My Range Was Ordered Closed Today

This sounds like trying to make the local grocery store upgrade their electrical system to new standards because a pedestrian claims they got hit by a car in their parking lot. It just doesn't make sense.

Besides, "it could have happened like you said it did" isn't really proof of guilt in this country these days, is it?

Pay an attorney to draft a letter telling the County to provide proof that the range violated the law, and that the law that was violated provides penalties that include cessation of activities. If they have any legal standing for shutting you down, such notification should be made through a court order, not from the office of the Planning Commission.

Also, draft a letter letting the County know that you would be willing to grant them a construction easement so that they can upgrade the perimeter control to current standards, at no cost, if they feel it's necessary, but that they will have to work around the range operating hours, as you will continue to operate under the conditions in place when the range was built.

Likewise, draft a letter to the homeowner stating that any false accusations against the range shall be addressed by suit in civil court.

Drafting a couple of letters has got to be a lot cheaper than four miles of perimeter control that still wouldn't stop a bullet from being launched over it. They have a case? Make them prove it.

I also belong to a private range started decades ago when the area was all farms and woods. Today several high dollar new homes dot the landscape in the area. We have both a pistol and a rifle range along with a trap range. Even though we're a private club, the local police have used our range for practice for many years at no charge. We also host several youth gun safety classes throughout the year. My point is that even though it is a private club, we go out of our way to cultivate good community relations. I hope other ranges are doing something similar to be seen as a benefit to their local communities.

Could someone explain to me how a chain link fence would have prevented this,

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Helps keep out unwanted folks when the range is not in operation - 6' isn't bad - many I have seen have 8' PLUS barbed wire

Ed Ames, which range are they trying to shut down in Kaufman Co?

Pretty dang sickening.
Today's range is an underground closet.

Double bogey,

http://www.northeasttexastactical.com

how far from the house to firing line?

What was the trajectory of the bullet when it entered the house?

What caliber was the bullet?

Did the bullet have rifling marks?

Was anyone at the range at that time? Does your range keep track of this info?

Who owns the land? Anyone trying to buy the land to put up houses? Easier to sell the land when the range is already closed. Avoid the fight with the shooters.

Keep asking these types of questions. Can you build up the firling line on a large berm so you are firing downward. Can you build a roof over the firling line so any shots angled up enough to exit the range would hit the roof? Is the range public? Can someone sabatage the range by doing this purposfully?

Anyone can fire a gun at any time at any location. AD and ND happen everywhere, not just ranges. Detroit is full of bullet holes and no ranges in sight.

I am told something similar happened at my local range where it hit near campground but bullet did not have rifling marks and hence was not shot out of gun.

I am pretty sure someone in Ct. made trouble by saying her house was hit by a round from a shooting range. She produced an empty case as proof. Good luck out there.

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Blue Trail Range, in Wallingford. A neighbor "found" a "spent" .50BMG about two miles away that miraculously had no rifling marks. Years of legal battle later, the 200 yard range was shut permanently, and a ton of loot was spent to build up a huge backstop on the 100yd.

To pay for all that, they raised their rates: $32 first hour, $10 each additional hour on weekends.

And these days you can't even drive to the range with a loaded standard capacity magazine! ...

It's not rocket science to figure why i don't shoot there anymore...

Thanks Ed. I didn't know they were even there. The one in Garland is under fire also.

We had a similar incident at my gun club, which has been around since the 1950s. Some guy who lived nearby found bullet holes in his barn. Fortunately, being a retired Marine sniper, he wasn't interested in trying to close the range, just in finding out what was going on and correcting it One of our members, a pilot, took aerial photos that showed there was no way any rounds hitting the guy's barn could've come from our range. Upon further investigation, after the guy found a tear gas canister in his yard, it was determined that the escapees were from the police range next door.

We have also had issues with people building houses close to the range and then complaining about the noise. Too bad for them - the county has a range protection ordinance so they get nowhere.

we had a decent indoor range shut down. no rounds ever escaped but someone opened a daycare and invoked " for the children". the landlord closed the range down. (he also rented to daycare)
darn shame

"...............didn`t meet current criteria..........."

They need to put a steel or concrete roof over and downrange from the firing line. So somebody cannot get a round out of the range.

They need to put a steel or concrete roof over and downrange from the firing line. So somebody cannot get a round out of the range.

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in related news, range dues will be increasing slightly next year...

We caught people trying to get the local IWLA range closed. They were caught firing rounds into the air just outside the gate. This is in a metropolitan area and these people were very lucky those bullets did not hit a person.

"We caught people trying to get the local IWLA range closed. They were caught firing rounds into the air just outside the gate. This is in a metropolitan area and these people were very lucky those bullets did not hit a person. "

Thats insane.

An unfortunate epidemic nationwide. One of our local ranges, a well-established club, was shut down ... the county went after the club saying that a lot of maintenance work was done without proper permits, neighbors complaining about noise ("full-auto" fire, even) and stray rounds impacting in their yards ... all hearsay, nothing provable. Oh, and of course, the range pre-dated the homes in the area. An injunction was obtained, the battle goes on ...

I don't know why people build by a range that has been open for yrs and yrs then think they have a right to have it closed. Pretty silly. They should have built elsewhere.

Is that Adams County PA?

When I lived in Phoenix there was an attempted shut down of Ben Avery range by residents of Anthem Az. The complaint was of noise from range operations. Keep in mind that Anthem is not only 5 miles away but also there is at least two sets of hills in between.
Thankfully their suit was thrown out of court as I remember.

Only one remedy for Colorado - pass a law against making more people. Some 3 or 4 decades ago we had USFS land for shooting 15 minutes south of Denver. Now closed. Another in the Pike NF is essentially off limits due to the efforts of one man - he spends his summers harassing responsible shooters and now he pitches a tent on weekends and puts up a sign "campground" - even had one young man cited for shooting into a tree. Never mind it was a dead tree and it had been used to fasten targets for many years. Can't shoot trees in Colo. He was assessed a $500 fine. It is not possible to placate everybody, and it only takes one person. It is sad.

What HSO said, is the only thing left to do. If the members number in the hundred + range, then you are talking about a 10 or 20 dollar contribution, and the principal of the thing. Isn't one member an attorney? usually there are a few retired lawyers around, you should be able to straighten this out

Regarding the situation in CT:

This was shown to be part of a campaign by a developer who bought "downrange" property behind a long established and well run range. The range put many (unneeded?) structures and procedures in place at considerable cost. The challenges were found to be without merit and "suspicious" in origin. There was a significant grassroots campaign by local shooters to raise money to successfully fight the legal challenges to continue to operate a range that existed for MANY years prior to the purchase of the downrange land for real estate speculation purposes

hso said:

Lawyer up and fight the charge.

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Agreed. And hire an attorney with some land use experience. If Colorado is the same as California, there are clear limits on when the county can demand that an existing facility be brought up to current standards.

Edit: Just realized that the wording "If Colorado is the same as California" might be cringe-worthy to the members from Colorado. Sorry guys and gals!