Disturbing the Peace?

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Magnuumpwr

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I live in a rural area of southeast Texas on 30 acres. Here is my problem, on several occassions I have had the local police showup at my house and tell me that someone called and reported that I was disturbing the peace by shooting my guns. :cuss: I have a dirt berm that I shoot into and like I said, I live in the middle of 30 acres. They never tell me who has called in the complaints and have never issued any citations. Are there any LE people who can explain this to me?
 
With what little info you gave, it sounds like you have a neighbor who either hates guns, is paranoid, or dislikes you enough to take the time to call in a complaint. Where I live and work, we must respond and investigate all calls to dispatch weather the caller chooses to give his name or not.

consider the scenario......Joe Blow calls 911 to report he heard gunshots, saw a suspicous person, an alien spaceship whatever,.. and the P.D. decides to dismiss the call for service as just so much B.S. How will Joe Blow now react when P.D. never shows up? (believe me most anonomous callers will usually hide inside and peek out the blinds to see what P.D. will do). If Joe reported activity that caused him concern, he as a taxpayer deserves to have the agency check it out.

the fact that no offical action was taken, pretty much says it all. Local Police show up, speak with you and determine nothing is wrong then they go away. (Its what we do)...back to doughnuts, coffee, hiding behind the billboard to catch speeders no doubt.

One persons recreation, (shooting) is anothers loud annoying noise. Same with playing loud music, yelling, dogs barking, cars with no mufflers etc....If the P.D. come by in the future on a similar complaint, strike up a conversation, make a friend, offer to let them fire a few rounds on your private "range" after all, there are worse things than gettting to know the local P.D. officers.

Contrary to what others may believe, Even the most rural P.D. has better things to do than single out anyone, let alone a law abiding citizen for "harassment", (whatever that means).
 
Check your local laws, but I don't think just making loud noise qualifies as disturbing the piece. Certainly not in a rural environment. You'd have to be doing it very late or very early before there were grounds for a genuine complaint.

Next time the LE come out, ask them if they'd like to see your range. Show them how careful you are and how safe your setup is. Tell them how you limit your shooting to normal daylight hours (you do, don't you?) how you avoid shooting early in the morning on weekends, and explain any other information that will make you seem reasonable, safe, and generally an all around good guy. If you have any really neat guns, you might ask them if they'd like to shoot it.

If they buy it, I'm thinking they'll quit bothering you. At the least, you may get them to tell you who's complaining so you can see if you can reach some sort of agreement with them.
 
Your right John, I don't shoot after 4PM and never before 10AM. The only exception is on New Years' Eve and the 4th of July, 100 yd tracer show. The only real time the deputies show up is usually after burning off a couple of 50 BMG rounds. :confused: I guess next time they show up I'll ask them to see if they are interested in test firing it or maybe the carbon 15 pistol. It doesn't really bother me that they show up, but it is just wasting their time. As for the looking out the curtains, the only thing visible to my neighbors is my driveway so unless they are trespassing they can't see diddly.
 
Aw yes, the ole police harassment thing. :rolleyes:

The police don't have to tell you the persons name, they only have to investigate whether or not the complaint is real.

Did they tell you to stop shooting, as in you were violating some type of ordinance, either noise or the discharge of firearms?

Since you didn't state they did, I'm assuming they just investigated the complaint.

And the reason they don't have to tell you the name, is because as soon as they leave they don't want you deciding to confront this person. If you were to be cited, you would meet him in court.
 
Forget the Carbon 15--get the .50 out. If that's what's generating the complaints, that's what the cops need to shoot. I'd sure jump at the chance!
 
Sounds like plain and simple police harassment to me. If anyone had actually complained, he or she would most probably have a name.
Click to expand...
The police will NEVER give you the name of someone who called and complained to them about you. If they did; 1) most people would never complain to the police and (or rather because) 2) there would be a few dead or injured complainers.



Basically the cops here are just following up on the complaint of some busybody/annoying person because thats their job ... since you've never been written a citation I'd say its not "police harassment".
 
I can understand. 30 acres isn't that big a parcel, and some people living out in the country really don't want to hear gunfire.

I'd probably need at least 2-300 acres before I'd feel semi-comfortable shooting on my property.
 
You could build a privacy fence aong the sides of the berm going to your firing line is at. The outdoor range I go to is set like that. Planting trees along your property lines would help cut down the noise as well.

But really the police should tell whoever is calling them that it is legal for you to shoot and there is nothing that can do.

-Bill
 
Dang, I wish I had a bill board to hide behind. It sounds more like a bad neighbor issue. If they are complaining about your noise they are probably anti and not convertable. If it only happens when you shoot the 50 you might consider the rubber tire tunnels some people use to cut the noise a bit.
 
Get to know your neighbors. Invite them to join in. It is amazing how folks will work with you if your friendly.
 
