city where firearm discharges are almost always a no-no.

Residential area? I would imagine there was an acreage or sq. footage that need be met to discharge a firearm.But it is also about clearance and terrain, and city limits. Check your local ordinances, if you are within the law to shoot the only thing the guy could complain about is noise...which is negligible with a .22 from a mile away IMO.

First, are you inside city limits or in township or county area? It is almost never legal to shoot inside the limits of any city. You may have to check on any county or township laws.

Second, every bullet can be a law suit, so make sure you know where ALL of them go.

If first and second are covered, tell the neighbor to kiss you tail feathers!

Okay, thanks. Although there is no one in your development, obviously your neighbor can hear you so you're going to get snagged sooner or later. My best advice is to find an accredited range and send lead down range there instead. Shooting in your neighborhood is going to land you in some hot water.

Pretty funny in that it mentions you are not allowed to "stand" or "walk" with a loaded gun..but it says nothing about crawling, jumping or skipping.



On the zoning map does it show your area as being any of the following?

For purposes of this section, "residential district" shall mean any district described as Village
Residential - VR, Residential R-1, Residential R-2, Residential R-4, Residential R-6, Residential R-10, Residential
R-15, Neighborhood Model - NMD, Planned Unit Development - PUD or Planned Residential Development - PRD
on the official zoning map of the county.


If so, no shooting is possible, not matter distances or clearance it seems.

Well there you go. Your neighbor will most likely call the cops. I would have the pertinent literature handy if anyone doubted the legality...noise complaints are a whole other animal.

But .22 shots from a mile aware are not really "disturbing the peace" type noise....

In the county where I live (in a Southwestern state) it is illegal to discharge a firearm except in self defense or at a licensed range, despite the majority of our county being rural. On the other hand, in the town where my brother in law lives in Tennessee, where the houses are in a development on 1/2 acre lots with no fences, it is legal for him to shoot on his property: and he occasionally does. It all depends on where you live.

Subsonic ammo should help keep the noise down, that or you could get a supressor

JDMorris said:

Subsonic ammo should help keep the noise down, that or you could get a supressor

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.22 Super Colibri's nice quite and nobody will ever know

Not to mention cheap >.>

yet another vote for a supressor

yet another vote for a supressor

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If it's illegal to shoot at a certain place, having a supressor doesn't make it legal. (It just makes it harder to get caught. Not very "High Road".)

If it's legal, the neighbor needs to get used to it.

I vote for subsonics as well. It aint about legalitt deadin, it's about not pissing off the neighbors. It's the ame concept of not mowing my lawn @ 10 am if my neighbor works nights. I'd be perfectly in the law, but it'd still be a dick thing to do.

And, once again, we bow to the anti's wishes.

I can always mow my lawn later. I don't imagine I can shoot at anytime without "upsetting" him.
I should spend $400-500 to keep him happy?

I don't see that as bowing to anything, simply respecting his neighbor.

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You and I both know it's not about the noise (especially from a mile away) it's about the shooting. I see no reason to accommodate that kind of a "neighbor" if it's going to cost me money. Now if it is just about the noise, maybe they can reach an agreement to split the cost of a supressor. Then it's a win/win...

I would be careful (I am sure you are) in shooting a bowling ball with any gun, but particularly with a small caliber or low-velocity bullet as there is a real good chance of a ricochet from a glancing-shot.

Could it be possible one bullet may have ricocheted towards the person's house who came to talk to you? In other words, is his property past the bowling ball and in the basic direction in which you were shooting?

I live in the wilderness, there are some nearby houses, but for all intents and purposes, I live in an extremely RURAL area.

When a person starts shooting his .22 rifle (or pistol) I often wonder what it is they are shooting at, as his house is about a mile away by driving, however it is only about 1/3 mile away from point a to point b. If he is shooting into a river that is between us or into a swamp that is also between us, there is a possibility that one of his bullets could ricochet in the direction of my house.

When he shoots (perhaps five to twenty rounds, sporatically - say once every month to several months), sometimes I will go out and just listen to hear if I can hear any of his projectiles either buzzing over my house or making their way through woods I own adjacent to my house. In the 25+ years that I have lived here, I have never heard a ricochet, so there is really nothing I can do. Yes, I can wonder where his bullets may be going, but that is the extent of it!

Now, another neighbor is totally ANTI-GUN! She is against any kind of shooting, no matter how legal it is. If I take a shot at vermin on my property (I have many skunks here and have since I have moved here), she will not hesitate to call me and lay right into me. I calmly tell her that I am shooting skunks that ruin my lawn and also live under a building I have that is on concrete sonatube footings (wooden floor structure off the ground at one end and basically on the ground at the other end). She had called the game warden about three years ago when I used my 12 gauge to kill a huge skunk. When the game warden came, I showed him the lawn all dug up, I showed him the dead skunk and I showed him the skunk scat (feces) that is visible under the corner of that out-building.

Once the game warden saw all that --- he knew immediately that this woman is just a complainer and told me what I am doing is perfectly fine. If I wanted to, I could shoot all day here, every day. Other than the noise, there is not much anyone could do. I try to respect those near me, so I only shoot something when necessary. To have someone complain just for the sake of complaining is really childish in my book!

@Friendly - he was shooting a bowling pin, not ball! The pins are made of wood and make great targets.