fearful neighbor

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I agree with the build a better backstop,move it further,call her first,bend over back wards crowd to an extent.You are after all [we all should be] an ambassador for the shooting sports.I would even invite her for a .22 plinkin' session.That said,I would NOT stop.
 
shiftyer1,

I'm kind of familiar with your range setup, and it sounds safe to me - and most importantly, the Sheriff thinks it's fine too or he would have stopped and talked to you about it.

That being said, I think that this lady calling the Sheriff is a very Hostile act. I mean, she is hoping that another "Man with a Gun" will make you stop what you are doing. Likewise, I am surprised that she had the gall to enter your property after having been so hostile in the past. Consequently, I would re-consider even alowing that woman on your property lest she accuse YOU of somehow threatening her while she was there.

Remember...she's told the police that you have been "threatening" in the past, so don't doubt she'll do it again.

Keep her away. Far away.
 
In 1962 and before they were an everyday, accepted, commonplace part of life...
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In 1962 most kids had Daddies (and families and neighbors and teachers) who taught them things about responsibility. If you heard gunfire, odds were someone wasn't doing something stupid. Not so anymore... The unparented progeny of today should make everyone nervous on oh-so-many levels.

Les
 
I second the advice on getting a silencer. While they can be expensive, they can be cheaply made, although you still need to pay the $200 tax.

Ranb
 
Does it really "silence", or just reduce the report? I've heard them referred to more often as "suppressors".
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They just reduce the report, If you want something actually silent I think you would have to get a .22 that's suppressed and be shooting sub sonic ammo. Don't quote be on that, I've never even shot a suppressed gun.

+1 On build a better backstop.
Doesn't matter how many acres you have, its the quality of your backstop. Like a big dirt berm.
 
Does it really "silence", or just reduce the report? I've heard them referred to more often as "suppressors".
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Depends on if you're referring to a regular suppressed weapon, or a De Lisle Carbine. :)

Suppressor and silencer are interchangeable terms; the name Silencer has been used since the early 1900s, so it's just as correct.
 
The word silencer as a term used for gun mufflers was coined by Maxim over 100 years ago when he marketed his sound suppressors. It is also a legal term used by the US government to describe suppressors.

While silencers do not make a gun silent, they usually reduce muzzle noise by 20-30 decibels. Decibels are a logarithmic scale measurement of noise, 20-30 decibels is a 100 to 1000 times change in noise level.

Anything that lowers noise that amount is well worth having on a gun even if it does nothing for action noise and the whip like sonic boom of high speed bullets. Muzzle blast is by far the loudest component of firearm noise. Check out http://www.silencertests.com for good info on making and buying silencers.

Ranb
 
When your paranoid neighbor finds out you're using a silencer she'll think you're a Mafia hitman!:D
Then instead of the Sheriff you'll have the FBI showing up on your doorstep.
 
you getting a silencer is a good one except that you say you make 'noise' with many different guns so that aint practical.
so instead, find out when her birthday is and get her a muffler:rolleyes:
since she is a tree hugger get one for a Saab
 
silencers

silencers will reduce a 22 lr to a very low sound and the maxim did that I fired one many yrs ago.and have watched them at the MG shoots.more noise from the bolt than the cartridge.
call here and invite her to WATCH you shoot.give her a set of earmuffs to use.dont invite her to shoot unless she specificly asks. you have already said you shoot towards a empty space.I shoot towards I 95 a mile away.trees in between.you dont need a silencer.a fench to your right 6' tall for 10 ft should take care of a lot.
I had a woman call about shooting and the deputy came down we showed him the target area.and he was satisfied.never seen them since.think it was the AK,here it could be a killing as the blacks could care less whether they kill some one.and yes its the liberals and the males making kids they dont want to support.:rolleyes::uhoh::eek:
 
Shoot in a direction away from the neighbor, into an area that doesn't echo. Ideally with something like your house between you and her.

It is human nature to be startled by gunfire. Having the talk with her may allieviate her fear if she trusts that you have heard her concerns.
 
I'm all for safety first so I would first make certain that I had a high backstop. I would hate to think what will happen to your mom's place if you do shoot someone by mistake.
 
in az we can not shoot w/i a 1/4 mile of an occupied building. all building are to be assumed occupied.
 
i disagree with the assesment that he needs to change his backstop. I think the neighbor would of complained about the backstop regardless of what it was. Being that she knows nothing about firearms, it could have been the greatest backstop known to man and she would have still complained about it. I think changing it now would lead her to believe that her assumptions about it were right (as well as any other assumptions she may have). Of course if the op believes it to be unsafe is a different matter all together.

With that being said i do like the idea of notifing her that you are shooting before doing so, would be a good idea if she is open to the idea and believes it to be a good gesture. Check with the local sheriff and make sure you are completely in your rights to shoot in that yard. Perhaps everytime she calls, you are done by the time the sheriff gets there. Now giving her notice may allow them to catch you in the act. Again this is only if you are actually breaking a local ordinance.
 