Corey ACP said:
consider the scenario......Joe Blow calls 911 to report he heard gunshots, saw a suspicous person, an alien spaceship whatever,.. and the P.D. decides to dismiss the call for service as just so much B.S. How will Joe Blow now react when P.D. never shows up? (believe me most anonomous callers will usually hide inside and peek out the blinds to see what P.D. will do). If Joe reported activity that caused him concern, he as a taxpayer deserves to have the agency check it out.
Click to expand...
What about the police that don't show up to a call for help? They have plenty of court precidents that say that they don't have to at all? Why should they show up to his house instead of the one that called for help instead of reporting a disturbance?
 
People here call the cops because "I heard gun shots"....never mind the 50 acres surrounding our private gun range...never mind the gun shop range out back either. People just call to complain and the cops will just check it out.

Next time the cops show up, show them your range. Ask them for specifics about when you can shoot. Ask them if it is even legal to shoot. Then ask them how you can shoot and not have the cops called on you all the time. Hopefully the cops will start getting tired of the same complaint and will tell the complainers of your proper setup.
 
Two friends and I used to shoot all the time in our back yards. I lived next to a small valley and would go down into there and shoot into an embankment. Well as our little town grew we had more and more cops show up every time we would shoot. One day we had around 6-7 handguns out and were plinking. When we came up from the valley there were 2 cruisers, 2 more at the end of my drive about 150 yards down and 2 more flying down my drive. We were like *** and kinda put our hands up. All of us had guns on our hips. Luckily one of my buddies knew the cop that ended up in my driveway and asked him what was going on. Cop said there were 10 complaints and since the road was closed there were cops walking in the woods at the muzzle end of our embankment. They thought we were shooting at them. After checking all our firearms and safety slips and seeing that we were doing NOTHING illegal, they strongly suggested that we didn't shoot there ever again. I was about to tell them to get the ???? of my property and start shooting again, but I didn't want them to make up something to get me on.

Never had to deal with that bull???? growing up. I could grab my shotgun and a pistol and shoot birds all day long just a few steps out my door. Now, the whole damn police force shows up.
 
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Been shooting on my place since 1967.
20 acres, west of Fort Worth.
Was shooting a half hour ago and probably average every third day.
It's your land and you can shoot on it, as long as you are safe and of course aren't in the city limits.

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Edit
Come to think of it. I bought the land from the county judge and I asked him if there were any restrictions AT ALL, especially shooting.
For quite a while I landed an airplane on the road, until we put mail boxes too close to the road.:D
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Never had a complaint, except years ago one neighbor girl came over and said, That sounds like a machine gun?
I said, You're right and she left.

Like one neighbor said, I like to hear you shooting, I want anyone around to know we have guns.

It sounds like there's 4-6 other people that shoot around here.


If that isn't enough, I licensed my place as a Heliport about 1968.
Since I retired I've been flying only a powered parachute from my place.

The neighbors don't even complain when I'm doing touch and goes through their front yards at 7AM. :D

DSC00245.gif
 
Maybe the person who complained works at night and sleeps during the day. :scrutiny:

I'm not saying that they should be calling the police every time you shoot, but I am just offering an explanation.
 
I cannot say it enough. Get to know your neighbors. If youcan get them involved or at least on board the complaints end.
 
Go to the LEO headquarters and ask to speak to who's in charge and discuss the matter. If it's the neighbors then take the matter up with them. If it's the LEO then he/she should deal with that.
 
I grew upin rural Georgia. We had good relationships with the neighbors. It saved them from getting made when we shot skeet in the back pasture. It also got us access to their land for hunting season. A venison roast or two each year ensured that we'd always be welcome. We helpped the elderly folks with chores as weel. I am sure that some of the grumpier ones would have griped, but they knew my family and let it slide. We own (my parents still live there) 47 acres, btw.
 
i would consider your
"right to know your accuser!"

i can't call the city and complain about a car parked illegally for months without tellnig the mwho i am where i live, why this matters to me, even though someone is breaking the law.

if someone is reporting you, they at least can't fine you or get you to court without telling you who is the complaintant.
this stuff about the cops never telling you who it is only holds up unti lyou have to go to court. as long as you keep complying, the neighbor will rmain nameless.

like other said, getting to know them all, figure out who it is, and make some deal (maybe certain days/times no shooting).

there are noise laws some places, but seems like with a helipad, you got permission to make a BUNCH of noise already.
 
Warbow Quote:
The neighbors don't even complain when I'm doing touch and goes through their front yards at 7am.
Are you in your rig while you took that photo? Looks like a parachute shadow...
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Yes, That picture is actually a still captured shot from a video camera I have mounted on the nose wheel steering. That's why it's a little blurry.
The picture is of the approach to my RC flying field. If I don't land I have to make about a 15 degree left turn and climb out to the left of the big dark green tree. That puts me through the neighbor's yard. :D

So a little shooting doesn't bother the neighbors but then there's nothing they can do about it anyhow. ;)

Magnuumpwr should tell the police/ Sheriff, "I'm not breaking any laws shooting on my land and I expect you to tell whoever is complaining exactly that."

I've been flying since 1960 and this is probably the strangest thing I've flown. :)
Buckeyelowpass.gif
 
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