Maybe show the woman where your backstop is and the direction you will be shooting in. Which will probably be the only direction you can shoot in anymore.

I hate it myself. As a kid there weren't so many people around. We would shoot our guns in the air and not worry so much about what was beyond what we were shooting at.

Now that Suburbia has trickled into the landscape each shot must be planned and considered.

A couple of years ago a woman noticed a small bloody spot on her little boys scalp. She noticed a shiny object protruding out of the skin. They dug out the projectile of a .17 HMR out of his head.

It was found out that the bullet likely came from a rifle a man had fired that day over a mile or 2 away. Apparently he shot at something high in a tree or in the air and the bullet on its way down had enough energy to cause an air rifle type injury.

In a way I was glad the housing bubble popped. Houses were springing up so fast where I live it was getting scary. I lost a lot of good hunting and shooting spots.
 
I'm sort of responding to the last three posts. On ten acres, it's hard to get 1/4 mile away from anything. Shooting on a schedule, say every Saturday at 2:00pm may allow the nervous neighbor to expect it and therefore get used to it. Lastly the backstop... A big woodpile, backed-up by "trees and stumps", is not a backstop. I wouldn't trust it, and I'm not surprised the neighbor doesn't trust it either. I think it needs improvement with lots of dirt, and that may help the neighbor feel better. It would bolster my confidence in a shooting neighbor for sure.

Uhh... and I really want to get a .17 HMR for groundhogs. What's the tits?

Les
 
I'm sure you are going about safety the right way, it's just that she doesn't know that. Invite her over for lunch and let her watch how and where you shoot. Offer to let her fire the .22, and maybe we'll all gain a friend for the cause.
 
The answer is NOT to buy her earplugs and tell her to get over it. This may solve the problem, but it won't do much good beyond that.

Invite her to shoot. Break out the .22s, and show her your backstop. I might even invest some manhours and funds in increasing the safety and integrity of the backstop. You have to understand that when bullets ricochet, they go any way but the direction they were heading, including straight back at you. There's no such thing as a "safe" or "typical" ricochet. If you ever see footage of a night time machine gun shoot with tracer rounds, you'll get what I'm saying.

Don't alienate her, even if she is a minority living out in the wide open areas where you live. We need the irrational fear of firearms diminished at every opportunity we can get, and this is a fine one.
 
I think this could be a matter of trust. The media has made us all afraid of one another.

We used to trust our neighbors because we knew them.

It can also be that you are shooting at a time when she has her mother over and it sounds like a war zone which can be embarrassing.

A cup of coffee and a truck load of sand might be on my agenda.

That and I wouldn't want that wood in a fireplace....
 
Very calmly look straight into her eyes and say "if you want all those zombies on your property that's fine, but I don't want them on mine". Just kidding. Ask her if you could give her a call to let her know when you are going to shoot or see if maybe sometime she could come over and shoot with you. If you are a hunter see if she would like some meat after your next harvest. and you can explain to her that I am just keeping in practice.:D
 
First, based upon what you described as your property situation and backstop, you really do need to construct a better backstop. What you are describing is really a little shakey to me.


Warning: Unpopular opinion incoming...


I know the kind of neighbor you are referring to.

While I applaud those that immediately have "Take them shooting" as an answer for everything, this is not a "Catch-All" answer.

There are simply people that do not want to shoot. Likewise, there are people that I have no desire to have anywhere on my property or handling any of my property.

A real good barometer of that is if that person has:

A.) Ever come banging on my door making demands the way you described.

B.) Ever CALLED THE POLICE... especially several times.


I see a person who wants to get their way-- the law be damned. As I see it, the instant the LEO's told her that you were in your rights and it was "safe," there should not have been another call regarding that. Any more calls seems to be a strong-arm attempt at harassment.

This is NOT a person you are going to be "friends" with (or at least I won't be.)

Moreover, I am not about to invite a person onto my property that has a beef with me. That opens me up to a whole new world of potential liability. I do not trust this person NOT to decide that if they can't make you stop, they will ruin you with an injury lawsuit-- thereby forcing you to sell and move.

I have a few hundred acres of woodlands. Routinely, we have people attempting to come in uninvited. I have seen with my own eyes what some people are capable of.

One of our landowner neighbors had someone sneek onto their land during a party. She was driving her car while drunk. Naturally, she ran into the ditch and got stuck. She got another drunk friend to pull her car out of the ditch with his truck-- in the process, they broke her axle.

That next Monday, she sued the LANDOWNER for damages to her car!!!

Sure, it went nowhere, but the landowner had to hire a lawyer to deal with the mess.


Consider what you open yourself up for if you go the "take her shooting" route.


Me? Sometimes you have to realize that not everyone is going to like you, and not everyone is going to be accepting of your interests-- ESPECIALLY a person used to dictating their desires to others and accenting it with calls to LEO's.


Some people may try to paint all this as me being an "Internet Commando" or otherwise being short-sighted. To those people, I say only this: YOU haven't had to pay for my liability umbrella insurance policy for the last 15 years. It is people like this that cost me money every year.



-- John
 
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